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.

Boot Cowl

I started trimming the boot cowl today. I'll have a lot of sanding and finishing to do. Then I can start fitting the upper and lower cowl.

Boot Cowl

Slow progress as the heat has returned. Today, I located and drilled the holes in the sides of the boot cowl and started thinking about how to trim the sides.

Extreme Windshield Boot Cowl

I started work on the boot cowl today. First task was to get it to fit as good as I could before drilling any holes. Then I used my hole finder to locate the center hole on the windshield former and drilled the matching hole. I proceeded slowly until all the matching holes were drilled being careful not to change the alignment.

Comm Antennas

I did some research on painting the comm antennas and found out that you can paint them as long as you don't use paint with metal in it such as metal flake paint. I wasn't happy with the bright white antennas on my silver and black scheme. I wanted to paint them satin black to match. So I did. I used a two part epoxy rattle can.

I think they look a lot better. Oh, and I found out that they are painted a polyurethane white at the factory. After I hooked them back up I turned on the radios and they worked fine. I'll hook a test meter up to them anyway to verify.

Radiator

I worked on the radiator support brackets. Got them roughed in and they provide plenty of support.

Radiator

After a conversation with Steve Henry, I started fabricating a bracket for the radiator. Steve gave me measurements and sent a couple of pics of his mount and I started with that. I ended up making a second one out of thicker material (.063 vs. .050) and a little larger (8" vs 7") and am happy with it.

I have bracing to make for it but it is mounted and has plenty of clearance for the hoses.

Acrylic Extreme Windshield

I trimmed up the windshield using the saw but still have some final sanding to finish the fitment. I had to cut out around the top of the door frame (black piece) as it is Hysol'd in place and the windshield can't fit behind it. I drilled all the holes across the former on the firewall. It all lines up as it should. Nice fit.

Acrylic Extreme Windshield and Skylight

I trimmed the rear of the skylight today. I had to wait for a new tool (Milwaukee Cut Off Saw) to arrive and it came yesterday. I purchased it to cut the acrylic windshield but I decided to test it out on the less expensive skylight. It worked like a champ.

Before

Before

After

Turtle Deck Slot

I received my acrylic extreme windshield from Richard Holtz at Aircraft Plastics. It's beautiful! It's already tinted for heat rejection and UV blocking.

I had to toss it on to check it out. It actually fits pretty well out of the box. It will take a bit of fitting but not too bad.

After trimming the top edge and drilling the screw holes.

After the initial pass with the cut off saw. I will sand the remainder until it fits the way I want it.

Once it fits at the firewall correctly, I'll trim the sides to fit and drill the screw holes. Then I'll fit the boot cowl.

Wing Closeout, Doors

I finished cutting and fitting the right wing closeout this past weekend. Nothing big to report, went as expected. There is a bit of trimming to do on the leading edge side but that will come later as I cut and fit the wing root cuffs. I need the windshield in place for those.

I previously built the passenger door (many months ago - pre-covering). When I went to fit it for the hinge, I realized that I hadn't taken into consideration the A-Pillar cover I just installed last week. So, the door didn't fit correctly. I also noticed that I didn't have it square to the door opening in the fuselage, meaning that there would be some tweaking necessary to get it square. As a result, I had to rebuild the door. After trying to "fix" it by drilling out some selective rivets, that didn't work, so I drilled them all out and started over. 

With sixteen joints and eight aluminum tubes to manage I finally resorted to super glue to "tack" the pieces together. It worked pretty good. If I had to take a joint apart or reposition it, I used my MAP gas hand held torch to heat up the joint and release the super glue. Once I was happy with the fit I set about re-riveting all the pieces together. After riveting a couple of pieces, I would set the door back in place to be sure nothing moved before moving on. Eventually, I finished. Fits much better now but there are a few holes to fill to make it look good.

The door is just held in place by spring clamps at the top where the hinge will be, just hanging in place You can see the orange tips of the clamps. There are also a couple of 1/8th inch paint stirs used as spacers for the hinge.

Getting close...

Not quite there...

The final fit.

Looking aft showing how the center piece bows out...

Now starting on the left door, same process but from scratch. I am using the right door as a starting point on the aluminum tube lengths. This should get me real close, but will take some time to get it right.

After this fits correctly, then on to the optional "windows", they are another frame that fits inside the upper portion of the door. They will open out and allow airflow without opening the door. Could be handy in Phoenix.