RV-7 N890GF

I started work on the cowl. I’m using the SkyBolt fastener system for my cowling. I began with the top cowl and alignment with the spinner. I installed the firewall flanges to support the top cowl. I’m using 3″ spacing along the top center and then it transitions to 3.25″ spacing towards the sides. The two outermost flanges will align with bottom cowl flanges.

Once I aligned the top cowl and it was evenly aligned I trimmed the trailing edge to mate with the fuselage skins. I’ll need to massage the edge a bit to a perfect fit, but it’s good enough for an initial fitting. The orange strap will be for holding the bottom cowl up.

I removed all the flanges, dimpled and surface prepped them so they can be riveted to the firewall. I’m going to hold off on this until everything has been fitted.

I also cut out the hole for the oil door. The door is a separate piece that gets fitted to the cowl with a hinge. I traced the door onto the cowl and then created a 1/2” flange. I aligned the hinge to the cowl and the door and clecoed it in place.

I also cut the slot for the latch mechanism.

Here it is in the closed position. After some more sanding and shaping of the door I riveted everything in place.

I added a stiffener plate to the inside of the door using some scrap material from the cowl. It should help keep the door from bulging out.

I continued work on the cowl. I aligned the top and bottom halves and removed some material from the overlapping flanges at the front of the cowl. I then reinstalled the top cowl and drilled every-other hole to cleco it to the flanges

I started in the middle and worked my way to the sides in order to keep everything as tight and flush as possible. These holes will get enlarged to accept the skybolt fasteners.

Here is the other side. The oil door has been removed for now so I don’t damage it.

There are some minor gaps where the cowl meets the fuselage skins. I will use some micro and epoxy filler once everything is riveted to make the interface as close to perfect as possible.

Here is the top cowl clecoed in place.