Wing Root Cuffs and Cap Strip

I continued on fabricating the wing root cuffs today. I finished up the fitting of the left cuff and match drilled most of the holes in the cap strip. I also drilled the access holes for the wing pin on the left side. I will have to get new wing pins as these are too short to be able to put a clevis pin in when they are installed. The pin will have to stick out below the close out on the bottom to be able to access it with a pin.

I filed the root cuff to give the slat some room when closed.

I have to match drill the pin holes on the cap strip and the root cuff. There is a little overlap and they're not centered on each other.

Only thing left is to install the lock plates and screws.

The wing pin is too short, it will have to be longer and stick through the hole in the bottom close out.

Getting ready to reinstall the right butt rib and begin work on fitting the right cuff. I just used the left cuff as a template for the right cuff. Drew a line around it with a marker and cut it out on the band saw. Then just flipped it. I left it a little long in the dimensions so I could trim it to fit.

Starting on the right root cuff. A screw head snapped off on the top middle position when screwing it in place after match drilling the hole in the cuff. So, I'll have to pull the entire front head rack piece so I can replace the lock plate. That will be easier than trying to drill the screw out of the lock plate. Also less chance of screwing something else up while attempting a fix.

Wing Root Cuffs and Windshield/Skylight Cap Strip

This afternoon I started on the wing root cuffs. I had the factory cuffs but they were made for the standard windshield not the extreme windshield. So, this required making new cuffs. I started with a piece of card stock to get me close and then transferred it to .020 aluminum. I laid down several strips of gorilla tape for protection of the Acrylic. Quite a bit of fitting/trimming/sanding was required for a good fit. I then drilled the screw holes along the top edge and then bent the cuff around the bottom of the wing and clamped it in place while I drilled/cleco'd it in place. On to the other side tomorrow.

On a whim while out running an errand, I decided to stop by my local welder to see if he had a 48" shear and brake. Turns out he did, fantastic! I needed it to cut/bend a piece of .032 aluminum for the cap strip for the windshield/skylight. This was the last piece needed to complete the head rack. So, I had him cut/bend the piece for me. I will drill the screw holes tomorrow to finish the piece.

Initial fit of the Bottom Cowl

Here is the initial fit of the bottom cowl. Lots of things not quite right. 

I began fitting the bottom cowl first, I trimmed off some at the back edge. Then decided I needed to fit the top cowl first. Unfortunately, I had already trimmed too much off the left side, I'll have to splice a piece back on. I got lucky on the right side and have a little extra as it is now.

The front of the cowl pieces will need a lot of work to make them mesh the way they should.

Last, the cowl seam line is not level, it slopes up. Not a huge deal but, not aesthetically pleasing. I would prefer it to be level. This will require a huge amount of work to correct. Not sure I'm up to the task. I'll have to think about it.

Overall, it looks pretty good, not great. I expected it to not be a good fit as the pieces did not fit well off the plane. Back to work...

Upper Cowling

I started fitting the upper cowling today. LOTS of cutting, fitting, sanding, repeat. I think I have it pretty close. The rear edge fits the boot cowl indentation pretty good. I haven't drilled for clecos yet as I want to think about the space behind the spinner. Right now it's tight, I intentionally left the cowl long so I could gradually sand and fit for the correct spacing. I need to open up the hole I originally cut for the prop shaft so it clears the bolts on the back side of the spacer. Once I do that I can lower the front of the cowl about an inch which should center it on the spinner. The sides are long and will be trimmed to fit the bottom cowl when I have it in place. There is a bit of trimming at the back sides where the Lexan side windows are. There will be enough overlap of the cowl to go over the front edge of the Lexan, capturing it. The top of the Lexan side windows will be captured by the boot cowl as well. More work to do...

Finishing the Boot Cowl

After a week off, I'm back at it. Today I sanded all the Superfill off the boot cowl and former. I taped up around the former and painted it satin black to match. Since it's in the 100s here the paint cured pretty quick allowing me to reinstall the windshield a few hours later. I got it all reassembled to test out the fit and everything is good.

The last bit on the boot cowl it how to trim the trailing edge on each side? Because of the landing gear mount, I'm probably going to cut it short.

Boot Cowl Part Deux

I wasn't happy with the fit of the boot cowl as I had it. I was trying to make it fit the lock plates that were previously installed when I mounted the Lexan windshield. The extra thickness of the Acrylic wasn't helping either. So, after a lot of back and forth, I decided to start over. Fortunately, I hadn't trimmed too much off the boot cowl already and was able to salvage it.

First thing was to refit the boot cowl to the windshield and figure where it needed to be for the best fit. Once I determined that I set about re-drilling the boot cowl. I used the the original three holes in the center of the boot cowl. Drill and cleco, repeat. I had to drill all the way through the Acrylic and the former. I changed the location of the outer holes in an effort to move them out of the transition area (where the angle of the boot cowl changes from the down slope of the windshield to the more level slope towards the nose). I wanted them in the more flat down slope area which I was able to do. Then of course, the sides had to be re-drilled as well.

Again, I was fortunate that the sides, although moved up a bit, had just enough left on the bottom to be perfect. I ended up trimming the top of the sides down a bit. It was a 10 hour job but I got it finished, or at least 99% done. I drilled out all the original lock plates and rivets and then filled them with Superfill. I have the sanding or the Superfill and repainting of the former to be finished.

This was a really messy job that I really didn't want to do with all my avionics/engine installed. But it had to be done. I draped plastic over the engine and as best I could over the panel avionics.

The green tape was kind of a layout line just to give me some idea where I was putting the new holes.

All new holes with clecos. Before trimming on the windshield side of the boot cowl.

After trimming the windshield side of the boot cowl. I trimmed it back to the former on the underside, now they are mirror images.

More trimming on the sides.

A pic of the former from the inside, the old lock plates with the new holes with clecos and rivet washers toward the edge of the former.

New lock plates installed.

New lock plates installed, old ones removed.

Superfill time!

I had some Superfill left so I decided to filled the new flush rivet heads while I was at it.

 

Not a great pic but another detail I had to deal with was the black tab behind the plastic, it's on both sides. It is part of the door frame and was really not needed. So, I cut it flush with the back of the panel. you can see it in the pics below. I also had to cut off the top of the black piece in the foreground with the silver stripe, it stuck up too high.

Both pieces after trimming, filing and sanding. I'll touch up the paint later. I'll be off for a few days and will get back to it soon and then on to the upper/lower cowling.