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It’s finally time (cowling)


Sabremech

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Today the cowl flaps were fit and drilled for the pivot. I’m planning on installing oil lite bushings in both the cowling side and flap side as the wear parts. The right side cowl flap will need to be notched for the tailpipe on my C and potentially others depending on what’s installed. 
 

8106AF2B-030F-4CBC-ACDB-1B7780B76331.jpeg

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1 minute ago, Sabremech said:

Today the cowl flaps were fit and drilled for the pivot. I’m planning on installing oil lite bushings in both the cowling side and flap side as the wear parts. The right side cowl flap will need to be notched for the tailpipe on my C and potentially others depending on what’s installed. 
 

8106AF2B-030F-4CBC-ACDB-1B7780B76331.jpeg

I suppose you possibly could account for all exhaust/engine combinations, but is there some leeway for the AP to do  some cutting/fiberglass work just incase?

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22 hours ago, Sabremech said:

Today the cowl flaps were fit and drilled for the pivot. I’m planning on installing oil lite bushings in both the cowling side and flap side as the wear parts. The right side cowl flap will need to be notched for the tailpipe on my C and potentially others depending on what’s installed. 
 

8106AF2B-030F-4CBC-ACDB-1B7780B76331.jpeg

I've got a powerflo exhaust, and my flap is notched an inch or so on my cowl. 

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More progress today. Lower cowling has been fit to the airplane and camlocs installed. All is good except for the left cowl flap does not fit as well as it should on the inner flange. I will need to cut it and modify it to make another mold. All in all, that’s not too bad considering the size of the project. I also made a modification to the prototype carb air box and it fits great now. That can be finished and I’ll call it final for this cowling. Tomorrow, it’s time to fit the upper cowling and get it trimmed to fit. 

1922F719-6A45-4105-888F-A78F65EF0597.jpeg

BE11D679-999A-4288-A0E6-67C85A2F8EEE.jpeg

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27 minutes ago, Sabremech said:

More progress today. Lower cowling has been fit to the airplane and camlocs installed. All is good except for the left cowl flap does not fit as well as it should on the inner flange. I will need to cut it and modify it to make another mold. All in all, that’s not too bad considering the size of the project. I also made a modification to the prototype carb air box and it fits great now. That can be finished and I’ll call it final for this cowling. Tomorrow, it’s time to fit the upper cowling and get it trimmed to fit. 

1922F719-6A45-4105-888F-A78F65EF0597.jpeg

BE11D679-999A-4288-A0E6-67C85A2F8EEE.jpeg

Can already tell this is going to be beautiful! Really excited to see finished product!

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Imagine for a moment....

An M20F with a 310hp IO550 on the front...

Sort of a Missile2
 

Watching David’s engineering artwork has me thinking out loud...
 

Rocket Engineering didn’t have the artistic cowl skills for the Missile... it got a repurposed existing M20K cowl...

:)

Best regards,

-a-

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15 hours ago, Sabremech said:

More progress today. Lower cowling has been fit to the airplane and camlocs installed. All is good except for the left cowl flap does not fit as well as it should on the inner flange. I will need to cut it and modify it to make another mold. All in all, that’s not too bad considering the size of the project. I also made a modification to the prototype carb air box and it fits great now. That can be finished and I’ll call it final for this cowling. Tomorrow, it’s time to fit the upper cowling and get it trimmed to fit. 

1922F719-6A45-4105-888F-A78F65EF0597.jpeg

BE11D679-999A-4288-A0E6-67C85A2F8EEE.jpeg

Hi David. Looking good. I still owe you some pictures of my F. I think the exhaust pipe areas for non-Power Flow systems may differ a bit between planes due to how they exhaust pipe is attached. I will take some pictures and measurements of the area.

I also noticed the SWTA windshield mounting is a little different on my F. The access panels you have on your plane look a bit larger than mine. The top of the panel is fairly narrow on mine. I will take pictures and measurements.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 5/3/2020 at 10:14 PM, carusoam said:

Imagine for a moment....

An M20F with a 310hp IO550 on the front...

Sort of a Missile2
 

Watching David’s engineering artwork has me thinking out loud...
 

Rocket Engineering didn’t have the artistic cowl skills for the Missile... it got a repurposed existing M20K cowl...

:)

Best regards,

-a-

As I’ve previously posted, thats exactly what Ken Harmon (son of Ralph) was doing in the Mooney R&D department prior to the bankruptcy shutdown way back when.

Well, the 550 didn’t exist back then, but they were hanging a 6 cylinder on the F/G airframe regardless.

It was dubbed the H model that never was.... :(

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6 hours ago, Browncbr1 said:

@Shadrach  any progress?!?   I’ve got blue balls over here man!

Can’t help you with that issue! I took 2 weeks off of the project to work on some other things that I let slide due to the cowling. I’m back on it now getting the upper cowling trimmed to fit my airplane then will finish the camlocs. I finalized the carb air box, I think, and hope no issues come up after installation. Still need to rework the left cowl flap for a better flush fit. 
Thanks,

David

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  • 3 months later...
The plan is for this to be an FAA/PMA part for the J model. 

Problem with the J, there is several versions:
Ram air vs no ram air
Landing light vs no landing light.

and you can’t base it on serial numbers since many Js have been modified...mine included. The left side requires more air because it has the engine air intake and oil cooler on that side.
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On 5/19/2020 at 1:37 PM, MooneyMitch said:

As I’ve previously posted, thats exactly what Ken Harmon (son of Ralph) was doing in the Mooney R&D department prior to the bankruptcy shutdown way back when.

Well, the 550 didn’t exist back then, but they were hanging a 6 cylinder on the F/G airframe regardless.

It was dubbed the H model that never was.... :(

That’s real neat info. A 6 on the Pre-J mid bodies dubbed the M20H.

Good to know more Mooney history.

-Seth

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David, I might have missed it in the year+ long discussion and multiple threads- but was there ever a decsion to do like a fixed cowl flap like the Acclaim? Mine stay open 24/7- as CHTs are acceptable when open but rapidly rise when closed in cruise, and I don't see any gain in speed. I've also seen a C with the cowl flaps riveted open on the ramp once. Seems would be easier to design and less parts to produce, and less labor if you drop the cowling for mx

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7 hours ago, Seth said:

That’s real neat info. A 6 on the Pre-J mid bodies dubbed the M20H.

Good to know more Mooney history.

-Seth

I interviewed Ken Harmon at his home in Albuquerque over Thanksgiving of 2014.  I did video tape much of the interview.  One of these days I'll do something with the tape.......... maybe, if I get a round tuit. :)

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19 hours ago, Raptor05121 said:

David, I might have missed it in the year+ long discussion and multiple threads- but was there ever a decsion to do like a fixed cowl flap like the Acclaim? Mine stay open 24/7- as CHTs are acceptable when open but rapidly rise when closed in cruise, and I don't see any gain in speed. I've also seen a C with the cowl flaps riveted open on the ramp once. Seems would be easier to design and less parts to produce, and less labor if you drop the cowling for mx

Alex.  My C model is a 68 and the 1968 and beyond had fixed cowl flaps.. Problem is they are not fixed wide open they try for a happy medium... With this new Cowl i am thinking we will have better cooling anyway and thus being able to fully close them might make a speed difference and might be needed to keep temps up high enough in cruise to prevent valve stem lead deposits... Right now as it is.. That is NOT a concern... lol  I run plenty hot enough to prevent them 

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