After my morning flight in 'Feisty' a quick walk around inspection revealed 2 pulled dzus fasteners on the bottom of the left cowl cheek. They had pulled out of the lower cowl.
The old fiberglass is soft & wiggly. Kind of rubbery. To many years of hot oily engine nearby?
Now for full disclosure: I just finished my RV-8, and received the airworthiness certificate. I have over 5 hours of ground running time on it's turbocharged Mazda rotary engine (I'm on the flyrotary forum too). So I celebrated the certificate with a brief ground run, run-up and a short 2 seconds of take off power on the runway. The engine screamed like a banshee, took off like a scalded cat, and went POP! The died with grey smoke. What a let down!
But I still have my Feisty T-18! Until this cowl deal
Obviously Feisty gets fixed first! Smoke Wagon gets to wait his turn.
and drilled + countersunk the new holes for #8 countersink screws. That lower cowl now has no puckers. It flies different too, less wing heavy on the left side. Don't know if it's faster, but it's not slower. Looks a little ruff with the scars from the old fasteners, but Feisty is back in the air!
POW !