I worked on the mounting strip for the skybolt fasteners. Most of the strip is already in place. The hinges for the side lower cowl at the firewall are aslo in place.
I fabricated two small pieces of strip, one for each side, that will go just above the cowl split line. I had made a mounting strip that would have had this piece on it except that I removed that strip in order to go with hinges on the sides of the lower cowl.
I put the cowl on to check the fit, now that the lower cowl has the horizontal hinge riveted in place. I attached the upper hinges to the lower hinges before putting the cowl together on the plane. I noticed that the match was not good. I removed the top hinge to see if the larger width of the P5 hinge I am using might be causing the problem.
As far as I can tell, the problem results from the bow in the cowl being removed because the hinge now keeps the seam between the lower and upper cowls aligned from side to side. The consequence of removing that bow is that the lower cowl now seems to be pushed further back at the firewall and in fact now overlaps the firewall on the starboard side. Because the lower cowl does not fit flush with the skin any longer, it pulls the cowl out, and it no longer reaches the cowl split line.
I worked a little on the fit by removing some of the edge of the starboard lower cowl at the firewall with my sanding board. I will continue to do that, but I stopped when I got tired.
