I started off the day by installing the lower cowling—ran into a conflict that needs to be resolved. My sniffle valve tube contacts the cowling just where it makes a bend and heads aft. I’ll address this issue next time the cowling is off. I spent the rest of my time on the oil filler door. I had previously cut the door to size and trimmed the flanges on the cowl. I am using a hidden door hinge—originally from Avery, now available from several vendors. I taped the door into position, then fiddled around with where to locate the hinge. Many builders end up with a shim under the hinge on the cowl side—most use .063. I started with .063 and checked the fit—door sits a bit high on the hinge side, so I added an additional .025 shim. This seems to make the door lay flush. I drilled holes in both parts of the hinge, then match drilled thru the spacers. I taped the hinge and spacers into position and drilled the cowling. After the cowl side of the hinge was clecoed to the cowl, I match drilled the other half of the hinge to the door. With the hinge clecoed to the door and cowl, it opens and closes without any binding or friction. BTW, I did remove the spring from the door while fitting—it just isn’t possible to get the hinge taped down with the spring installed—way to stout. I still want to source some latches before I proceed with finishing glass work around the door.
