Kit #7 arrived

[rkennell]

Looks good. I am glad I am not the only one to have to redo what a I have done.

[Utah-Jay]

Riveted the top cowl to the piano hinges and the cowl doors to the piano hinges. Down the middle is a line of rivets that is a “U” channel stiffener for the top cowl.

I did screw up in a big way…. I had the top cowl all perfectly flush riveted to the piano hinges and then ding… ding… ding I realized I forgot to attach the “U” channel to the bottom of the piano hinge. So I had to drill out the rivets and redo the riveting. Stuff happens

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[Utah-Jay]

Three weeks of work/travel allow for a lot of thinking time. So I mentally re-engineered my air-scoop for my carb airbox.

It has now been primed and will be rivet assembled tomorrow.

Here are the steps, just note the edges have been trimmed and sanded/rounded since these photos were taken this morning.
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The last photo shows what I used to make the two side panels, it is the leftover from the kit air scoop, so the 90 degree flanges were already there which will be riveted to the inside of the bottom engine cowl.

The front bottom had to be rounded to match the cowl shape and I will make a fiberglass flange for that to be fitted to the proper shape and then put a strip of metal to sandwich the fiberglass for riveting.

That was about 2 hours work. EZPZ

[Utah-Jay]

More fiberglass work on the “air scoop” to maximize airflow to the air box. It will make sense later, but this is the mold for the area above the bottom cowl
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[Utah-Jay]

So what is this?
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It’s a redneck roller

Yep, needed to roll my cowl doors and did not have access to the correct tool
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Did a bunch of sanding and filling and then more sanding before I layed up the fiberglass on the inside of my air box/air scoop cover
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Prepared my next mold for fiberglass, this thingy is another part of my air scoop
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[marcusofcotton]

Yep, the old 90% completed and 90% left to go rule.

[Utah-Jay]

The more I do it seems the more I have to do

[Utah-Jay]

Installed the weight tubes in the ailerons
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Yep it balances
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Finished the trimming and cutting as well as bending the attach area to match the curve of the bottom cowl
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[Bcone1381]

It looks like in a previous post you might have a Vetterman Cross Over exhaust....meaning there are two cross over exhaust tubes placed in front of the oil pan. I was wondering how this Carb heat Box would fit with those. Am I correct about your fit and your exhaust?

[Utah-Jay]

Been working on the Companion since I got home from work Monday.
Mainly working on the bottom cowl and the carb airbox with a few other goodies thrown in.

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It was with much trepidation that I started cutting into the bottom cowl that took so long to get perfect, but it needed a big hole so it got a big hole. Obviously it is a start small and enlarge as needed. Started by tracing the carb for positioning, then took the cowl off set the airbox on it and then started tracing the outline once again starting a bit small allowing for cutting more to fit.

I also filled the aileron counterbalance tubes with #9 shot, I got them to within 0.2 oz of one another, I think that is good enough. Mine came out a bit heavy, I think using larger shot would make for a lighter weight. 5 pounds 8.5 ounces was my weight. I countersunk the holes for the rivets and primed where the bare metal was exposed
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With the airbox on, I can now install the Carb Heat control cable, so I did that as well.

[Nev]

Good work Jay !

[Utah-Jay]

As often happens I mentally review the days work that night, and last night I decided to redo my cowl doors. Yes they were perfect, fitted really tight… But I just decided that the skin was just a bit short and would not have enough material below the skybolt fastener.

So today I redid them both. And like most things, they turned out better the 2nd time.

Win-Win
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And the fit of the nose bowl to the spinner is perfect
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[Utah-Jay]

rrbeck11
my carb air box arrives today, should get interesting

[rrbeck11]

Really nice work, Jay! Now I’m dying to see what you have planned for the underside of that cowl!

[Utah-Jay]

Ailerons made the trip home, and yes they do fit in the Mini
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