Holy cowl questions

[Charles in SC]

I have been trying to learn a little about these cowls as compared to Van's.
How does the quality compare, what about install time. I am going with an IO- 360 with constant speed prop. Any other info or thoughts would be welcome as well. I searched on this and could not find much and most of it was several years old.
Thanks!

 

[msturgis]

I have been trying to learn a little about these cowls as compared to Van's.
How does the quality compare, what about install time. I am going with an IO- 360 with constant speed prop. Any other info or thoughts would be welcome as well. I searched on this and could not find much and most of it was several years old.
Thanks!

I think most of the cowls require a prop extension.. That will restrict the amount of Gs you can place on the plane.

 

[frankh]

You need to join the James aircraft yahoo group. The g limit will not limit any aerobatics you can reasonably do with an rv

Frank

 

[N941WR]

Go with the short cowl, you won't need the extension, thus no G limits.

From what I've seen, the SJ cowl has fewer pin holes and it isn't pink.

 

[Bruce]

Charles,

Check the other thread going on Catto props.
I am using the SJ cowl & plenum. Great quality
and it will be some work.
I have the ECi IO-360 Horizontal. I had to
use the long cowl because of the horizontal.
With that said I had to order the M hub for
the engine.

Hope this helps,

 

[cjensen]

I have been trying to learn a little about these cowls as compared to Van's.
How does the quality compare, what about install time. I am going with an IO- 360 with constant speed prop. Any other info or thoughts would be welcome as well. I searched on this and could not find much and most of it was several years old.
Thanks!

Hey Charles,

Take the advice of Frank and join the yahoo group...I did my SJ cowl this summer. It's a lot of work, but it's probably about the same amount of work as the Van's cowl would be. Mine is a custom length cowl that Will made for me, and even being custom, it was not bad at all to work with (though I can honestly say I was getting sick and tired of working on it toward the end of August). The cowl and plenum did take ALL summer to do (started in June), and I worked on it a good 8-10 hours a week. As I write this, the cowl is to the point of having the rings done, and the piano hinge is installed. I've had the cowl on and off the airplane many times to fit the plenum, and the remaining items would be to fit the neoprene hose to the rings and plenum, install the oil door (it's cut out, but not done) and then the finishing fiberglass work...pin holes. That will happen next spring/summer.

Regardless of how much work it takes, I think this cowl option is so much more about the look than anything else. Maybe the numbers prove otherwise, maybe they don't. I didn't do it for speed or cooling...I did it for looks!



Oh...if you do have a CS prop, you don't need the extension. The hub takes it's place...

 

[ArVeeNiner]

I'm in the middle of fitting my SJ cowl. I'm just about ready to install the two big rings then move on to the air filter box. It's been taking a long time but from what I've read, the work is very similar to the Van's cowl. The oil door on the SJ cowl is a bit more difficult than the Van's but once you understand how to go about it, it's not that bad. See my posts about it on VAF.

Overall, it's not hard but tedious but I think ANY cowl you hand fit is going to be that way. I have to say though, I LOVE the look! With the amount of Van's aircraft out there, this cowl will make mine a bit unique and will put a smile on my face.

 

[frankh]

yes I love the look of mine too.

Chad, you are right about the C/S prop but ONLY if your using the shorty cowl and a C hub prop. The long cowl (like mine) needs an M hub or a 2.625" extension and a C hub.

its important to understand the difference.

Frank

 

[Radomir]

The only way 2 5/8" extension will work is if you use it from day one during initial fitting of the cowl.. If you're switching from FP to CS with SJ cowl.. that extension would be *way* too long and you'll end up with a ridiculous gap between spinner and cowl.

Most people would use 2 1/4" extension when retrofitting.. and I had to use 1 3/4" apparently because I fitted with Sensenich spinner instead of Vans FP spinner.

 

[cjensen]

yes I love the look of mine too.

Chad, you are right about the C/S prop but ONLY if your using the shorty cowl and a C hub prop. The long cowl (like mine) needs an M hub or a 2.625" extension and a C hub.

its important to understand the difference.

Frank

Ah, yep, thanks for the clarification Frank...