1.5 hours
Took a crack at the top cowl hinges. Didn’t turn out too bad, either. The hinges that attach the cowl are beefy 1/8 hinge, but they follow the contours of the firewall, so you have to replace the 1/8″ aluminum hinge pin with the .090 stainless pin that Van’s supplies. Makes getting them into the eyes with your arm jammed in the oil door easier, supposedly.
Left side drilled.
I also found another neat trick on the Interwebs. Walter Tondu’s RV-7A site shows how to align the cowl to the spinner using a couple of quick-grip clamps. Much easier than some of the methods I’ve seen out there.
I got the right side clecoed on, but not drilled yet. Maybe I’ll tackle that in the morning.
Right side
I also filled out the spec sheet for my PCU500x governor. Good thing I ordered the Van’s bracket. I think I still have the old Cessna bracket around somewhere, but I doubt it will be of much use. If the Van’s bracket doesn’t work, I’m going to have some fun making up a new one. From steel, no less.