Finish Kit

Epoxy coating on inside Cowls ( 2 hrs )

Removed hinges from Cowls to deburr.  Coated interior of Cowls w/ thin layer epoxy resin to make impervious to oil and easier to clean...per Step 6 at 45-16.

Squeegee and foam brush worked well to apply even, thin coating epoxy. 
Bottom Cowl is ~ 1/2 done in this pic

Finish Kit

Top and Bottom Cowl  ( 6 hrs )

Inserted Cowl Hinge Pins (horiz upper hinge halves) per Sect 45-14 Step 1-10. Cut clearances for Hinge Pins on LH and RH sides  - but will install Cowl Pin Covers soon instead of finishing for tab mounting. Marked and drilled holes for upper hinge pins on Top Cowl.  Re-installed -- alignment still very good, so match drilled #40 holes per Steps11 at 45-15.   Drilled holes each side Spinner per 45-16, then riveted on 4 nutplates per Steps 1-4 at 45-17.   Used Cowl Pin Cover templates to mark  cut-outs on each side.

marked & drilled Top Cowl  upper hinge

Drilled & cleco'd...

Top Cowl with hinges attached (clecos).

Bottom Cowl w/ hinges attached.  2 holes each side spinner, too

nutplates beside spinner on Bottom Cowl

LH template used to mark for cutout -
Cowl Pin Covers

Finish Kit

Bottom Cowl ( 4 hrs )

Mounted  Bottom Cowl in final position w/o Top Cowl per Steps 13-16 at Sect 45-11.  Clamped vertical hinges then match drilled 19x per side per Steps 1-5 in Sect 45-12.  Checked fit with Top Cowl after 1st holes/cleco - remained A-OK, so proceeded.  Positioned horiz lower hinges,  marked and drilled 31x each side.   Looking great.

vertical hinge drilled for LH side Bottom Cowl

inside view...cleco

horiz hinge lower section clamped, holes marked

checking positioning of Cowl Pins...option I purchased

pleased with fit !

Finish Kit

Bottom Cowl ( 4 hrs )

Trimmed and sanded aft edges of Bottom Cowl to fit fuselage.  Traced lower edge of Top onto upper edge of Bottom Cowl along sides, then trimmed and sanded to fit (several iterations of on & off to mark -sand -mark-sand -- approached cautiously to a final fit).  Marked and drilled aft edge rivets for vertical hinges on Bottom Cowl.   All per Steps 3-12 on Sect 45-11.

Aft edge trimmed.  Top overlapping Bottom
along side, casts a shadow.

More trimming, then sand, then fit...then sand, ...& Repeat.

After final fit Top to Bottom along fore/aft seam.   

Finish Kit

Top and Bottom Cowl mated to Fuselage ( 3 hrs )

Drilled aft holes on Top Cowl, then match drilled into hinges after re-installing onto Fuse.  42 holes filled with clecos per Steps 1-8 at Sect 45-10.  Started 45-1; mounting Bottom Cowl.   Marked aft edges for trimming (less than 1/8") using tool Carl & Rafael showed in their build log.  Stopped early to go flying prior planning meeting at airport for annual Father's Day breakfast/fly-in.

snapped pic inside/under cowl - checking
 locations of holes in hinge.

added Bottom Cowl.  Sawhorse good height to defy gravity.
Horiz line is shadow where Top finished edge
overlaps untrimmed Bottom Cowl,

After checking alignment &, taping in place, I
 marked aft edge of Bottom Cowl for trimming

Finish Kit

Top Cowl fit up ( 4 hrs )

Completed Sect 45-08 Steps 6-15 leveling and centering Top Cowl.  Several iterations to check and recheck alignment.  Used AN3 (3/16") bolts to maintain spinner gap helped.   Measuring vertical height for left front and right front corners above level reference worked to insure lateral alignment.  Trimmed Aft edge ~1/8 inch - then sanded smooth.  Several more iterations of sanding allowed me to ease into perfect fit along Forward Top Skin.   Last, marked holes for attaching Top Cowl to hinges per Sect 45-09, Steps 1-8.

trimmed aft edge to fit

marked for drilling for rivets

Finish Kit

Cowling Top to Bottom fitting  ( 3 hrs )

Completed fitting Cowl halves to each other.  Whew...lots of iterations filing small amounts - but result is great fit!  (Sect 45-07,  Steps 1-7).   After drilling 2 holes for clecos at each side of spinner, proceeded to make alignment tool and mount to Top Cowl per Steps 1-5 at Sect 45-08.

