Baffle Material

This part wasn't as bad as thought it was going to be. My Dad was in town which gave us a chance to work on this together and the extra set of hands was helpful. For those that don't know the baffles seal the upper part of the engine creating a plenum. This makes the air that is flowing into the engine cowling to pressurize and forces it down in between the cylinders thus cooling the engine. So we don't want any gaps. The pressurized air should force the pieces of rubber together forming the seal.

Lots of planning and templates goes a long way when making the baffle fabric.

You have to cut around the cylinder. Later this will get sealed up with some RTV.

Here are a few shots of everything installed. Notice my really nice RTV job! (NOTE: you have to thoroughly clean the release agent off the material before you RTV. I would do this before you install them.....wish I would have)

Next, I made baffle close outs for the air ramps. Not sure if these will stay on the cowling or get installed after the cowling is on. I'll figure out which one is easier as I use them. But, just in case I added nutplates to the bottom.

Here is the LH one sitting in place. Two screws and it's installed.