How to finish the inside of the cowl?

[Steve Sampson]

I am wondering how I should finish the inside of the cowl? I dont want it soaking up oil drips etc., but am not too concerned about cosmetics.

Any suggestions as to how to finish it in a neat and practical way?

A coat of thinned out resin seems like one option. Is there an aluminium paint that would go straight on? Ideas please.

Thanks,

[robertahegy]

Hi Steve,

I used the thinned epoxy to coat mine. I used that self stick heat shield from Van's in the area near the exhaust sytem. That's it. Doing fine.

Roberta

[Jim P]

This is good timing, I'm just starting to do mine as well. I was planning on a light sanding, followed by thinned resin treatment. I was going to finish it off with a good hi-temp white enamel paint to help keep it clean. Nor sure about practice, but it sounded good in theory.

Jim

[Norman CYYJ]

I have done the same as Roberta in all the RV's that I have built. Works great and easy clean up.

[trib]

I just finished mine as Jim P describes. Thinned west system epoxy with about 2 parts epoxy plus 1 part thinner. Sand first with 80 grit and then apply the epoxy with a foam brush. Afterward, I used Rustoleum pro white spray paint for ease in spotting any problems later. The entire process is only a few hours work. This will pale to the exterior of the cowling when you start filling and sanding to get rid of the holes and smooth everything out. You'll spend more time thinking about how to do something different than you'll save using the tried and true method

[Bob Brown]

When my exhaust cracked, I found a strong exhaust gas residue on the aluminum I had applied onto my epoxy coated cowl, ala Van's instructions. While it's a no-brainer that this thin aluminum would be no match for a serious contest with exhaust gases...I was glad it was there nontheless, and I think it did prevent further damage to my cowl.

I also used that same aluminum backed adhesive above the halogen lights in my wingtips. Before attaching them, I hooked them up to power and left them on for an hour to do a heat check and the wingtip was HOT. After putting the adhesive backed aluminum inside the wingtip and running the same test, the wingtip was cool to the touch. Big difference.

My simple conclusion? The aluminum provides a radiant heat barrier that white paint isn't going to match...