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Cowl Oil Door

77bonanza

Active Member
What type of fastener do you recommend for the oil door? There has to be a better solution than the fasteners recommended by Van’s.
 
I replaced the "Winged" studs with camloc 26S8-4; seemed the simplest and mostly solved my issue with things sticking out into the boundary layer...

There are dozens of really cool ideas running around on the forum (hidden latch, press to release, double cam action split fasteners, etc etc.)
 
I used Camlock KM610 flush latches and a spring hinge from Cleveland Tools. Looks clean and works great. Make sure you get Camlocks for the correct thickness (e.g., 0.064 inch).
 

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Spring Hinge and SkyBolt 1/4 fasteners

The trick to the nice fit was to use an English wheel to shape the aluminum door for a good fit, giving the door a good coating of mold release, and buttering it in well with micro. Once the micro dried I sanded the excess off to the surface of the door, popped the door out, and carefully sanded back the edges of the door. I'll be able to adjust this as necessary when it comes time for paint.

The aluminum reinforcement inside the cowl was bonded in with some remaining proseal and riveted in place. This most likely wasn't required, and surely adds some weight, but I doubt I'll ever have problems with it. YMMV.

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RV14 oil door

Mine are flush latches Hartwell H-5000-2. There are many references (depht, thickness and offset depending door and cowl thicknesses).

I preferred to orient the latches in the axis of the plane due the curvature of the oil door on the RV14.
The Cleaveland hinge need a spacer on the cowl attach to keep the oil door flush on it.

I had to fill the Van's holes on the door with flox and compo.
 

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The cowl opening doesn't seem to need any reinforcement, but the door does, in particular if cowl pressure is raised with an exit size reduction.

This door has between six and ten plies of 9 oz glass (don't remember exactly) added to the inside of the glass door, and it still bends a little when the exit is closed down; the load is about 10 lbs. An error on my part; this would have been a good application for carbon's stiffness.

Tg for West epoxy may be a factor too, as well as the single latch.
 

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Easy curvature match

I just cut the door out of the cowl with Dremel diamond wheel. The curf is so thin it leaves small gap than can be optimized to your preference with micro. As dan suggests, stiffeners may be required on the back side.
 
Similar to Dans

Mine is similar to Dans, but made from .063" aluminum. Singe pushbutton Hartwell latch I liberated from some big jet left overs. No great pictures on hand..in this shot its unlatched. Painted the mechanism red so it stands out if open, which I do on purpose after hangaring to remind me I haven't checked oil before flight.
 

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I ga-ron-tee if you use piano hinge as a latch you will have zero bulging at any corner of your oil door.

One of my lasting regrets with how I did the 6A oil door 25-odd years ago was those kit-supplied elevated wing latches catching my hand and the polishing cloths every daggone time I worked around the upper cowl. Flat profile is the only way to go here.

I won't keep beating this drum but I am very happy with the combo of gooseneck flush hinge and piano hinge flush invisible latch. Easy to implement, secure as a vault, totally flush and smooth, zero cost using building scraps.
 
Thanks for all the responses and photos. Looking forward to using one of the recommendations.

Happy New Year all!
 
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