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Payback for moving the plane to the garage and having half of your tools in the workshop... it rained good and hard all night. Made several trips in the cold rain to get whatever I needed to proceed.

Tonight I wanted to at least see where the cowl lies. Before I did that, I had to enlarge the holes in the spinner backplate to 3/4" so they could fit around the lugs. Then I made 5.25" PVC spacers for the prop bolts. Next I clecoed the top skin on and marked 2" behind the front edge. A masking tape line defines this line quite well. And finally, the cowl is placed on top with the required 1/4" gap at the front.

Called it a night after I was plenty wet and cold. But that's the price I gotta pay if I want this thing to fly this year.

I read in the instructions to have the exhaust fitted before doing the cowl. Better bolt that on before I go too far with the cowl.

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Sanded the top cowl half flat using a long sanding bar and 60 grit. Then it was time to match the front half to make a perfect circle. Not as easy and intuitive as I first thought. Went to various websites for guidance including Jeff's cowl page.

In the end I realized I needed to sand the inside part of the top cowl more. Getting to the point where I have a nice circle on the front and ready to clamp and drill the front part. Also realized I have to trim away the flange on the lower part.

I have a feeling that with the cowl you just learn as you go and trim where needed. As my helper Paul says, "hammer to fit, paint to match".

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Drilled the front of the cowl tonight. Before I did that, I did some more sanding to get a good fit between the halves. Here you can see how I filed some at the seam to get a nice, crisp line.

Unfortunately, my cowl halves are not the same length on the inboard edges. You can see it in the second picture. So I only put two holes. Not sure what to do here. Cut the other half to match or graft on some glass...

Put the cowl on the fuse to mark the cut line. Will double check it before I cut it.

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Tonight I went to Paul's hangar to cut some .063 mounting strips 1.75" wide. He didn't have much .063 sheet left so I had to make the top piece two sections of 22 inches. I'll put a strap across them later.

Drilled them into position with the top skin and firewall.

Then it was time to position and cut the lower cowl. I measured back the required 2 inches. Then I moved 1/16" back from that to allow for a paint gap. When all was said and done, the general shape of the cut is good. But I have about a 3/32 gap between the cowl and firewall now. My options are to live with a larger cowl/spinner gap or build up some material on the front part of the cowl. Maybe some 1/16 lite ply with fiberglass over that. We'll see.

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With everything clamped where I wanted it, I drilled the top cowl to the camloc mounting strips with a No. 30 drill.

Cut the nose gear leg slot in the lower cowl and roughly placed in position to get a feel of where to start trimming.

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After running errands in the morning (an excuse for the weather to warm up), I finally did some real work on my off day. When I fit the lower cowl it seemed to shift the spinner to the left (pilot's side) of the plane. Wasn't too happy with this. The upper cowl was centered with the lower cowl off.

A fellow RV-7 guy emailed me and mentioned that 4" camloc spacing was too far apart and 3.5" would work fine. The day before I drilled mine at 3.875". So using the cowl shift and spacing issues as my excuse, I drilled new camloc mounting strips to the upper surface. This time they are .050" thick since Paul didn't have more .063".

So I basically started over and drilled the top cowl into position after trimming it more carefully so it was in a stress free state at rest. I didn't drill it completely until I got the lower half in position.

Fitting the lower half goes really smoothly once the top is where you want it. Just follow the instructions and trim the bottom first. Then you can lift it up into position. I drilled the sides from the bottom up ensuring a good fit between the halves on the horizontal.

In the end here's what I have. The spinner gap is not even and it's pretty ugly. I'm allowing for engine sag but it appears that I'll have to do some glass work on the nose to make it look pretty.

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Using the larger hinge material, I cut the side hinges to length. Drilled #40 pilot holes at 1" spacing on the lower hinge section and two upper pilot holes near the front.

After a little more trimming the upper and lower halves for a nice gap, I drilled the side hinges on the lower half. Then I placed the cowl on the plane and drilled the upper half into position. Did it just like Jeff did on his cowl.

