Cowl fit

I'm doing what has to be the worst task on the whole airplane... you guessed it, the cowl. I have a couple questions regarding the exact fit.

#1 - Should the bottom corners come flush with the bottom of the fuselage

#2 - I have the 4-pipe exhaust, it definately touches. I want to trim so it's at least 1" off the pipes. This may cut a ways up the cowl.

#3 - I think I have the wrong cowl for my prop extension. I have the shorter extension (4"?). The cowl probably has 6" of overlap with the firewall. It seems I can press-on and make it work, but I may have other problems fitting the cheeks. Any ideas?

#4 - Ahhhh! I just want to go flying.

If somebody can post a shot of the bottom corner of their fitted cowl (sans intesection fairing) pointed up so I can see the bottom of the plane in the background, that would rock!

Thanks,

-Bruce

Cowl fit/Exhaust

http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/7272/exhaust3gz2.jpg

Bruce, I hope these pics can help you. I am using the Vetterman 4 pipe also. I have a 2" extension for wood prop. I measure almost exactly 37" from the vertical firewall to the edge of the spinner. I have about 3/4" clearance to me exhaust tips, and my trim a little more before painting. The small hole in the bottom of the cowl is for access to the gascolator drain. Its been a while since I cut my cowl, but it seems like I cut off 4-5 inches. Good luck!

Bill E...RV-4

Powdercoat?

Bill - it looks superb! Question: Did the engine frame and gear legs come from VANS powdercoated? I am holding off having other parts (roll bar, control col & rear stick) coated until I get the finish kit. Is this a pointless delay?

Thanks, Steve.

Coatings

Bruce,
The engine mount and gear legs are not powder coated. I glass beaded the steel parts, then primed them with epoxy primer followed by Urethane Boeing 707 grey paint...same stuff all the Boeing landing gear are painted with.Any good urethane will work as good.Powder coat is good too.

Bill E.

priceless!

Thank you very very much! Exactly what I asked for. I have the anchient style cowl (12" spinner). I plan to replace the works later with a holy cowl.

-Bruce

More fitting problems: FWF ****

Some of the older -4 guys may know what I'm talking about.

I have an older (came off the RV-3) style cowl. I believe it was designd to use the longer 4" extension. I'm interfeering with just about every accessory under the engine (starter, alternator, FAB and exhaust) and it doesn't fit well under the plane either. The starter and exhaust I can probably deal with, but the alternator will require a 1+" blister and the FAB is probably simalar. I'm getting frustrated... I think I'll set it aside for a spell and ponder flight.

Potential solutions...

FAB - I'm about ready to throw my FAB accross the shop. I have the injector throttle body mixture that interfeers badly with the filter. Van's makes a plate to dolve this, but it's botch job. KIS Solution: 107deg elbow and cone filter, sell the FAB. Right now I'd rather have an induction solution than that extra 1/2" manifold.

Alternator solution - Bite the bullet, bust a 2L bottle of coke and get all fiberglass messy to build a bilter that will fit the standard alternator.

I'm really just rambling trying to work the problems while I type...

-Bruce

I found Smoky's old post with his induction system. I'm going to do that verbatum. I like the ram-air at altitude and I dont have a carburator, so I'm not concerned about getting heat to it.

Just for Bruce...

Bruce,
I recently cashed in a dead mutual fund and bought an early Harmon Rocket 2 to restore. It has a very cool and unique airbox setup for the IO-540 I thought you might be able to glean some ideas from, very similar to my Ram Air setup on the Bandit. I believe it is a Lycon or Harmon product including the 90 degree bend intake pipe from the sump...I also snapped an underbelly pic of the Bandit, don't be too hard on me for how it looks, it has 1400 hours!

Enjoy!

Smokey

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high maintenance poster

Thanks smoky! And it doesn't look dirty, it look perfect (flown).

-Bruce

Cowl Fit

I want to thank you guys for the helpful info. I'm doing a remake on N34CB (RV-4) and this is most helpful.

I have the Vetterrman 4 pipes and Will James Holy Cowl. Regarding the Holy Cowl, I ordered a kit from James Aircraft in November of 2005. I read some posts from Smokyray about the difficulty mounting the beast and just ignored the job from dread. About 6 weeks ago, out of the blue, Will James called and asked if I had installed the cowl. I whimpered a meek "no". Will said GREAT, I'll send you another one that is correct.

Turns out Will's original RV-4 cowl was patterned off of his Dad's RV-4 and not Van's plans. Will said the cowl was considerably out of whack. Will made the new cowl and sent it to me free of all costs. An A&P friend and I are currently mounting it. The task seems to be going very well and, in my opinion, is no more difficult that Van's standard kit. This is my second -4, I didn't build this one, and I've assisted in some others.

So, I hope this info helps someone as you guys have helped me.

Thanks all,

Deal Fair
George West, TX

BruceMe said:

I'm doing what has to be the worst task on the whole airplane... you guessed it, the cowl.

Click to expand...

Ouch! Each time I think I've conquered what has to be the worst part of the project , somebody tells me "wait til you do the _____".

Cowl Scowl

I'm still not done... and with my old polyester cowl, this is a truelly HORRIBLE task! Maybe someone else on the list with an epoxy/honeycomb can chime in on their level of effort. But I've spent 40hrs on mine and I'm probably another 40hrs away from done.

-Bruce

cowl work

I managed to fit my polyester cowl without too much work 15-20 hours. Then spent 10 hours with the fab airbox. Lots of fiddling taking the lower cowl on and off multiple time. Now I bit the bullet and am redoing the inlets and that may be the killer. I know how you feel.

mitigate the itch

I realize this is fiberglass 101, but to make the itches not happen... Wear longsleave t-shirts and latex gloves. I learned this one the hard way.

-Bruce

Bruce: If you have the Bendix F/I the Mixture can be modified internally so it points up and works as it should. Fwd for Rich and Aft for idle cut off. Precision Aeromotive can do it.. I have done so on my RV4 no need to cut the top of the Air Box.. Luck Dick

Richard L Bentley said:

Bruce: If you have the Bendix F/I the Mixture can be modified internally so it points up and works as it should. Fwd for Rich and Aft for idle cut off. Precision Aeromotive can do it.. I have done so on my RV4 no need to cut the top of the Air Box.. Luck Dick

Click to expand...

Dick is right, and I don't know why more people don't take advantage of this. On the new Silver Hawk order form they have this option spelled out, but they can convert any existing system if sent back to them. Here's a pic of my installation with the arm facing up...
http://www.romeolima.com/RV3works/FWF/DSC_1334.jpg

You need to dig a bit but there is info on their web site...
http://www.precisionairmotive.com

randylervold said:

Dick is right, and I don't know why more people don't take advantage of this.

Click to expand...

! OH MAN ! A Day late and a dollar short. There are a million exploding explatives in my head right now. I've already finalized a lot of my installation, but had I seen this a lot of things would have been done differently. Thanks for the post.

-Bruce