Does your plane have nutplates?  Mine too.  With annual season coming around, thought I would pass along this tip I got from Bob Pastusek. 

The nutplates on my cowling had lost almost all their friction with approximately 1000 cowl removals.  I was all set to buy very exotic (and very expensive) Clickbond nutplates with replaceable nuts.  Bob heard my whining at OSH and came up with a quick-cheap-easy fix. 

Adjust Vice-Grips to squeeze the worn nutplates (the adjustment is not too critical) and they work fine again.  THANKS BOB!

Steve Colwell  Legacy