As all the camlock support strips are now dry, it took one hour to rivet all the female parts of the camlocks.

I've decided that the baffles will be painted with a color looking abit like the engine, so that was done today using Rustoleum Steel.



I also painted some other firewall forward parts : the camlock support strips and the lower cowl support bracket. For these I used calor I had bought when experimenting for the cabin.
While I was waiting between layers, I continued working on the exhaust by cutting all the small steel tubing to the correct length and tweaking the final position. Still not finished but it looks promising.

The weather being sunny and warm enough I think it is time to prime all the parts waiting : the baffles, the camlock support strips, the gear fairing brackets and the lower cowl support bracket. I think this will be the last big priming session, but there will be some smaller parts to do later.
Before beginning the painting, I rivet the two vent hole flanges on the front ramps. I 2" flange on the left ramp for the left muffler, and a 1" flange on the right ramp for the alternator coolong duct.



In order to uninstall the main gear fairing brackets I have to lift the plane to remove the wheels. I use a garage jack and a steel bracket mounted on the gear leg (protecte by some left over baffle seal). This worked well for now but I don't know how it's going to work with the brake line installed.



Some of the parts, there is also the spinner brackets.



And the baffles.



After all is dry, the tools cleaned and stored I assemble the lower cowl lower bracket.

Positionning the exhaust proved difficult, but the forums (fora!!) show I'm not alone. In fact, move the exhaust toward the center and it will hit the nose gear, movi to the exterior and it will hit the cowl. After a few tries I have found an acceptable position with a gap more than 1/2".
The picture is taken from below and shows the wooden shim I used to set the gap between the exhaust and the fuselage.



The exhaust is then bolted to the engine and engine mount using two small stainless steel tubings and a small length of hose with hose clamps. The picture shows the tubing before the hose is installed.



And this is with the hose and the clamps installed.



There will be a tubing joining left and right parts horizontally and two other tubings joining each side to teh engine mount. The picture show the preparation for one side engine mount.

In fact I wanted to install the oil door, but it began to rain so it was not possible to make the cuts as I don't want to cut inside to avoid all the dust.



So I open the exhaust box that was wainting for some time now.



The initial fit goes without problems, the parts are superb and fit very well.
It will get more complicated with the exhaust pipes, the mufflers and the heat muffs. I would like both sides to look symetrical, that both pipes are at the same angle and that the gap between the exhaust and the parts not moving (cowl and engine mount) is big enough.



This is the right side, I could get it right after some tweaking. But I have more problems on the left side, I will make some research about the minimal acceptable gap.