Engine Update May 2009 Updates
May 22, 2009
Cowl Work.... - 7.0 hrs

As I have been drilling the larger holes for the camlocks I have been doing every other one so as to keep holes for clecos to maintain the alignment. I have been drilling thru the cowl and strip to 15/16 for the grommet hole in the cowl. Then removing the cowl and drilling out the bigger hole in the strip.

When I got the sides done I was still have trouble getting the cams to unlock without reaching inside and holding pressure on the back of the cam mech. So I really did not want to rivet the strips in place yet. I will test lock some of them and try that next just to make sure. It may turn out I need to make thicker strips. That would be a bummer because the cams are expensive and I am not sure how easy it would be to drill them out to reuse.

Anyway the test lock proved to be the trick. Once the cams are set to the right depth and locked they don't rotate anymore so the quarter turn to unlock works.

I am glad I only used the retainer rings on a few of the studs and grommets. These are going to be a bugger to get back off and I am not sure how the painters do it. But I only need to hold off until I prime the cowl and then I can put them on for good. In the mean time I just have to be careful when I remove them not to loose em. By the end of the day I had the sides done and all of the top edge. I started on the bottom sides but it was getting late and on the bottom one the drill hits the engine mount bolt so I called it a day since I have to remove the cowl again to complete the holes.



This website was built to document my work in compliance with the FAA requirements needed to certify my aircraft.
My experiences and comments are by no means to be considered as instructions on how to build any aircraft.