Still have to figure out what to do with the hinge pin. Some people hide it very well others leave it stock which is not the most asthetically pleasing.

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Odds and ends tonight. Countersunk the camloc strips. Drilled hole in firewall for mixture cable. Removed exhaust to rivet the firewall on the bottom in that area. Had to use MK-319BS blind rivets here because there was no way they could be bucked or squeezed with the nose gear/motor mount in the way.

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After reinstalling the exhaust, I mounted the EGT probes 2" from the cylinder exit. I then installed the threaded CHT bosses into the cylinders with a little anti-seize compound.

First thing is to drill the rivet holes for the camlocs using their drill jig. After that, I riveted on the camlocs using the supplied cherry max rivets. Tried using solid rivets at first but I think the shop heads may be too big and not give enough 'float' to the camlocs.

After the camlocs were riveted to their strips, I riveted on the camloc mounting strip to the fuselage. Put a little black RTV between the fuselage side skins and firewall.

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After installing the camloc inserts and grommets, I put the cowl on. Adjusted the depth so that the camloc is flush with the surface of the grommet. Then I removed the pins so the camlocs snap in place.

Looks pretty sharp with them installed!

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For a minor fee, Craig at Catto Props custom fit my spinner to the prop. Here I am putting 15 #8 nutplates on the spinner backplate.

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Many people say this is a good thing to do - especially on the curved upper portion of the firewall. It allows the cowl to lay down easier. Here's a pic showing the final cuts to be made.

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Made the weird little lower cowl support out of the 5 pieces of aluminum (U620 A & B plus some other pieces). Put the cowl on to mark the final position. Turned out OK. The measurements Vans gives you may be a little off - meaning you might have some of this support structure sticking out behind the cowl. But its hard to know where yours will end up exactly before you do it.

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Drilled the cowl inlet ramps into position after marking the location of the forward baffles. I pretty much let the inlet ramps settle into their natural position on the cowl. There is a left and right piece.

I completely installed the cowl while the epoxy cured because these inlet ramps 'lock' the upper cowl into position and really stiffen it up.

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While this doesnt show the oil door itself, here's the opening in the cowl. Still have to dress the edges to make it somewhat nice looking. Also trimmed the oil door to size.

For some reason, they laid up my oil door really thick along the edges. I had to take a sanding disk and take some material away so the door would be somewhat flush with the recess in the cowl. Still will take some work with filler material to make it look respectable.

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On his great website, Dan gave the correct measurements for the Hartwell latch cutouts. Here's how mine turned out. Not bad. Today I also received my concealed hinges from McMaster-Carr. Only after submitting my order did I realize that they had an office here in Atlanta - not too far from where I work! Ohh well, at least they got here overnight!

Drilled some #40 holes in the concealed hinges so I can attach them tomorrow.

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Today one of the composite aircraft builders on the field helped me make the transition from the air inlet to the filtered air box. Thanks David! I had to order a bigger piece of foam from Spruce because the one Van's give you was too small.

Learned some tricks from David. That puke green stuff you see is Rage Gold by Evercoat. A light weight filler (bondo).

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I dissolved the foam away with acetone. Turns into a blue, gum like substance. Later on I installed the cowl and put some microballoon mixture in there to smooth everything out. Sanded it and we're almost there with the finished product. Still have to put the baffle seal material on there to 'join' the cowl to the airbox.

Also repayed David with some metal help - helped him set some rivets on a Thorp.

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Laid up 4 layers of glass to make the hinge pin covers as Dan did on his website. Will trim and drill them later.

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Trimmed the cowl hinge pin covers and drilled them in place. Then I installed the mini #6 nutplates. Works well. Also trimmed the cowl hinge pins themselves. Don't want those any where near the prop!

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The information presented on my website is for reference only and is meant to satisfy FAA requirements to document this aircraft's construction.
Comments that appear on this website should not be interpreted as instructions on how to build any aircraft. Please consult with the manufacturer.

2004 Scott Will.