Wendell Folks RV-8 Project - Page 48.

March 20, 2007:  The left side of the cowl was fitted to the aluminum strap that will tie the upper and lower portions together.   Rivet holes in the lower cowl were spaced at one-inch intervals to the 0.040" aluminum strap behind both parts of the cowl.  The evening session was about final sanding to fit, then cautiously drilling through the holes in the cowl and into the aluminum strap behind.

March 22, 2007:  There was some work on March 21st, but nothing that required a photo.  Just lots of sanding on edges to get the cowl to fit better on the RIGHT side.  Tonight's session is the one that will see the fitting of the cowl on the right side as the remaining holes are drilled there.

Every third rivet hole was drilled into the aluminum strap behind the fiberglass cowl.  After that, all the holes in between were drilled as you can see in this photo.

The last step before riveting the aluminum strap to the lower cowl is countersinking the fiberglass.  I demonstrated the process to Wendell stressing the cautions to be observed since the countersink bit is quite dull from drilling fiberglass.   He finished the holes with no problem.  He called me the next day after riveting the two straps to the lower cowl.  We discussed the steps that will be completed when we get together on Saturday.

March 24, 2007:  The Saturday session was short and another milestone.  Wendell had finished riveting the aluminum straps to the lower cowl on both sides.  With both the top and bottom cowl components clecoed in position, I showed him how to drill the hinges that will hold the lower cowl to the firewall, then the lower fiberglass cowl was drilled to mate with the hinges on both sides of the firewall.  At the end of that process, the upper cowl was removed and the lower cowl would stand on its own.  I was satisfied that all had gone together as planned and gave Wendell the go ahead to drill half of the #40 cleco holes to accept #8 screws on the side straps and the two aluminum straps across the top of the firewall.   He will put in the required plate nuts, then cleco the cowl in place before putting in all those screws.  That sequence will assure the proper realignment of the cowl before drilling the remaining cleco holes to accept #8 screws.

The other part of today's session was initial instructions on how to trim the engine cooling baffles to the correct clearance from the cowl.  Between completing the platenut installations and fitting the baffles, Wendell should remain occupied while I head out to Los Angeles and San Diego on a business trip in the week ahead.

March 29, 2007:  Look, Ma!  No clecoes in the cowling.  Yep, Wendell has riveted the firewall hinges to the fiberglass cowl.  And now comes the fitting of the engine baffles and trimming them to clear the upper and lower cowl.  I provided a lot of hints on how to do this next step, and my engine cowl came off for inspection as Wendell works yet another week without me looking over his shoulder.  Having a day job is part of what it takes to put fuel in my airplane.  Now all I need is good weather and the time off to go fly it.

April 7, 2007:  I am back from Florida and it is Saturday again, and time to get some work done with Wendell and review what has been happening while I was away.  Wendell had trimmed the outer vertical baffles to clear the upper cowl and the front baffle plates to clear the lower cowl at the opeings.   The fiberglass air "ramps" were not in position before I departed.   The center front baffles were also not installed.  Here you can see the fiberglass ramps clecoed to the upper cowl before the first fit to determine the amount to be cut from the side baffle plates.

The front baffle plates have been trimmed to clear the air inlets at the front of the lower cowl.  Wendell is re-installing the one in front of cylinder number one.