TLS/Bravo re-cowling aids

[Rick Junkin]

I may be late to the party and posting old ideas, but I haven't seen anything here about the two things that have plagued me with solo re-cowling of my TLS. And today I happened upon remedies for both. Nothing cosmic here, just another use for zipties.

First, the problems.
1. Those two pesky oil drain lines that have to exit through the same hole in the bottom cowling.
2. The unsupported air intake that always seems to be in the way when trying to raise the bottom cowling.

For the drain lines, a picture paints a thousand words. Unfortunately I am not savvy enough to know how to rotate these to make viewing easier. I ziptied the lines together, and they lined up perfectly with the hole in the cowling and went exactly where they were supposed to on the first try. The second try will be in a week or two when I change the oil. I'll let you know how that goes.

Unfortunately I didn't take pictures of the intake suspension method, but it's pretty simple. I looped a ziptie through the top middle hole of the intake and closed the loop. I then joined a couple of zipties and looped them over the prop hub and through the ziptie loop in the top hole in the intake, and tightened the whole thing up a bit. The end state is that the intake is now suspended from the prop hub, up and out of the way of the bottom cowling

I maneuvered the cowling up into place, just as in Tony Armour's video of the procedure, and everything VERY EASILY fell into place. A couple of snips to remove zipties, and I am a happy man.

I welcome the "That's the way I've always done it" comments. But for those silently struggling with the same plagues, here's a way to get it done.

Cheers,
Junkman

[thinwing]

I use safety wire on both intercooler naca duct and airintake .Simply loop thru top camlok hole but don't twist..than tie up both sections in normal places.Once lower cowl in place just pull wire out.Oh ,,those Cam locks really scratch up cowl...mine were reinstalled with out keepers after re painting meaning I can remove them all together during decowling and placed in a baggie.During recowling,they can't scratch up two duct edges during positioning of lower cowl

[carusoam]

[carusoam]

Thank @Marauder for the gravity adjustment graphic technology...

Best regards,

-a-