Doors, Cowling exit

Doors

I worked on the right front door today, finishing the rivnuts and installing and sealing the Acrylic. I also applied heat from a heat gun once the acrylic was in the frame to remove the stresses and this was quite successful. The acrylic took up the shape of the door frame and now has a slight bubble. I’ll do the other door the same way as I think this should reduce any likelihood of cracking.

I then fitted the left front door and gas strut. The gas strut needs more pressure to hold it fully open which I’ll do tomorrow. The door locking pins needed to be ground on an angle to allow them to close easier. They’re still tight, but I think they’ll improve with use so I won’t grind them any more.

Sitting inside, there’s plenty of room. My elbows don’t touch the door and the slight bubble works very well.

Cowling lip

Next I removed another inch of material from the lower cowl exit. I’m not sure where to start, but this gives me approximately 100 square inches of exit area. I’ll probably enlarge it to around 120 sq inches. Yesterday I had trimmed the Vans air intake to an approximate fit. I noticed that the part I had trimmed off was curved very close to how the cowl lip needed to be. Five minutes with an angle grinder and it was a near perfect fit. Tomorrow I plan to buy some fibreglass supplies and give myself a lesson in preparation for doing the air intake. I’m also planning to make some fibreglass fittings for the shock strut rubber boots.