Last Friday after attaching the cowling I
checked to see how the base plate for the propeller spinner fits. As I held it up to the propeller hub I found
it just barely rubbed on the right side of the front of the cowling. This is not good. I decided I would have to drill out the fuselage
attachment hinges on the upper cowling and the fuselage side attachment hinges
on the left side of the lower cowling.
After removing the hinges I will need to sand down the edges of the upper
and lower cowlings to move the left side of the entire cowling (upper and
lower) back about 1/8”. After thinking
about it for a while I decided to try something else to increase the space
between the spinner back plate and the front of the cowling on the right
side. I ordered some WD-1221C washers
from Van’s. They are about 1/8”
thick. I removed the cowling and removed
the engine mounting bolts on the left side of the engine. I slipped a washer between the female
isolator and the engine mount. Arlene
helped by holding a ratchet on the inside of the firewall. I reinstalled the engine mounting bolts. I attached the cowling. I checked the space between the cowling and
the spinner base plate. It is now too
much. I told Arlene I want to find some 1/16th
thick fender washers and replace the washers from Van’s with the thinner
washers and see if that solves the problem.
Mom and Aunt Joyce were with us at the hangar. They were impressed with the whole airplane
and hangar thing.
