After reading lots of advice on VAF regarding the cowl, I fit the two halves together off the airplane and began the trimming. I put the two halves together with the spinner area up and the aft ends resting on the shop floor. I made a sanding tool out of a paint stirrer with 60 grit sandpaper glued to it on both sides. I also used a flat file.
I took my time and removed material, mostly from the bottom cowl, until the areas that adjoin at the front of the cowl began to come together. At first the overlap of the top and bottom of the cowl where the "tabs" come together at the edge center opening, was about .500 in.
I removed material along the sides, near the top, until the .500 gap was removed and the sides at the front matched pretty well.
