This sunday morning, some non noisy activity in the workshop : the drawing of some of the cuts on the cowl.
First the cut-out for the nose leg on the lower cowl.



Then I draw a line 2" back of the forward edge of the fuselage skins. This line will be used to draw the cutting line on the cowls.
I also reinstall the camlock support strips and mark the camlock positions.



The upper camlocks strips will be scalloped to be easier to bent a bit to conform to the upper cowl. This is one of the strips marked with the cut lines.



Then I install the upper cowl. Using a shim on the engine the height is adjusted so that the cowl is 1/8" lower than the rear spinner bulkhead to allow for some possible engine sagging.
The gap between the rear spinner bulkhead is 1/4" and maintained by using a wooden shim.



The cutting line is then drawn on the cowl by measuring 2" forward of the line on the fuselage. I will remain shy of this line when cutting so as not to be too short in the end.



Next step is trying to assemble the two cowl halves so as to get the forward hole looking round. Despite a few tries, nothing really worked. Vans information is scarce and on the Internet the tips are somewhat confusing. I will try to get more informations before going on.



Here is a picture with both cowl halves and the rear spinner bulkhead. Doesn't look round to me!!!!!