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Sam James Cowl

AlphaCharlieBravo

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Hopefully you can see pics now.


I need a little help guys.

My Sam James cowl has been fitted up nicely to the firewall. All the Skybolt fasteners installed.

I used the alignment tool from Flyboys which I really liked.

At the inside of the inlet rings to the spinner opening I have some misalignment and want to know the best way to remedy this.

I started tonight to build the flange behind the lower cowl but it sits proud of the upper cowl.



Thank you
Arnie
 
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Are you following Sams Instructions?

Well - you are into it now . . .

It has been a while since I installed mine, but thought the inlet rings came a bit earlier. Regardless, nothing that can not be reglassed.

Hard to see what happened w/o numbers.

Do the face alignment of the spinner ring flat area last. They ay stagger front/rear.

Trimming the split line a little along outside of the inlets can lower the inside. Just mind the diameter of the inlet holes.

Allow the top to settle on the lower half - don't try to force it our end up fighting installation forever.

To get the halves to repeatedly fit the same, the inlet rings will have to be installed.

The gap between upper/lower between the cooling inlet and prop ring comes before the stagger of the nose ring. In fact, there are tricks to make that area flat to match the prop. Not unusual.

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Arnie,

You might have put the sky bolts in
A little early.

Can be fixed as Bill is saying.

Is a slow process but you will love
It when you are done.

Boomer
 
When I'm home from work Ill post a few pics and then Ill comment . Thanks.




Anyhow a little narrative.

I started with the folding rings and set the horizontal line. There is a 13" ring marked on the back of the aluminum from Flyboys (same concept as using the wood disk).

I lined up the spinner opening and cleckoed it to the ring and then got the inlet openings in the fiber glass perfectly level. Tacked it in place on the side with scrap aluminum.

Then hung the bottom cowl and again tacked it under the firewall. The corners of the lower cowl dictate where it can go, left , right , up or down.

From this point was the iterative process of course of trimming sanding , wash rinse repeat.

Again the front of the cowling was secured at the same location through this process. So I have a 3/32 gap on the sides and the top and along the horizontal line. All the skybolts are exactly spaced and the cowling is in a relaxed, no forced position.

When I removed the aluminum false spinner ring last night it shows the front inside curves not mating up. Maybe the pics make it look worse than it is . It is 1/8th on the left side and 3/16 on the right side.

I threw a pic in of the level so you can see the 3 points of contact are perpendicular to the thrust line. So the cowl floats away towards the middle of the spinner.

I dont have a problem cleaning up the front edge with some micro/epoxy to have it be perfectly flush, just trying to wrap my head around the curved part, since the flange I will build on the lower cowl needs to extend behind the upper cowl.


Thanks all.
Arnie

The holes are currently 5 1/4" OD so the cowling where shown is where its going to be.


Ill just add that the tool from Flyboys is the bomb diggity. I was able to set the length to accommodate my 4" Saber prop extension and take into account the .55 flange on the Catto spinner and then set spinner clearance.
 
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I can't see the latest photos, so here's my thoughts based on your first post.

- I found the excess fiberglass at the propeller ring and inlet rings was obstructing the fit up. Cut it back to the finished rough dimension now.
- Do not fabricate the flange now! I think your next step should be molding the channel the inlet rings sit on. That will create new and different obstructions to the fit up to be solved. Something to look forward to!
- Like BillL said ... for success you need the two halves to go together repeatably in exactly the same position. Use a marker to make some witness marks.
- I had very similar left-right misalignment on the pilot side intake. I solved this by fairing the curve up to the ring.
- I also found the lower cowl sitting slightly proud of the upper cowl between the intakes and the propeller. I fabricated the flanges, and then sanded the lower cowl back to match the upper. When fabricating the flanges, consider where you will be putting the fastenners.

Note, we've worked on the cowl for months. Be consoled that the area between the intakes and the propeller isn't very noticeable behind the propeller.

Good luck!
 
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