G

Geoff

Regarding the hinges that attach the aft bottom edge of the lower cowl to the fuselage... How do you get the pins in and out with the exhaust pipes in the way?

There must be really obvious answer to this (other than to scrap the hinges and use screws in this location)...

Thanks.
-Geoff
 
My pins are long enough that I can put each one between the exhaust pipes and the bottom of the cowl, with enough length "left over" on the other side of the pipes to push them in. So, putting in the rightside pin, for example, there is enough pin to clear the pipes on the left side, and that's what I push on to get the pin all the way in. This all assumes there is sufficient gap between the pipes and the bottom of the fuse to get the pins between the pipes and the fuse, though. The pins are bent at the exposed ends such that there are two inch long lengths that I safety wire together to hold them in place.

Geoff said:
Regarding the hinges that attach the aft bottom edge of the lower cowl to the fuselage... How do you get the pins in and out with the exhaust pipes in the way?

There must be really obvious answer to this (other than to scrap the hinges and use screws in this location)...

Thanks.
-Geoff
Click to expand...
 
Camlocks

We used three camlocks on either side of the bottom cowl and camlocks on the top rear of the top cowl, spaced 4" apart.......clean and easy. Buy them from Spruce and they'll be there in a couple of days.
Regards,
 
Flexible PipeMounts

I did use the pins (I made a consious decision to stick with the stock cowl mounting system unless they started breaking), and find that I only have to push the pipe up about a half inch to give myself room to put the pins in. I figure that is one benefit from the rubber hose pipe shock mounting from Vetterman.

It's tight, but it works for me.

Paul
 
Bottom Hinge Pins vs. Cam Locks

My RV-6A had bottom hinge pins and the hinges were a real maintaince problem as well as being a pain to remove with a hot engine. I went with three cam locks on each side instead of the bottom hinge pins on my RV-10 and love them.

Russ Daves
N710RV (flying)
 
Us "older" guys started out with the hinges across the bottom back in the early '90s. The inboard eyes of the hinges started breaking off after a few years. After replacing the hinges several times, most of us went to screws or camlocks.
 
Geoff,

On my O-360, I was able to push the exhaust pipes down low enough that there is just enough room to push those pins in without having to move anything. And the pipes still clear the lower lip of the cowl with about 1/2" to spare. YMMV.

Just about everyone I know has gone to an alternate method of securing the lower cowl. I guess I'm either hardheaded or lazy (or both). I went with the standard Van's setup. After 135 hours, still no breakage. I know that's not a whole lot of time, but others have told me their's broke long before that.

I would make a couple of recommendations if you do decide to stick with the stock method. First, take a lot of care with the fit of the hinges. The pins should go in easily and not put any pre-load on the hinges. Make sure that when you epoxy the cowl portion of the hinge that you let it set up with just clecos holding it. After the epoxy/flox mixture has cured, then LIGHTLY set the rivets. Second, I used a rattail needle file to file a slight radius where the eyelet meets the flange of the hinge (see the bright spot in the blurry picture below). This serves to stress relieve the hinge at the most vulnerable point. Finally, if you have the O-360 engine, make sure you have enough clearance between the FAB and the left side of the cowl air scoop. The FAB has to be mounted significantly off center to achieve this clearance. I could be wrong, but I think the source of some of the breakage could be coming from the FAB hitting the cowl when the engine does its shaking during startup and shutdown.


 
Mel said:
Us "older" guys started out with the hinges across the bottom back in the early '90s. The inboard eyes of the hinges started breaking off after a few years. After replacing the hinges several times, most of us went to screws or camlocks.
Click to expand...

Lol! How true. It's usually not if they'll break, but when. Heck in a desparate attemtp to make the hinge thing work, on the last RV I even used some really nice extruded 1/8" hinge (salvaged from a 747 pylon mod project), stress relieved and all. 5 years later I lost one eye, to whit I kept flying (dumb), because next the hinge pin itself broke. Try getting a half broken pin out....you can't. Finally drilled off the entire hinge and put in camlocks.

Like Kirk Said, Do yourself a favor and just put screws or camlocks there to begin with. After several of these RV's, I can't think of any good reason not to, but I can think of a lot or reasons TO!

Cheers,
Stein.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.