We got back from a short vacation in Yosemite National Park yesterday, so I got back to work tonight. I drilled the other P4 hinge to the right side of the cowl then mated the P3 hinges to both sides and installed the upper cowl. I transferred the hole positions and then drilled the upper half of the hinge to the cowl. Here’s the right side of the cowl.
And here’s the left.
Now that the cowl was locked in its final position, I drilled the rest of the holes along the top of the firewall. The cowl is amazingly rigid now. Pushing even gently on the cowl moves the whole airplane and there is no perceptible flex in the cowl itself. If it’s this still with just clecoes, I can only imagine how much stiffer everything will be when the hinges are riveted and glassed in place.
The front left corner of the cowl has a small alignment problem. I’ll have to build out the upper cowl to bring it out flush with the lower cowl.
The front right corner also needs a bit of work to make things line up nicely.
