Tue 07 February 2006 |
| Continuing with the clean up / tidying, we removed the 'blue tape' that provided masking / protection on the outboard edges. The glue didn't come off cleanly, but some AllSol got rid of it OK. | 
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| Dad removed all the remaining parts from the cockpit area and spent some time cleaning the swarf out. | 
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| I continued on the cowl. This is the monster holesaw (4 3/8"), I opened the pilot location up to 3/8 and then took it slowly with the big hole. | 
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| Worked better than we had hoped - nice even, clean holes. | 
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| The holesaw didn't go through the way, a pad saw completed the cuts. | 
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| Just for kicks we slide the one-piece cowl onto the engine, the alignment of the new inlets looks ideal, although the path of the incoming air will have to go up about 2". The alternative of 'high inlets' was discounted on aesthetics grounds. | 
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| Whilst the cowl was fixed as a single structure I made two 2 1/8" holes on the 'corners'. These will be used for cover plates over the side pins (credit to Walter for the idea). | 
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| The gap between the edges and the front / hinge is pretty tight, but should work OK once a backing plate has been attached. | 
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| Then I split the halves again. The outboard locations I just used a junior hacksaw, the inner plates I started with the die-grinder and then went to the sabre saw. We decided to go with a tangential line to the openings as this will hopefully provide a smaller 'seal' area between the inlet and upper cowl. | 
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| Lots of cleanup, smoothing, filing etc to remove excess resin, clay, AL, sharp edges | 
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| This is the rough path needed for the air, but rather than having a steep 'tube' going up, I'm currently planning a near level entry and then a fibreglass transition upwards and outwards to slow (and reduce the air pressure) as the cooling air enters the plenum | 
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| The current template for the inlet - the plan is for a metal tube plus fibreglass mounting on the cowl. The plenum will have a separate fibreglass front (see plenum page for the latest tests) and the two 'tubes' will be joined by baffle material and probably some form of large jubilee clip. | 
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| Dad also went around sorting some of the various nutplates outstanding in the cockpit area - bits work. | 
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