Lower cowl mod, Planning for oil cooler and radiator

To aid in the cowl placement, we created a thin 1/4 inch circular wood spacer that is the same diameter as the spinner, and attached it to the prop flange.  This is used to set the spacing between the back of the spinner and the cowl. 

wood spacer attached to back of prop flange

We then trimmed the back edge of  the top cowl in order to get it to fit into place behind the prop flange, and then attempted to attach the bottom cowl to the top.  Found out we had another interference issue as the top and bottom halves couldn't quite meet up.  This was frustrating as we had followed the instructions and had performed the initial cut to a "trim line" that was provided. That's what we get for following instructions.

 Luckily, we still had plenty of overlap between the top and bottom, so we just needed to fill in a few holes, and adjust the bottom edge to line up with the top cowl.  We used epoxy mixed with flock for added strength, and later added a few layers of dry micro (epoxy with added glass micro-balloons) to smooth it out.  Some sanding was done between each step.

bottom cowl modified to line up with top cowl

We also trimmed the back edge of the top and bottom cowl so there is now a straight line along the back edge of both top and bottom cowls.

Currently, we are planning out the placement and mounting methods for the oil cooler and radiator.  This is tricky as there isn't a lot of room.  We have considered extending the lower cowling down to provide more room, and have borrowed some cowling pieces from a friend that has a newer Rotax 914 cowl that allows for this.   We haven't ruled this out, but are currently focused on seeing if we can squeeze in everything with the existing cowl first, as this would minimize the weight added.  

We created a few test brackets with slotted holes that allowed us to vary the placement of the radiator, and also created a bracket for the oil cooler.   We cut a foam block the same size as the oil cooler so that we could play around with placement easier.   The first thing we learned is that the exhaust outlet from the front left cylinder interferes with the radiator hose with just about any position of the radiator, so we may need to build a custom exhaust for the left front cylinder.  We haven't got this all nailed down yet, but we're considering our options.  Hours: 16

Planning out position of oil cooler and radiator