Even More Wiring (6)

6 hours

Still more wiring!  Just wrapping up a few more things.  I installed an LED strip along the underside of the glareshield for interior lighting, and wired it to the dimmer switch on the panel.  I had a great assistant for that part!

I found this 12v to 5v converter on amazon and made a simple bracket to attach it to the back of the iPad mount.  That'll provide USB power to the iPad.

I made a fused cable from the battery to this SAE connector; that will connect to the charge port on the side of the cowl for battery charging.

Besides all that, I spent a lot of time tidying up and tying wire bundles together in the interior as well as the engine compartment!!

Cowl Fiberglass Fixes (5)

 5 hours

The cowl was pretty much installed but I still had some areas to work on.  First, I sanded down and filled in the holes I had drilled through the prop hub area when I initially fit the cowl.  While working in that area I also found a bunch of little voids in the surface of the fiberglass that I also cleaned up and filled in.

Next I installed the side scoops.  I wanted a convenient battery charge port, so I figured a good spot would be in the top of the left scoop.  It's easy to reach but you can't see it unless you're looking for it!  I attached the scoops to the cowl with some epoxy and aluminum rivets.  I added a little bondo to smooth over the edges where it met the cowl too.

Here's the battery charge port in use:

Next was the exhaust exit.  I just did my best to line up a spot on the inside of the cowl that would match the exhaust pipe and drilled a 3" hole with a hole saw.  It lined up close enough!  Then I adjusted the wrap on the pipe so it didn't hang out the bottom of the cowl.

The last thing was a hole for the coolant and oil vent tubes to go through.  I marked a spot where the vents ended up and cut about a 1"x2" opening.  I think with that done, the lower cowl is done!

Baffle/Cowl Sealing (6)

 6 hours

I had mostly put the baffles together quite a while ago but I never really finished sealing it against the cowl.  Today I fit the rest of the rubber seals!  I found that the gap between the aft fence and the cowl was too large for the supplied seal (mostly because I cut more off of the baffle than I needed to), so I used a 3" rubber strip for that area.  The seal that came with the baffle kit seemed to work well for the front and sides though.