Taylorcraft Nose Cowl

 The old Nose Cowl we molded in fiberglass back in the 60's was just worn out and much modified.  I found a used Taylorcraft Nose Cowl for $75 at the Antique Fly-in in Iowa.  It needed some repairs.  With a little work it's almost like new.
With a new Nose Cowl and Firewall all the cowling sheet metal needs to be replaced as well.  This also means the engine baffles need to be modified to fit the new sheet metal.  The first step was to remove all the old baffles, then fit the Nose Cowl.  Once the nose cowl is in place the baffles can be modified and then the new sheet metal panel fabricated.

 On the front of the crankcase there are 4 bolt hole for mounting something.  They are 1/4" coarse threaded holes which makes them convenient to mount a piece of plywood to hold the cowl in position while fitting everything else.

The hole in the cowl is 6" in diameter.  A piece of 3/8" plywood works to also space the front of the cowl to clear the propeller.

 The tape on the cowl is there to layout the centerline of the cowl to assure it stays aligned while making the cowl panels.  There is a centerline on the wood block and on the tape.

The clamps are there to hold the front cowl flush with the front of the wood block.

We've got a nice straight line from the instrument panel to the firewall and the nose cowl.

 I wanted to keep the cowl original so it could be used on a Taylorcraft some day.  The left front spark plug hits the cowl so a cutout was needed.  Taylorcrafts did not originally have shielded ignition so the unshielded plug wire would have fit under the cowl just fine.

 I also needed to use the carburetor air box we have so a cutout in the bottom of the cowl was needed to make room for the air box.  I did save the piece cut out so it could be welded back if needed.

 The edge of the hole needs a lip folded to stiffen it.  I made a form block from a piece of plywood.  I sawed out the basic shape and then used the belt sander to carve it to fit snugly in the cowl.

 I put a 1/8" radius on the edge where the bend will be made.

 The hole was cut out to leave enough metal to form the lip.  It's soft aluminum so it will form easily.

 Because of the taper of the form block, to fit the curve of the cowl, c-clamps just slid off when you tightened them.  I found the angle of the jaws of the sheet metal pliers was a perfect fit to clamp the aluminum tight to the block.

Because the aluminum is soft a rubber mallet will form it to the block.

 The sides were a little harder to clamp.  I eventually got the clamps to hold the aluminum tight with a piece of 1/8" plywood.

 The corner was formed using the ball end of the sheet metal hammer.

The angle of the sheet metal pliers worked again to hold the flange on the edge of the cowl tight while forming the lip.

 The heat box opening has a nice professional lip.

Time to repair all the baffles.