I was fitting my cooling ramp tonight and noticed something that concerns me and that may be a factor in the cracking and other issues associated with the cooling ramp.
The area where the most problem seems to occur is the front of the ramp where it rivets to the bottom of the airframe at the firewall. I observed that the mating of those two surfaces is at an angle. The bottom of the airframe is flat, the cooling ramp intercepts the front of the ramp, where the solid rivets to, at an angle which leaves a small gap between the two surfaces. This gap is removed by bending the ramp to make it level with the bottom of the airframe, which stresses the ramp.
I wonder if a small wedge spacer in that area would cause a more solid mating of the ramp and airframe thereby reducing vibration and cracking.
I was considering using some fiberglass mat and resin on the inside of the ramp to dampen vibration. Perhaps epoxy resin could be applied to the inside of the ramp at the forward rivet line and sanded to the appropriate angle to act as a spacer to fill the angle gap there. Or would the glass material there give way after awhile leaving a space between the areas and making the problem worse?
Any thoughts?