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Because I knew best I went ahead and put an angled valve engine (IO 360
A3B6D) under the hood of my LC2. Or rather I tried to do it and it would
not fit. Too wide, too low in the area of the induction runners and too high
over the lugs on the front heads used to mount the engine baffles. Apart
from the above it was perfect! Having put on bulges in the required areas
the cowling looked as if it had a bad case of acne. Not a pretty sight.
Then came the real trauma. Beware of false prophets, wolves in sheeps'
clothing and all that jazz! Also never give out a job unless you have a
never to exceed price agreed upon. If the expert cannot give youj a price
he is not an expert. Also do not let anyone tell you that the job is easy to
build a new cowl. It is equal parts witchcraft, experience and knowledge.
Suffice to say I got it more or less right with the third guy I used. I am
ashamed to tell anyone what I spent and so I won't!
I looked at Chuck Brennan's cowl but figured we could do as well up here in
Canada, also our dollar is only worth 60 cents US. Another mistake, Chuck's
cowl would have saved me money and about a year.
I also have questions as to how well or easily the original, Lancair cowl
would have fitted and how much clearance there is over the two front
cylinders. Anybody care to comment on that?
I wish I had stuck with the original engine from Lancair. It would have
been a lot cheaper than all the money I spent on the cowl and the cost of
rebuilding my own engine. This was cheap enough as a half life engine but
the rebuild was one terrifying revelation after another. I am so glad that
I did not just give it a cursory inspection and fire it up. The logs said I
should have been able to do that as did the seller. Another lesson learned.
I am attaching some photos of the cowl as presently fitted to the a/c. It
is awaiting painting so should look a lot better then. The material is
carbon fibre. The two fairings in the way of the exhaust tail pipes enclose
my cabin heat exchangers, two of them for the Canadian winter. These are
not part of the mold and are added later. The front air inlets are also
made off a seperate mold and are insertd after the cowl has been pulled from
its mold
I am willing to allow other builders to use the molds, for a fee, if they
need a cowl of this type. The parts could be built in Canada or the molds
sent to the US. Alternatively I would sell the molds outright. Anyone who
has an interest can contact me direct at ian.crowe@sympatico.ca
Ian Crowe
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