Nose Bowl Configuration

[Hank Jarrett]

Re: Nose Bowl Configuration

I have seen plenty of early planes with the little oval hole below the prop (NOT the round one). Later planes got larger rectangular holes where your oval one is.

I would NOT recommend hammer welding the round hole. Can't say for positive, but none of the nose bowls I have seen were a weldable alloy. They "can" be "welded", but they also will crack like mad after you fly for a while, and you DO NOT want a piece of the metal getting loose and being hit by the prop. You will be much better off doing a clean flush rivet job with some Poly-sulfide sealant (NOT SILICONE!!!!! The paint won't stick!) in the gap that can be sanded smooth, primed and painted to pretty much completely hide the repairs.

Hank

[astjp2]

Re: Nose Bowl Configuration

Hank, mine was welded, but it was a univair repop. Tim

I have seen plenty of early planes with the little oval hole below the prop (NOT the round one). Later planes got larger rectangular holes where your oval one is.

I would NOT recommend hammer welding the round hole. Can't say for positive, but none of the nose bowls I have seen were a weldable alloy. They "can" be "welded", but they also will crack like mad after you fly for a while, and you DO NOT want a piece of the metal getting loose and being hit by the prop. You will be much better off doing a clean flush rivet job with some Poly-sulfide sealant (NOT SILICONE!!!!! The paint won't stick!) in the gap that can be sanded smooth, primed and painted to pretty much completely hide the repairs.

Hank

[NC26528]

Re: Nose Bowl Configuration

Finally got a picture uploaded.

[3Dreaming]

Re: Nose Bowl Configuration

The hole doesn't look bad. Looks to be flanged or folded with a wire. Unless you want original, I think I would leave it. At least I would test temps with it covered up temporarily before covering it permanently.

On a different note, that looks like a new Sensenich propeller. I had a new prop on my airplane when I finished it in 1994. I put on the same diameter and pitch (70x36) IIRC, that had been on it earlier in its life. The new propeller would not even come close to turning red line in flight in a shallow dive. It was way over pitched, and loading the engine something terrible. Somehow I think Sensenich changed the way they were measuring the propeller pitch, and the new numbers don't match the old numbers. After much experimenting and trying different propellers Sensenich made me a new prop. It was a 70x34 made to minimum blade width and thickness. This propeller was made after measuring a old 70x36 that I tested and sent to them to measure. The new propeller they made really worked well, because of the added HP from letting the engine turn up in RPM.