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Hey Richard : After writing up some of the stuff below, I think you should
take your Ercoupe to someone that has experience (Paul Anton) and have him
check out the engine/cowling installation and make repairs/modifications as
necessary. You have been given excellent advice by others. Check those items
first prior to trying to move the cowling.
As others have said, get rid of that spacer. The entire cowling can be
moved rearwards. Take the top cowling (and sides) off. Then take a close look
at
how the front ring and cowl are mounted/fastened. If there are any spacers
where the front ring mounts to the engine mount plan on removing them. If
there are no spacers, Plan on remounting the nose bowl. Before moving
anything,
take a good measurement of how far back the nose bowl needs to go. I am
assuming that you have already looked at the spinner, and it has been trimmed
(it
sounds like you have a taper shaft engine which has about 1/4 inch shorter
prop flange to case distance than the -F engine). If the spinner has not been
trimmed to increase the nose bowl to spinner distance, consider doing that
first (If you have the taper shaft). I guess I should have asked whether or not
you have the Super Bowl, because I have seen problems with those in the past.
OBTW you need to check and make certain that the nose ring is mounted
under/behind the carburetor air inlet, If it is not, I would say that is a
major
problem that needs to be corrected.
Now remove the spinner, prop, and nose bowl. Measure the distance from
the ring that the nose bowl mounts to, to the firewall top and bottom. Remove
any spacers between the nose ring and the engine mounts. If there were no
spacers, it will be much easier to move the bottom of the ring aft than the
top, but harder to fit the side/top cowling.How far you need to move the
cowling
will determine how you conduct the move. If it is only an 1/8 inch or so,
you should be able to force the nose bowl back (after taking out the 5 screws
that hold it to the nose ring) re-drill the holes and re-fasten the nose bowl.
If you have to shorten the mounting distance of the nose ring to the engine,
a small amount can be taken up by compressing the mounting section. If you
need a 1/4 inch or more, I would look carefully at the installation before
cutting and re-welding the mounting ring. Are the proper length engine mount
bolts installed? (the rubber mounts should be compressed so about 1/8 inch of
rubber is exposed) Are the .050 washers installed between the engine mount
bolt
nut and the rubber?
The entire cowling can be moved aft (after the nose ring is moved) by
loosening the engine mount bolts and moving the cowling supports aft the
amount
you need to gain. When you put everything back together, you most likely
will have to leave the rubber ring that goes around the fuselage tank filler
out
of the top cowling. Put the cowling in place and determine how much material
you will have to remove from the cowling to get the rubber ring in place.
You may end up putting a patch over the old hole and making a completely new
hole. Once that is done, you should be able to mount the cowling back in place
and have the desired clearance on the spinner.
I realize this did not cover everything, but it should give you a pretty
good idea of what needs to be looked at and possibly changed. I still think
the best bet is to take it to Paul and have him fix the problem.
Lynn Nelsen
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