Time: 2 Hours
Now that we were home with the propellor it was time to get it installed and see how the engine cowl fit. I cut and installed the cowl a long time ago based on measurements from Hartzell and the late Jon Thocker. I asked a couple local pilot/A&P friends to assist me. The process is pretty easy and straight forward. I guessed on what spacing I needed on the spinner backplate which is adjustable with washers and spacers to get the gap between the aft edge of the spinner and forward edge of the cowl.
The spacing on the spinner was a little tight so I adjusted the washers to give a little more clearance. I couldn’t get the lower cowl installed with the cowl lip baffles installed. The material I used is thicker than what Vans supplies and is less flexible. So I removed them and installed the cowl. The fit is ok but still tight and I’ll need to fix that. The spacing on the cowl ring in relation to the spinner was perfect, it has about 3/16” adjustment for future engine sag which allows the engine to slower slightly due to the rubber engine mounts compressing.
What an exciting day! The propellor is installed and all the painstaking work we did to try and get the fit just right based on nothing more than rough measurements paid off. It’s getting close now!