Cowl Hinge

I was wondering for those of you that have attached and fitted your cowling, did you have any issues with the hinge on the right side? My hinge is 21 ⅞" per the drawing and the pilot hole is 23/32" from the end per plans. However, the first eyelet is in the way once you get the pin inserted, so you can't bend it around the clasp on the firewall. It also looks like it is too short on the end by the motor mount. I have triple checked my measurements. Thanks.

I had to put a slightly more than 90 degree bent in mine but worked fine. Had them on and off a dozen or more times now.

I also had to overbend mine. I'm thinking you could shave some off that eyelet if you wanted to, also.

My wonder is if these hinge pins located this way aren't going to be a real PITA to remove and insert. The RV-10 has a system for installing from the top outside, and it works well. I don't have short arms, but reaching in through the oil door may not be a spectacular arrangement for these. I'll have to do it a few times and see how it goes, but I can forsee modifying things a bit later perhaps.
Tim

Upside Down

Ron B. said:

I had to put a slightly more than 90 degree bent in mine but worked fine. Had them on and off a dozen or more times now.

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Thanks for the response. Another builder pointed out that I installed it upside down anyway, so I will have to flip it. I'm starting to wonder if I should get checked for dyslexia. It's not the first part I have installed upside down.

jswareiv said:

Thanks for the response. Another builder pointed out that I installed it upside down anyway, so I will have to flip it. I'm starting to wonder if I should get checked for dyslexia. It's not the first part I have installed upside down.

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And the bend in your pin is not 90 degrees.
The pin is meant to be sprung a bit to go into the notch so it stays put.

I did a follow-up check of the dimensions for the hinge pieces and the pins on the RV-14 prototype while I had the cowl off for something else, and they exactly match the dimensions in the drawing.

rvbuilder2002 said:

I did a follow-up check of the dimensions for the hinge pieces and the pins on the RV-14 prototype while I had the cowl off for something else, and they exactly match the dimensions in the drawing.

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Are they easy enough to get to and remove or would it be worth trying to put those cam locks in that area? Tim had stated they may be hard to get to and remove. Thanks.

jswareiv said:

Are they easy enough to get to and remove or would it be worth trying to put those cam locks in that area? Tim had stated they may be hard to get to and remove. Thanks.

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Takes me less than 2 minutes to remove the top cowl on either the RV-14 or 14A.

The pins are probably harder to get at than on an RV-10, but that doesn't make it hard.

Camlocks don't make removal easier, if the retainers are used. That locks them in places requiring the cowl to be flexed a lot to get them out of the receptacles. Some people leave off the retainers and have the camlocks fall out when they disengage them.

FWIW I used hinges per the plans on my RV-8A. The upper cowl hinges are very easy to remove by reaching through the oil door. Takes a few seconds longer to re-install, but not bad at all. I've never understood the appeal of camlocs...some builders spend a lot of money on them as an 'upgrade', but I've used them on certified birds and have always felt Vans' design using hinges is faster, looks nicer, and less expensive as well. The only place I used screws on my -8A was along the bottom of the cowl and on the inside of each inlet next to the spinner.

Hinge pins

Mark
Please tell me more about installing upper cowl hinge pins when built per plans. I'm building 7A and just put the hinges on fire wall. I tried putting in the smaller pins and they bind a lot going around the corner. Will this improve when the other half of the hinge is riveted to cowl? I'm thinking camlocs because this pin is so difficult to out in.

sglynn said:

Mark
Please tell me more about installing upper cowl hinge pins when built per plans. I'm building 7A and just put the hinges on fire wall. I tried putting in the smaller pins and they bind a lot going around the corner. Will this improve when the other half of the hinge is riveted to cowl? I'm thinking camlocs because this pin is so difficult to out in.

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What I did on my -8A was to bend the pins somewhat (they don't need to be bent to conform exactly to the shape of the firewall hinge curvature, but some bend helps). Then I filed the end of the pin to a point, but only file it on the outside of the curve. This helps prevent the point from catching on individual eyelets as you install it. Finally, give the pin a good coating of Boelube (candle wax or other dry lubricants will probably work just as well).

One thing about the RV-8 is that the top of the cowl is almost continuously curved which might make it easier to pre-bend the hinge pin to approximately match the shape, whereas the side-by-side RVs have a significant section along the top of the firewall that is straight, and the pin has to pass through the straight section of hinge before it curves down around the side. So what I did on the -8 may not work as well on your -7. With thousands of them flying, hopefully someone else can offer better input specific to the -7 or -14 to make pin insertion/extraction as easy as possible.