rv7 charlie...........do you let the epoxy fully cure? how do you get the clecoes out of fully cured resin?
I *didn't* let it cure; I got paranoid that I'd ruin a few dozen clecos, & started riveting fairly quickly after doing the epoxy step. The clecos aren't strong enough to pull the hinge down into every variation in the 'glass surface, but the rivets will.
My original plan was to wax up the clecos, then dip them in lube (I think I used petroleum jelly). IIRC, I got in a hurry & just used the petroleum jelly, then got worried about either locking them in the assy, or ruining the clecos. So I started riveting/removing clecos while the assy was still 'wet'.
I'm pretty sure that if I'd just waited until the epoxy was 'green' (I think that's the term 'glass guys use), I could have pulled the clecos easily & nothing would have moved during the rest of the cure. In fact, I probably could have left them in through the full cure. They were old, dirty, slightly corroded, and had a layer of petroleum jelly on them. In retrospect, I'm doubtful that the West system is *that* good.
I didn't take enough photos, but looking at the ones I did take, I noticed a few other details.
Don't forget to protect the eyelets from the epoxy. I think I used removable scotch tape (like you'd use over a line of rivets) wrapped around just the line of eyelets. Tedious, but not as bad as digging the epoxy out of the eylets.
I made shims for the back 6-8 inches of the side hinges, to move the pin line inboard far enough to clear the vertical hinge line and get a little space between the firewall flange and the hole through the firewall (my pins go into the cabin). You need enough space there to drill that hole bigger for the guide tube.
IIRC, I used ratchet straps & pieces of angle to hold the 'spread' of the cowl to the same dimension it has on the firewall. To be honest, I really can't remember if I did any of the epoxy work with the cowl mounted to the firewall, but that might be worth considering, at least for the lower half. If you can maintain the spread (with the cowl off the plane) with both halves pinned together, then the eyelet line will be held permanently when the epoxy bed cures.
I just know it was a major disappointment for me to have the pins sliding in/out effortlessly when everything was cleco'd, but have them binding & needing a drill to 'turn' them in after squeezing the rivets too early.
There's a JamesAircraft group on Yahoo, if you're interested. You might get some more tips/tricks over there.
Hope the above is helpful...
Charlie
