I got a little further on the baffles over the last few days, but this is essentially where I have to stop until I get the cowl fit to the firewall. The cowl has to be cut to the final fit so that the baffles can then be cut to fit the cowl. And the cowl can't be sorted out until I have the propeller chosen (to ensure I have the spacing correct between the spinner backplate and the cowl nose bowl). This has been the name of the game for all of the firewall forward stuff - you can't finish one task without having to start another one, which also can't be finished without starting yet another task.
Before I took the baffles off (they have to be off in order to do the initial cowl fit since the baffles are too big to fit inside the cowl as-is), I did some hand gesturing and head scratching and figured out my routing for the right side upper spark plug wires and both PMag blast tubes. The upper spark plug wires have to pass through the rear baffles to get to the PMags. The wire pass throughs have to be drilled big enough for the plug connectors, so you need a way to cover the big holes to limit air leaks. The OEM plug wire seal is almost $50, and I need 2! That seems like highway robbery for a piece of plastic. I found an RV guy who sells a 3D printed version for a fraction of that cost. I could have designed it myself, but I don't have the high temperature filament, so in the end it was just easier to farm it out. The passthrough is two pieces that slide together over the wires and then are attached with screws.
You can also see the PMag blast tube hole in the pic. It's the 11/16" hole between the spark plugs and the fresh air hole. The PMags need a blast tube to direct cool air at them (a relatively common approach for electronics that live under the cowl, where it can get extremely hot). I will just use some of the black, corrugated tubing that I used for the wire runs in the wings. This is the right side. The left side is similar, but with the hole in a different location. It took a lot of hemming and hawing before I decided on locations. I had to figure out how the tubes would best route around other items and the engine mount, yet still have a way to attach them to keep the pointed at the right place.
I removed all of the baffles to be ready for the cowl fitting. One of the other things I can return to now that the weather has warmed up and the humidity has dropped is gluing the canopy on. I need to remind myself of how I'm going to do that. I brought the canopy frame down from storage and put it back on the fuselage. It is just as horrible of a part as I remember! The fit is just not...ideal. I won't make any plans for it until I have the canopy on for good and see what that does to the shape. My guess is I'm going to have to cover the front of the frame with fiberglass to smooth it out, and I'm probably also going to need to make fiberglass extensions on the side skirts to cover up the weird gaps. This whole setup feels like the project of an intern who didn't pass the class.
I can't really get started on the cowl until I figure out the propeller dimensions, but I reorganized the garage and brought my other workbench back to the work area so I had more room to work. One of the first steps is cutting the nose gear leg opening in the lower cowl. I didn't get finished, but I spent some time finding the center where the cut will go.
I'm pretty sure I have picked out the prop I will use, but even if I order it now, it'll be a couple of months before it's here. I know people have designed jigs to use for cowl fitting in place of having a prop. I'll do some research and figure out what it takes to make one. I'll probably go ahead and order the prop anyway - leaning towards the 2 bladed Sensenich ground adjustable. I was considering the 3 blade just because it'll be quieter and smoother, but 3 blades make it notoriously difficult to get the lower cowl off. I really don't want to have an excuse not to take the cowl off when it really should come off.