 

alignment tool added.  

3/16" gap set up

washer added at front compensates for expected
 sag of engine over 1st 100 hrs

Finish Kit

Cowling clean up, Cowl Pins, Oil Door revision ( 4 hrs )

Trimmed aft edges of both Top and Bottom Cowls per Steps 11 & 12 at 45-05.  Cleaned up mating surfaces per 45-06 Steps 1-4.  Started 45-07, aligning Top to Bottom along mating surfaces, holding with clamps.   After couple iterations, getting close....    Received new Cowl Pin Covers from Aerosport Products.  Will replace external tabs & screw in Vans design with these flush mount beauties !  Also received from Aircraft Spruce the large AN526A(soft)6-7 rivets.  These 3/16" dia rivets will fill the 1/4" holes pre punched in Oil Door for Quarter Turn fasteners - also external.  I'm using the KM610-64 latch that mounts flush (used on Cessnas, and many other RV builders).  Pricey, but like the flush,  easy open design.  I bought mine at Aircraft Spruce (others were lower cost, but charged much more for shipping).  So I practised filling a couple 1/4" holes in same thickness alum today.  C'sink almost flush topside, then slightly C'sink bottom to insure rivet retention.

Until I got to this point, was concerned about how the top and bottom would
be aligned. But Vans has good instructions and procedure.

Looking good!  Cowl Pin Covers with Left and Right templates

Revising Oil Door to fill two 1/4" holes in corners.  Plan to
mount Cessna style KM610-64 latch instead.

Trial filling of 1/4" holes with large "soft" 3/16" dia rivets. 
Will be able to get smooth top surface

3/16" rivets easily expands to fill 1/4" holes. Shallow C'sink on
bottom, so not sure if grind smooth, or leave some for strength.

Finish Kit

Trimming Cowling ( 5 hrs )

Trimmed top and bottom Cowls per Sect 45-05, Steps 1-9.   A friend building a RV-4, Rick Olson and his dad, Dean gave me a great tip to use diamond coated cutting wheels to cut fiberglass using my dremel.   Wow ! they're terrific - fast & easy with a thin kerf - yet very tough.   Less than $10 for a set on Amazon Prime.  Lots of sanding with w/ 100 grit and files to finish edges.   Next up is cutting aft edges - then begin placement on Fuse.

diamond coated cutoff wheels work great!

bottom fwd edges trimmed 

 

inside view Oil Door opening

external view Oil Door opening

progress trimming top and bottom.  Aft edges next...

Finish Kit

Cowling cont'd  ( 4 hrs )

Per Sect 45-04,  Steps 1-8, formed hinges & pins to conform to curved top of Firewall.  Beveled eyelets in curved areas for clearance.  Fluted hinges to align with Firewall - per Fig 2.  Installed all  4 hinges to Firewall.  Started fiberglass work on Cowls by marking scribe lines with fine point marker.

top hinges installed

after fluting to align with top surface

marking scribe lines...getting ready for 1st cuts

 

just mocked up, not positioned relative to spinner....yet

Finish Kit

Cowling started ( 2 hrs )

Started Sect 45, Cowling (back to Finish Kit) w/ Sect 45-02 Steps 1-4 & 45-03 Steps 1-4 for Cowl Attach Piano Hinges and Pins.  These are along top and sides of Firewall.   Then Sect 45-03 Steps 5 & 6 for Attach Hinges to join top to bottom Cowling.   Lots of time insuring substituting correct diameter (0.120" SS Pins), and measuring several times before cutting.

Avionics

Common Fuse Harness cont'd ( 2 hrs )

Climbed into fuselage to connect LH and RH Common Fuse Harnesses to Tailcone Harnesses per Sect 55, Fig 1.   LH was easy, then for RH Harness, followed Sect 56 Garmin Autopilot Servos to insert C1036 and C1037 wires/pins into connector C411P (end of RH Common Fuse Harness).   Then completed with connection to C411J at RH Tailcone Harness WH-00118.  Installed last 4 Snap Bushings and several nylon ties.   Excess harness was doubled and tied so minimal slack.