Cowl Fitting Part Four!

Here is the aftermath of trimming the bottom cowl.

Then on to mounting the spinner backplate and the aft side of the prop hub.

If you don't have one of these...GET ONE!  They allow you to turn any wrench into a dogbone adapter for the torque wrench.  As long as you keep it 90deg to the torque wrench, no math required.  Worked great for getting to the nuts on the backside of the prop flange.

Installed!

Next they have you fab this angle tool and drill it to the center of the front of the cowl.

And mark the center of the aft side of the top cowl.

Cowl Fitting Part Three!

Then on to pre-trimming the cowling.  The KAI's ae very specific which edges to trim to the scribe lines and which ones to leave some space.  Pay attention!  Its easy to remove but hard to put back!

I used a cutoff wheel in the die grinder for this operation.

The aftermath of the top cowl trimming.

Cowl Fitting Part Two!

Hinges...

Hinges...

Hinges...

Hinges...

Hinges...

And more hinges...

Cowl Fitting Part One!

Starting the cowl fitting so they have you fab up the hinge pins.

The side pins for the cowl get their tabs radiused.

And they have you fab up the cowl side hinges that join the top and the bottom.  BEWARE! They say 2 each required in the plans but you must make them mirrors of each other.  That's not the same thing, they should not say 2ea required but instead they should say make a left and a right.

Engine Mounting Part Nine!

Then I hooked up the engine case ground wire.  They do not call it out but I also used blue Loctite on this bolt.

Then I connected the solenoid side of the starter power cable.

And finally the starter end of the starter power cable.

Then they have you cut off the other end of the starter solenoid ground wire.

And wrap it in heatshrink.

And finally the starter solenoid signal wire that tells the solenoid when to fire.

Next is safety wiring the magnetic plug.

Then safety wire the oil drain plug.

And finally the oil tank drain.

Engine Mounting Part Eight!

So Van's let me know that the contractor that Rotax sent in to perform the SB's on my engine before it was shipped to me did not apply Loctite to the aft crank plug and that they had issued a SD for this situation.  Apparently one flight school had already had an incident with a brand new S-LSA where the plug fell out and the engine dumped all the oil overboard.  That being said, the SD referred to other Rotax documents that said that the O-ring needed to be replaced anytime this plug is removed and reinstalled.  So I ordered some O-Rings and a new Copper Gasket that is replaced when the crank locking screw hole bolt is removed and replaced.  I also know that one of the test that must be done after first engine start requires that the valve covers must be removed.  I went ahead and ordered those O-rings as well.  (PSA:  Do not order the prepackaged kit of valve cover O-Rings.  It cost about 4 times the cost of just purchasing the O-Rings separately.)

Next I worked on these adel cushion clamps.  This was a pain in the rear even using all the tricks to work with these things.  Also the bolt called out was too short.  I had to remove it and put in a longer one.  Also not sure but I think the way Rotax builds these harnesses may have changed since Vans took pics of where and how to install these clamps.  I did it the way they suggested but it is obvious it is not optimal for the current harness design.

The bolt was too short.  Had to take it back apart and install the next longer size.

Longer bolt installed.

Then they have you remove these two sealing plugs from the HIC connector.  If you follow their directions, these WILL break off inside the connector and have to be fished out.  The proper way to remove these is to use the proper release pin tool to unlatch the lock.

Engine Mounting Part Seven!

Next comes connecting the engine harnesses to the fuse box cannon plugs.  These must have a sealing ring inserted in them before you attach them.  The seals come from Rotax with the engine.

Here they are installed.  These do sort of lock onto the connector if you turn them hard enough.  The latch is not very significant.  Wish these had some way to safety them because they are kinda important.

Here is the cannon plug that is different than the one called out in the KAI.  Totally different but much more robust design and it can be safety wired.

Here is the other connector that does match the KAI's.

They have you route the ECU cables thru the firewall.  I decided to put some split loom around the sharp edges of the hole to prevent damage to the cables.  The sealing parts and bushings get installed later.