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removing the engine cowling - RV-6

fbrewer

Well Known Member
Members,

access to our engine cowling is by removing a small 2 inch pin on both the left and right of the cowling, and the by removing the upper pin accessed through the oil inspection door.

I have not done this yet, nor have I had it demo'd to me.

I was told that the cowling is typically only removed when doing oil changes (every 50 hours for us).

It is odd for me to not inspect under the cowling (Beechcraft Debonair 1966) as I do on my other airplane during every preflight.

Is this common practice in the RV-6 world?
 
You will probably get varying opinions, but removing the upper cowl for preflight is something I don?t do. Just like most Cessnas or some Pipers where you just get a glimpse in the oil door, you use a flashlight and look around. I do pull my cowl at 25 hr intervals though. Others may wait until the 50 hr oil change.
 
Remove top cowling on RV-6 for Pre-Flight

Our RV6 is kept in the hanger & we also have ?Bruce Custom Covers? inlet air & induction duct plugs installed after every flight as well as a pitot cover. We install these when it?s in the hanger or parked outside.
That said?on every preflight we use a high quality flashlight to inspect the air inlets to cylinders & carburetor & thru the oil access door & cowling Exhaust outlet; for airworthiness issues.
 
Hey Brewer I'm new to ownership of the 6A also.
I have owned and flown many aircraft...I like any plane like my citabria where you could lift a cowl and look at half of the engine. Open the other side and not much you can't see, other than the bottom. You cannot beat that in a preflight in my opinion. But most planes you can only see through the oil door. You can't do much about it, other than flashlight around(which doesn't see a whole lot). This makes me very prudent to fix and address any little tiny issue at all when the plane is naked (de cowled). This is because i am not looking in here for another 50 hrs or greater.... For me no way am i taking off that cowl if I don't have a reason to.

Also to pirate your thread-
my plane, have to remove the prop to take the lower cowl off.
has anyone seen this before or have drawings to correct?
we think some of it has to do with the front baffling extending to far out. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
 
The lower cowl should not require the removal of the propeller. I have removed several cowls from RV's and that was never the case.
 
my plane, have to remove the prop to take the lower cowl off.
has anyone seen this before or have drawings to correct?
we think some of it has to do with the front baffling extending to far out. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

This is definitely not the norm. You need to purchase a set of preview drawings from Vans for your 6A. Carefully study the drawings to see how the airbox baffling and cowl trim around the nose gear is designed. Also, have an experienced 6A builder look at your plane and figure out what you need to do to enable cowl removal with the prop installed.

You are in Florida, fly up to Jesse Saint and have him look at your cowl installation.
 
This is definitely not the norm.

When I switched from 2-blade to the 3-blade Catto it became much more difficult to remove the lower.

I think there is a thread here about which direction to extend the gear leg opening to make it less of a pain.
 
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