Wheel Fairings Fitted

Today was the day when I lost count about how many times I put the wheel fairings on and off the plane. It was final fitting day!

With the left aft fairing on I could get an idea of how much I needed to remove on the bottom to allow for an equal tire clearance.

Also the upper part and the area for the brake line needed some more trimming.

The little markings on the inside of the bottom allowed me to draw a better pattern on the fairing once it was removed from the bracket.

I came up with 3 options for the curve and opted for the middle one. Clearance was looking good after that step.

The brake line had good clearance too but I was worried about the line being too close to the landing gear leg and so I attached a vinyl tube to it for protection, using a heat resistant tie wrap.

On for the fitting of the right aft fairing. That one needed quite some additional trimming.

The brake line was bent downwards at a point higher than the one on the left side. So getting that one cleared from the fiberglass gave me quite some grief. Fortunately this will be covered by the transition fairings.

Then it was time for the front fairings, starting on the right. I connected the two halves to see how they fit together and if they aligned with the mounting holes.

It actually made a difference how the gap fit around the gear leg if the halves were connected or not. Connected they looked perfect.

Trimming the clearance for the tire on the front fairing was easy. Do not bother to mark this while clamped to the bracket. Just take both halves off and connect them together while on the work bench. Mark the extension from the aft fitting on to the front fairing. Done.

The clearance on my aft fairing was around a finger thickness. So feel your way around the front clearance when clamped back on to see if it needs more trimming. On to the left one.

That went just as well and looked really good once back on the brackets.

Next was to kind of match-drill the #30 holes that were currently clecoed "into" the nutplate without actually touching the nutplate. This is somewhat delicate to do as the drill bit pulls forward once it catches on the fiberglass. I had to go slow and use my second hand to provide resistance to the drill to hold it back.

I used Boelube as usual on the new nutplates when putting those screws in. It is much easier than running them in dry.

Same procedure on the right side.

I would have liked to set the bed of epoxy and flox so it could cure overnight but after 4 hours in the humid heat I felt that I had enough. I figured that I could let the epoxy cure while working on the nose wheel fairing which I have not yet started.