Temp Engine Install and Cowl Fitting

We hung the engine on the fuselage which was a nice accomplishment, even though this is only temporary until we can get a template for the firewall made.  Once we have a template, then we will remove the engine and work on the firewall installation.

Installing the engine

In order to make a firewall template, we first need to fit the boot cowl, which is turning out to be a bit of an effort as we want to make sure everything lines up and that the positioning works with our aftermarket Dentz windscreen.

The cowling pieces are oversized so need to be carefully trimmed, then positioned carefully to get all the panels to line up.  We are making changes slowly as it's much easier to trim fiberglass than it is to put more back on.

Fitting the boot cowl

We also set the windscreen in place temporarily to see how it lines up with the boot cowl.  We'll have to do some more trimming along some edges of the boot cowl, but overall it looks decent. 

Fitting the boot cowl

Once we had the boot cowl where we wanted it, we drilled holes to attach it to the mount points on the fuselage.  After finishing this, we were able to install the cowl with clecos and take some better measurements to check it all out. Unfortunately, we found a few issues.  One was that our firewall is a little too short (about 1/2 inch) to reach the top of the cowling.  This is more gap than we want, so we are going to drop the cowling a bit.  The other issue was that part of the cowling was bowing out a little bit at the front corners.  Not a bad issue, but we want to improve it.  We epoxied over the holes we already drilled, and also added four small fiberglass spacers to the inside of the cowling to alleviate some of the bowing that occurs when fasteners are installed.

Lastly, we wanted to see how the exhaust fits, so we (temporarily) hung the exhaust and muffler.  Looked great!  This will also allow us to check how much clearance we have with the lower cowl.  Hours: 12

Hanging the exhaust system