Cowl

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Rick Mentel

Chuck Nuffer

Last updated: 08/07/08




		It took some fine measuring, but there is enough room to fit the hinge so it protrudes into the upper fiberglass cowling for attachment. We like the idea of riveting the fiberglass cowl directly to the hinge pin for longevity reasons. We both owned Pipers….enough said here…


	We’re going with the stainless steel piano hinges to mount the lower and upper cowlings, and borrowing some ideas from the RV-10 cowling. This will also allow us to rivet the boot cowling securely to the firewall. We plan to cut inspection panels for radio access.






		Beginning of the “top cowl hinge pin” capture device, adopted from the RV guys. This piece copied from the RV-10 cowl pin capture device. On the RV-10 the piece is built into the fiberglass cowl. On our F1 we elected to put the capturing unit in the lip of the boot cowl. This should make for a very cleanly attached cowl. You simply screw the unit down and pull out the hinge pins to release the cowling.


	Nice fits. The riveting stops at the beginning of the boot cowl, so as to leave this area clear for future electronics and panel assembly. It does however get us past the tight fit between the engine mount and outer skin. Thoughts are this is the LAST time we bolt the engine mount to the airframe (as indicated by the “permanent” yellow torque seal).






		Click on a picture below, or start with the first film frame for the rest of the cowl story.



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