Brief Description: Front Baffle Seal, Platenuts and RTV
First off let me say that this weekend has been a royal pain in the A@@. Finishing the front baffling rivals the complexity and lack of clear instructions similar to the canopy. Having said that there was good progress this weekend, albeit slow and at times head scratching and frustrating. There were challenges making the baffling material fit the contours of the air inlet. Outboard sides were a bit easier than the inboard sides next to the gear ring. Both required some time to figure out. For the outboard sides, I had to remove my original baffle seal that were riveted and lower the rivet points about 1/2" so that the baffle material would be able to curve and meet the top of the cowling. They were too close and would not make the curve and had gaps. Once this was done the outboard sides fit well. The inboard baffle seals sides were another story and a bit more difficult. I had to add fiberglass to the right inboard side air deflector on the top cowling because the baffle material would not curve properly. I had some modeling clay and extended the contour line inboard about 1.5" beyond the original. If I had to redo over, and this is for anyone who is doing cowling work, I would not mount the fiberglass scoops until I had all of the cowling pins in and the baffling completely cut. The directions do not tell you how to center the air deflectors and when I originally put them in, I centered them in the oval air intake. They should not be centered. Ask me how I know now. After fiber glassing the air deflector, I reinstalled the top cowl and cut the baffle material to fit. The Left side worked out fine. Some other items that went in the usual easy manner: 1) Drilled the right side platenut for the cowling keeper pin. 2) Drilled the left and right side platenuts for the center cowling. (Omitted the third platenut for now as it would be direct in line with the starter ring.) Having problems getting the left side cowling pin all the way through. I did it a few times and it was more difficult than the left. Tha
