May 12 - 23, 2003
Building the Doors
It was time to finish things up. I was enjoying the
open-air flying, but everybody
told me how much better the plane would fly with doors on it.
Because I had added a stringer along the bottom of
the cockpit opening, I needed to do something to get the door
to align right along the vertical tube next to the seat. I added
a piece of angle aluminum, angled to match the bottom stringer.
Initial layout of the lexan and door frame.
Drilling the frame for the hinge.
Aligning the lexan and attaching it at the hinge.
Rough-fitting and trimming the door.
Since nobody will be getting in and out the left side,
I simplified and lightened those latches.
The standard latch on the right front door.
The completed project.
Adding the doors has increased cruise speed by nearly
10 MPH at the same RPM. I can now easily cruise 65 MPH at 5000
RPM, using about 3 gallons of fuel per hour.
