Zenith Aircraft Builders and Flyers
Online Community of Zenith Builders and Flyers
Carbon Fiber Cowling for my ULPower 350is powered STOL CH-750
I was told my cowling is the third one off the molds from Aviation Composites. I'm starting this thread to show chart my progress with installing it.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by David J. Beaulieu on
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Tim...kudos, way to go! Adjust, adapt and overcome and the job gets done. Great example and reminder to us as we work on our projects.
Cheers!
Dave & Sky Turtle
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Permalink Reply by Timothy Aanerud on
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While I was pondering what to do, I bought a bunch of AN fittings and some 5052 3/8" tubes for fuel lines fittings in the cabin. I never anybody regretting using solid fuel lines instead of flex lines. I bought SkyTek's solid fuel line kit for the wings and their header tank, I only going to have a little bit of flexible fuel lines
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In January one more layer of 6oz carbon fiber was added to the top cowling half.
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And a layer on the bottom cowling half. I'm using Proset epoxy LAM135 medium viscosity and LAM 226 medium speed hardener. There was time for dinner waiting for this stuff to setup inside a heated garage during a Minnesota winter.
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Let the trimming begin. I added nearly 12 inches. I only need 3 - 4 inches. I didn't want to come up short and have to laminate more length again.
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I decided to use Skybolt 1/4 turn fasteners attach the cowling to the fuselage. I did some measuring and determined the Skybolt RV-8 Cowling Complete Kit - Phillips would have enough parts for my Zenith STOL CH-750/ULPower UL-350is.
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Trim, Trim, Trim. Eventually it starts to fit. I left some tabs on the corners of the cowling halves to aid in alignment. These tabs were celcoed in to the Skybolt interlocking tabs. The initial holes in the tabs were not the final ones. As I made the top and bottom halves come together there was more adjustments made. I had a center line on the top to keep things aligned. On the bottom cowling half has a slot and the nose gear leg kept that half in the correct position.
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The mounting plates for the quarter turn fasteners provide a lip between the top and bottom halves.
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When I received this cowling I thought my Aero Classics oil cooler was going to fit better than the factory oil cooler. Guess again. : - ( There was interference between the top of the oil cooler and the oil pump.
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A friend of mine that recently completed a Tapanee Pegazair from plans only told me to: Sigh the big sigh, and start cutting. Here's my first round of surgery. His Pegazair cowling had lots of surgery. He started with a RV-8 cowling to fit his Lycoming. Then he had to change the thrust line of the cowling. That required major rework.
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The oil cooler fits pretty tight against the inlet now. This isn't necessary ideal.
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Now I have some space between the oil cooler and the oil pump. I rounded the oil cooler's top front mounting bracket, that helped to make more clearance too. If I want more clearance I'm going to have to cut the inlet out and move it forward a bit. But not too far, I don't want the propeller to bump into it.
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