Wider Cowl Hinges

Today I started the initial fitting of my cowl side firewall hinges. I'd like to install this portion of the hinge while my engine mount is not yet installed.

My plan was to slide the hinges slightly forward to hide the hinges. I put in about 3/32" of offset clamped the hinge in place and then marked a couple of rivets through the firewall rivet holes. The result doesn't really provide the edge distance that I would like to see.

The next step is to find wider hinges at least for the firewall side. But... I'm not sure what an equivalent wider hinge is that has a 1/8" (actually 0.120" I think) hinge pin.

Anyone have any suggestions on the hinge or alternative approach.

I've been doing some preliminary work around this firewall area also, and I think the hinges would not normally be visible in a standard installation. So maybe you do not need to get another hinge or deviate from the plans...

The rolled side of the hinge faces inward, and the cowl edge butts right up to the fuselage skins, so the hinge is actually hidden underneath. The cowling installation drawing shows this detail.

From Van's about hinge and pins that should help you sort it out.

https://www.vansaircraft.com/faq-technical-builder-items/about-rv-kit-hinges/

I guess I'm not sure if that is true or not. I did notice on the seam between the upper and lower cowl pieces the drawing note does say to offset them slightly.

If you plan on having "hidden" side pins I recommend you defer fitting the firewall hinges.

The hidden side pin goes aft through the firewall to remove so you eliminate the cowl nose pin plates. When in place it also serves as a lock to keep the lower cowl firewall hinge pins in place. To do this, you first need to define the cowl top to bottom fit line. Once done, you now know the height to set the cowl firewall hinge so the side pin slides over the top of the cowl to firewall pin.

Carl

I used wider hinges, not just to hide the hinges as such, but to also present a solid look in the gap. It doesn't take a lot of offset to cover, maybe a quarter inch or so. I went for about .020 gap to make room for paint and movement - about the thickness of a 6 inch scale. When you look at the gap, what you see is painted and looks right.

Ed Holyoke

Ed,

Yes that is what I meant by hiding the hinges.

A quarter inch seems like a lot. What hinges did you use? Maybe I could just reduce the amount of offset. Maybe a 1/16" is more than sufficient. It sounds like you were able to get a pretty small gap.