Cowling Hinges Riveted Onto Cowling Sections

This was one of those days that was riveting – just riveting. It is hard to believe there are over 150 rivets securing the hinges onto the upper and lower cowling. Van’s suggests not fully setting the AN426AD3-4 rivets that are used to secure the hinges onto the fiberglass. I elected to slightly underset the rivets so they would still slip into the rivet gage but with very little slop. The hinges were riveted onto the upper cowling first beginning with the side hinge then the aft hinges.

Using the pneumatic rivet squeezer to rivet the upper half of the F-12115L side hinge onto the upper cowling using AN426AD3-4 rivets.

Using the pneumatic rivet squeezer to rivet the F-1201K hinge onto the upper cowling using AN426AD3-4 rivets.

Completed riveting of the hinges onto the upper cowling.

After completing the upper cowling, the lower cowling was removed from the fuselage so it too could receive a little riveting attention. The hinges were removed one at a time, deburred, Clecoed then riveted.

Using the pneumatic rivet squeezer to rivet F-12116L mid cowl hinge onto the lower cowling using AN426AD3-4 rivets.

Riveting the F-12117R lower cowl hinge onto the lower cowling using AN426AD3-4 rivets.

After the mid cowl and lower cowl hinges were riveted onto the lower cowling, the F-12115 lower side hinges were secured in position with Clecos for the final push to finish up riveting the hinges onto the lower cowling.

Using the pneumatic rivet squeezer to rivet F-12115L lower side hinge onto the lower cowling using AN426AD3-4 rivets.

The afternoon was just riveting … three and a half hours and over 150 rivets later, below is what I had to show for my efforts.

The hinges riveted in place on the upper and lower cowling sections.

One would think that work on the cowlings would be complete at this point …. Oh not so! Nutplates still need to be installed where the six holes are located in the front of the cowling. After that, the oil door needs to be cut and installed in the upper cowling followed by installing the closeout for the nose gear slot.