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Cowl doors

Webb

Well Known Member
Sponsor
Has anyone ever made the top cowl open like a Bonanza does?

After cleaning out a bird nest when I was at Jekyll Island, if it had been my RV7A, it would have been a royal PITA. Much easier on my Bonanza.

Which made me think as I looked at the top cowl when doing a pre-flight. The top cowl would be removed normally but routine access would be as simple as opening the little door for checking the oil.

My thoughts.

Once the top has been fitted, why not build the attachment frame and support structure that fits the top cowl. Fit the structure to the cowl top underside and drill attachment points where needed. Cut the doors and then rivet the frame and door supports to the cowl. Hinge the top and use a couple of cam locks for closing.

Hinges would attach the frame to the firewall and lower cowl and pins would be accessible when the doors were opened. The baffling would remain the same and you could really do a nice job of fitting the baffle seal since you would have access when one side opened and the other closed.

Here is a picture of the doors on my Bonanza.

Please don’t flame me. Just thinking outside the box.
 

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Absolutely you could.. you would have to be good at fiberglass or carbon fiber to stiffen it up to make it worth while.. I think it would take less effort to replace your piano hinge with Skybolt fasteners all the way around, and then popping off the top cowl would be a 30 second affair like these panels would be. I prefer my piano hinge, takes 2 minutes to remove, however I need to remove 8 screws to do it.
 
Top cowl

Absolutely you could.. you would have to be good at fiberglass or carbon fiber to stiffen it up to make it worth while.. I think it would take less effort to replace your piano hinge with Skybolt fasteners all the way around, and then popping off the top cowl would be a 30 second affair like these panels would be. I prefer my piano hinge, takes 2 minutes to remove, however I need to remove 8 screws to do it.

Mine comes off pretty quick. Plenum underneath. No baffles.
There's quite a bit of custom modification. I got comfortable with fiberglass. We be mates now! :D
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