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Cowl work before engine?

glongpilot

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Should I hold off on doing any cowl work until I get the engine or is it okay to do some work like cut to within 1/8" of the scribe lines, etc.? For 912ULS. I assume final work should wait for the engine being mounted in order to get proper spacing and fit for prop etc.
 
Cowl work before engine

I asked the same question about a year ago and the advice was to wait until the powerplant is hung and has had a chance to "settle" It seemed like good advice and am following it.
 
Don, thanks for your quick reply and I too will follow this advice. I will send you an email if that is okay.
 
I know you're eager but you really need to wait until the engine is hung. I have a Lycoming in my plane and it definitely sagged as time went on. The sagging on the engine mounts continued for maybe three years.
 
If you search for Dan Hortons post here about cowl work, you will see there is a couple of days of work that can be done prior to engine arrival.

The work is basically matching the two halves by creating a 13" circle from waste plywood and a another board that is the height of the firewall. Use these to set the relative positions of the cowls and then measure the inlet gaps to get them even. Once this is done, decide on the front split line location. Reads Dan's post for the rest. My memory of details wanes.

Post is here:
http://www.vansairforce.com/community/showpost.php?p=461049
 
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Don?t cut close until engine is mounted. Unlike the other RVs the cowl is very flexible without the cooling duct installed which may explain miss matching. Scribe lines for mine and a few others were off quite a bit to center cowl with proper prop spacing. I left about 3/8? outside scribe on left side to center.
 
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