Tip: Baffle Trimming Gadget

[szicree]

My baffle instructions say to trim the upper baffles to within 3/8 of the upper cowl, but how exactly? I think the standard approach is to take off a little, put cowl on, take cowl off, trim some more, repeat. I've already spent nearly a decade on this thing so I had to find a better way. The pics below show what I did. Get some foam core board from the local office supply and some shish-kebob skewers from the market. Make a mockup of the baffle piece out of the foamboard and trim the top down much lower than the actual part will be. Now jab a whole bunch of the skewers into the foam core and push em down so that only a half inch sticks up. Bolt the foamboard in place, install cowl, and reach in any way you can and pull skewers up until they hit the cowl. You've now got a very nice template for the baffle trimming. I know it sounds pretty goofy, but it worked very well.

[pierre smith]

Hi Steve,
Guys have used paper clips on the baffles to tell them when the baffles are no longer interfering with the cowl. The amount that the paper clips stick up above the baffle=distance from cowl.

Pierre

[Rick6a]

Originally Posted by szicree

My baffle instructions say to trim the upper baffles to within 3/8 of the upper cowl, but how exactly?

An alternative.

http://www.vansairforce.com/communit...ad.php?t=10625

[flyeyes]

Originally Posted by szicree

(snip) I know it sounds pretty goofy, but it worked very well.

Steve, that is beautiful.