More catch up writing...
I've had to go round and round with the backup alternator. Because of the extension required for the 90 degree oil filter adapter, the alternator just won't fit as-is. I've been swapping out parts one by one for the past month, and with each one I put in, the next hurdle comes into view. I think I'm finally at the end of it though. B&C (where I bought the alternator) has an extension kit that pushes the alternator aft by 3/4", which should be enough for it to clear the oil filter adapter bolts. In order to put the extension on, I have to swap out the existing studs for longer ones. These studs are in tight! I struggled with them (using double nuts) for an entire evening, but had no success. I was really cautious, because the last thing I wanted was to snap one off in the case. Amazon to the rescue - I bought a stud puller, which after tightening it down to within and inch of its life, was able to get the studs out. I'm still waiting on longer studs and the extension kit. Once those arrive, I should finally be done with this long, drawn out "30 minute" project.
The EarthX battery has just enough of a different design that it doesn't quite fit the standard Van's hold down setup. The hold down bar actually touches both terminals. I put a second layer under the bar, but that was still too close for comfort, so I added in a layer of plastic as an insulator.
Shifting gears back to the cowling. The next step was to get the firewall hinges in place. These are 1/8" hinges, but Van's provides smaller steel pins to use in place of the 1/8" pins. Because of the curve, it would be impossible to get the larger pins inserted. The smaller pins allow some slop in the hinges, but apparently once the other cowl attachments are in place, it becomes a non-issue. I cut and fit the hinge to the firewall and match drilled them. This also included a shim to bring the hinge down a bit to match the cowl thickness. The hinges are offset towards the right side of the firewall - a short section on the right and then a longer section towards the left. This is done so you can reach in the oil filler door and insert/remove the pins.
The hinge eyes on the cowl half have to be beveled around the curve to allow them to slide together without interference.
There is a short open section to allow room for inserting the pins. I had cheated the firewall side of the hinge material forward 1/16" so that the gap between the cowl and skin will look better (vs having the look of an eye, no eye, an eye, etc showing in the gap). I also put an extra chunk of material in the open section for the same reason.
Van's doesn't say to do anything with the pin ends. They're extremely tight, so it's not like they're going to work loose, but I also don't love the idea of them just floating around. I made a simple catch out of some angle that I'll pop rivet to the firewall.
I put the cowl back on to check the fit against the firewall. It's fairly close, but is going to need some additional sanding to get a consistent gap.
The hardest part of all of this was simply getting the cowl level so I could do an accurate final cut at the firewall. There's not exactly any flat surface to reference, and the parts don't come symmetrical to begin with. To give myself a fighting chance, I leveled the plane at the cockpit longerons by letting air out of the right tire and dropping it about 1/2". There isn't a good way to put a level across the front because the center dowel gets in the way, so I just measured from the floor to the lower edges of the air inlets instead. I'll double check tomorrow, but I got within 1/16", which is plenty accurate to not be noticeable. The one issue is that the horizontal portion of the cowl doesn't hit the firewall equally from side to side. At first I was using that as my measure of level, but I don't think the sides came cut evenly, because anytime I made the cowl hit the firewall at the same spot on both sides, the front was definitely out of level. I know I'll have to trim the sides a bit once I mate the top to the bottom cowl, so hopefully I have enough material. If not, I'll just have to glass on more material to work with.
