Posted 1 Mar 2020 Well- Ive been working on this cowling now for several weeks and its been a true labor of love. Thought I would share how and the WHY I did it...I started off with the HKS 700E and had to modify the "bumps" to fit the cylinders,...my first go at fiberglass work. Just when I had it looking good- changed engines. Had some serious issues trying to figure out the crossover on the exhaust on the 700E. As I was researching, I found a 700T with an exhaust routing that looked promising and how could I pass up fuel injection AND a TURBO! I knew I wasn't building real "light" so I thought the extra 20hp would be beneficial.Now, with the new T mounted, the exhaust was promising BUT now I had an injector hitting the mount and I could no longer mount the huge oil tank in the old "starter" notch from the 582 setup........SOTime to rethink the current cowling. I built 2 new mounting plates moving the engine 2 1/2" forward to allow me to mount the oil tank behind the engine AND the intercooler behind to prevent me from having to hang it out in the breeze THUS nullifying and HP advantage I was gaining. I wanted to keep as many of the mounting points intact on the upper and lower cowl so I trimmed back as far as necessary for both mounting and aesthetic purposes. My plan was to "mate" the old section with the new,...attempted fusion!So- with the Cirrus out of the hanger for new WAAS GPS's, I set out to make a terrible mess of dust, fiberglass, and epoxy! Here are the steps I took...1. Wrap engine with saran wrap2. 1/2" wine corks hot glue gunned to any protrusion that may get close to the cowlings inner limits (don't ask how I got all the wine corks,...Aircraft Spruce?!?).3. Spray foam tanks in a kit from Menards, not cheap, but really effective4. Using the old wood saw, cut to rough form, minding carefully to any corks beginning to show thru5. Sand to shape- and trust me, I am well aware its not perfectly balanced on both sides. No measurements were used, formed with naked eye only ( and maybe a little of the leftover wine. )6. drywall mud in two coats to firm up the creation7. sand as smooth as possible WITHOUT going all the way thru to the foam,....which I did,....a couple times....8. 3 coats enamel spray paint....and more wine 9. 3 coats paste wax, polish to high gloss and a glass of wine between each coat10. two glasses of wine and a layer of Vaseline with heat gun quick-melt11. 3 layers fiberglass with epoxy resin. then clean up all the drips of epoxy all over the hanger floor,..naw, never mind, more wine 12. split the cowling, matching the original line and the thrust line13. Bust 'er back open and begin picking away at all the foam that didn't release ( quite a bit around the nostrils)IMG_0194 2.HEICIMG_0200 2.HEICIMG_0223.HEICIMG_0224.HEICIMG_0495.HEICIMG_0782.MOVIMG_1069.HEICIMG_1653.HEICIMG_1764.HEICIMG_1847.HEICIMG_2168.HEICIMG_2550.HEICIMG_2570.HEICIMG_2629.HEICIMG_2736.HEICIMG_2937.HEICIMG_3628.HEICIMG_3684.HEICIMG_3907.HEICIMG_4237.HEICIMG_4837.HEICIMG_5045.HEICIMG_5360.HEICIMG_6194.HEICIMG_6679.HEICIMG_7508.HEICIMG_7658.HEICIMG_7801.HEICIMG_7833.HEICIMG_8606.HEICIMG_8680.HEICIMG_9750.HEICIMG_9876.HEICIMG_9905.HEICIMG_9977.HEIC 1 person likes this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 1 Mar 2020 What ever it looks like, sounds like you had fun! 1 person likes this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 2 Mar 2020 Sounds cool, images don't download on my phone but I'd like to see them. 1 person likes this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 2 Mar 2020 For some reason Apple decided to change its photo format to this HEIC....let me see if I can convert a few Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 2 Mar 2020 Wow. Looks pretty nice. Somehow that plane .looks familiar. Good to see the progress you are making on it.. Keep posting as you progress. JImChuk 1 person likes this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 2 Mar 2020 To view all his great pictures, just add .jpg to the name of the file. This tells your computer to treat it as a JPG picture file.I really like this post, brilenz, you lay out the whole process. Thanks! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 Mar 2020 Very cool man I would love to do that to mine with carbon. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 3 Mar 2020 Carbon for the next one for sure....just gotta figure out how! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 4 May 2020 Well- Its finished! Here are the latest pics. Everything is complete. Now just need a DAR...AND need an instructor with a Kitfox III for a 1 hour insurance checkout. Anybody have anyone in mind around Wisconsin?? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 5 May 2020 Thanks for posting the process, nice. And you now have wine corks for the next project as well!How did the weight and, especially, balance come out? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 5 May 2020 Don't know if you have a DAR lined up already, but Todd Ellefson in Rochester is a DAR. I don't think that's a long way east from where you are. (just looked, and it's 186 miles) The plane sure does look nice. I really like the panel/interior as well. Plane looks a lot different from what it did when it first left Wisconsin. Guess going home was good for it. JImChukPS I'll look for a CFI for you also, maybe someone else will know of one. Larry is not real far north of you up in Merrell, maybe he has some contacts. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 5 May 2020 I always like the 'before' and 'after' pics. Looks great, you really did up the panel. Auto Pilot and Pitot Heat too, Wh00p Wh00p! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted 24 May 2020 I have also modified my cowling for kf2 but it came out a bit heavy I think. I would be interesting to know the weight of the original cowling peace’s in total. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
