Zenith Aircraft Builders and Flyers
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Spinner and Cowling Installed
Pretty much done with cowling and spinner install. I was not looking forward to this task, but it went fairly smoothly in the end. Happy to answer any questions.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ken Ryan on
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When did you receive your cowling from Mark? (I'm wondering when good cowlings started getting delivered.) What prop?
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Permalink Reply by David Jagoe on
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I received the cowling about 2 months ago.
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Permalink Reply by James H Skaggs on
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OK I have been working on mine for about a month now and its been a royal pain. I'm fairly certain they sent me the same cowling however; I have a 701 and its just way too wide So I had to split the cowling vertically and take a strip out of the middle. That means I'm going to have to split the top piece as well. It looks like you've done a phenomenal job with yours. Did you have to make the vertical split in yours for the same reason or did it come in 3 pieces? Also Are you not planning to make a front bulkhead for that spinner? Did you have to back your radiator up to make room for the cowling? Ant feedback is greatly appreciated.
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Hey James, sounds like your situation is much trickier than mine!
My cowling was already in 3 pieces and the fit was close enough. I considered moving the radiator back but in the end just removed some material from the aft part of the radiator intake duct on the cowling. Lost some rigidity but seems to be totally fine. I think my fit would have been better with a longer prop extension - I have the 3” - because I had to remove material where the cowling attaches to the glare shield so that fit is not exactly the same shape as the forward skins.
i can imagine that fitting to the 701 would be much trickier and certainly sounds like you’ll have to split it into 4 pieces :(
i hadn’t even considered adding a bulkhead to the spinner but now you mention it I see that it is common. What is the reason for needing that?
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It adds rigidity to it. Spinners coming loose during early hours of flight seems to be a thing. Its not totally required but EAA has a few good articles referring specifically to spinner installs. Making the front bulkhead is a bit tricky. I made mine from fiberglass using a cardboard template. Definitely feel more confident about it now. If done right you'll end up with a forward attachment point and a solid plate just like the aft bulkhead.
The 3" extension would have been a help in my case. I had to cut a good bit off of the back of the duct and move the radiator back by deleting the rubber mounts. It is still a tight fit behind the spinner even after that.
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Good to know about the spinner - thanks!
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