I started the cowl fitting by attaching the spinner plate to the engine using a spacer.  I fabricated wood spacers to clamp in place between the cowl and spinner plate.  The engine is at a slight angle (on purpose) so it never really lines up perfectly around the spinner.

After the cut is made, you spend hours with sandpaper and a file, carefully sanding to fit... taking the cowl on and off dozens of time until you finally give up and call it good enough!

I was originally planning on using hinges to fasten the top cowl to the firewall, and had even drilled holes through the cowl into the hinge, but I've changed my mind and will replace the hinge with a piece of .063 aluminum and will use screws and nutplates to attach the upper cowl section.

I managed to spend 5-6 hours working with the cut line on the top cowl, and completed all the cutting and fitting of the bottom cowl (including drilling and riveting the hinge) in about 2.5 hours.  I learned to use a small pad sander to quickly smooth the edges and get them to fit, rather than the slow, manual way with a file and sanding block.

This is the cowl after trimming along the back edge. (still held in place with a ratchet strap)

Average shop temperature has been running in the upper 90s this week... I think this shot was taken at 11PM!

Baffle installation has started while I wait on the aluminum piece to finish fitting the top cowl.  This is slow, tedious work...
Thanks to Andy and others for the pictures on their web sites or I'd never figure this stuff out!

The baffles have been progressing, although slowly.

Here I've completed most of the gap seal around the top... So far, this point represents nearly 40 hours of work on the baffles!

I've also started wire routing for the CHT, EGT, spark plug wires, and crank sense for the Electronic Ignition.

I've decided to run the Electronic Ignition crank position sensor (orange) around the bottom front baffles and along the top of the rocker box covers.

Since a connector was already installed on these wires as they were delivered, and the controller box is on the other side of the firewall, I made a hole near the edge of the firewall so I could slip the wires into the hole, then slide a grommet into place.  This will be generously covered with red RTV.

The controller module mounts on a rib behind the firewall.

I made a couple of small jigs to accurately position the holes through the cowl into the hinges that hold the two halves together.  This one rides along the top edge of the bottom half.

There are two holes in the jig since the hinge varies in position along the cowl split line.

Then I built the rest of the air box and carb heat valve.  I had to cut and reglass the bottom left side because I didn't position it quite far enough to the right when drilling the holes through the top plate into the bottom.  When cutting to fit around the top of the fiberglass, it is important to make sure it is pushed up as high as it will go to get the maximum clearance at the bottom.

This is what the air inlet extension on the inside of the cowl looks like after the first few layers of fiberglas.  It is pink because the foam that was used to form the fiberglass is pink.

Here's a general photo of the firewall.  (cabin heat shroud is turned down out of the way)

I added spacers between the hinge and cowl/door so the center of the hinge doesn't stick up much above the surface. (not shown)

I epoxied the piece of fiberglass that was cut out of the cowl where the oil door goes to the back of the supplied door.  This seems to significantly stiffen and strengthen the door.  All that is left to do is fit the latch and rivet the hinge in place.