The next step for the top cowl was to sneak up on the firewall fit so I could match drill it to the hinges. I think I probably had the thing off and on a good 30 times. I'll eventually need to even out the gap, but for now I just made it close to flush with the firewall. I've been told it's easier to get a consistent gap after both top and bottom cowl are all riveted to hinges and fit to each other. Then the trick is to glue a piece of sandpaper to an old credit card or hacksaw blade and run it in between the firewall and cowl. That gives about the right gap to allow for paint and a little movement.
Once I had the cowl fitting fairly well, I laid out the rivet spacing for the hinges (about 1" between rivets). I taped the cowl tightly to the firewall and then drilled them all with my fingers crossed! You're basically drilling blind, so I just had to hope all of my measurements were correct. I haven't pulled everything apart yet, but I think it worked out ok.
With the top cowl attached to the firewall, it really stiffens up. I slid the lower cowl in place to get an idea of how it is going to fit and try to wrap my head around how to deal with it. It's hard to tell where to start, since it is too big and has to overlap the top cowl. Because of that, everything is thrown out of whack. I took it off and crawled under the plane to draw a line 2" back from the firewall, just like I did for the top cowl. The instructions say to start by cutting off the bottom portion, then moving to the sides. It's just going to be an iterative process. Slowly but surely, I'll get there. it's nice to see it all coming together though. This has been something I've been dreading for a while. It's going to take me a long time to get everything fit, but at least now I sort of understand how to go about it. I do think there are a few places around the air inlets that I may have to add on some additional glass (I cut too much off initially), but I won't mess with that until both cowl halves are done otherwise.
