REFLECTOR: Southco fasteners

Tue Oct 2 09:04:06 CDT 2007

Chris,

I have some pics somewhere around here, I'm off to the airport in a 
couple minutes but when I get back from CA I'll post um.  They arn't 
great pics, but the idea is pretty simple.

Your just making a deep(3/4" to 1 1/4") groove for the forward edge of 
the cowl to fit into.

It's easier to do this before engine installation but can be done 
afterwards. It would be tough though.

the steps..

finish the fuselage and cowl flanges(lips) per manual.  Put one layer of 
duct tape on top cowl flange(lip). Then install the top cowl, with a few 
screws to hold it tight in place against fuselage flange.  There should 
be a good 3/4 of an inch of the fuselage flange exposed forward of the 
cowl flange.  This creates a 3/4 inch wide depression  the same depth as 
the cowl flange is thick, between the cowl flange and firewall. Fill the 
depression with flox or your favorite structural  fill epoxy, then with 
the flox still wet, lay up the inner flange onto the flox and the duct 
tape covered cowl flange. Second flange should be about 1.5 to 2 inches 
wide,  4 to 5 bid layers thick, of prepregg.  Cover with release.  There 
will be a few gaps where the screws are that can be finished after this 
first layup cures.

Break the cowl out, the gaps where the few screws are help with this, 
and trim a smidge(technical term) from the forward edge of the cowl 
flange so your not fighting getting it in if there is a bit of dirt in 
the groove. Trim up the new inner flange of course.

Now no screws of holes on the whole fuselage to cowl intersection, looks 
very cool.

Scott

Christopher Barber wrote:
> I love that idea.  I must seriously consider it.  Do you have any photo's so
> I may verify I actually understand what you describe? <g>.  Don't worry if
> you don't.  I get the idea.  Very kewl.
> 
> Seems very easy as well......just got to do it.
> 
> All the best,
> 
> Chris
> 
> Christopher Barber
> Attorney and Counselor at Law
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org]On
> Behalf Of Scott Derrick
> Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 8:04 AM
> To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
> Subject: Re: REFLECTOR: Southco fasteners
> 
> 
> Andy,
> 
> Where the cowl mates with the fuselage you may want to consider what
> some of us have done. Normally the cowling edge is overlapped by the lip
>   on the fuselage, captive nuts are installed on the cowling with screw
> holes through the fuselage lip.
> 
> I put a second lip on the fuselage inside & parallel to the outside lip.
> The forward cowl edge(lip) fits in between and is captured by the two
> fuselage lips. Both top and bottom cowls are down this way.
> 
> No screws, no fasteners....
> 
> You can then use SouthCo's or what ever captive fastener you want on the
>   cowl to wing interface...
> 
> I did this because I was really tired of fixing the screw dings in my
> prop...
> 
> Scott
> 
> Craig and Denise Woolston wrote:
>> Andy-
>>
>>   We seriously considered it but decided against after doing the entire
>> engine cooling plenum with them and learning what was possible and not.
> The
>> reason is the Southco's don't retract enough to slide the cowl out.  We
> used
>> piano hinges on the sides where the cowl attaches to the wing, on top and
>> bottom.  But for the perimeter around the firewall found it was too
>> difficult to get the cowl off because the Southco stays in the hole (even
>> with the springs under them) enough that you can't get the cowl off by
> your
>> self.
>>   If you changed your cowl so the outside portion lay against the fuselage
>> piece or even built an offset land for the cowl, then I think it would
> work
>> great.  We just didn't want to modify the cowl, we wanted to fly...
>>   We did you Southco's on the fairings around the exhaust cutouts.
>>
>> YMMV,
>> Craig
>> XL-5FG Flying in Lancaster, CA
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: reflector-bounces at tvbf.org [mailto:reflector-bounces at tvbf.org] On
>> Behalf Of Andrew Ellzey
>> Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2007 4:51 PM
>> To: Velocity Aircraft Owners and Builders list
>> Subject: REFLECTOR: Southco fasteners
>>
>> I am working on my cowlings and would like to know if anyone has tried to
>> use Southco or Airloc Fasteners. I owned a M20E Mooney for 15 years and
>> would like to make my cowlings easier to remove than the factory called
> for
>> 10/32 screws. I have see the piano hinge method but I didn't choose to go
>> that route.
>>
>> Andy Ellzey
>> XLGRG
>>
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