Hello all,

I'm trying to get this DA-50 centered on my wildhare extra 300 special. The edge looks a bunch easier because of the nice spinner ring. The extra doesn't have that.

1. Should the spinner be flush with the top of the cowl?

2. How did ya'll center it right to left?

3. With the factory cowl placement/screws, the cowl does not account for right thrust. IE the spinner is closer on one side. Did ya'll acount for that by moving the factory cowl holes or did ya'll just leave it and fly. (the way I want too! LOL)

Any thoughts, pictures, encouragement will be greatly appreciated.

Craig

I have the spinner flush with the top, and centered side to side. The engine is offset to the left so the propshaft would be centered.(due to the right thrust) I also enlarged the mounting holes in the cowl slightly and used those washers that have rubber bonded to them so that I could fine tune the spinner to cowl gap. Hope this helps
Brian

The correct way to deal with the angular difference between the spinner backplate and the cowl ring is to leave it alone. Mount the cowl straight with the fuselage. The right thrust is intentional to correct for engine torque. "Tilting" the cowl only makes the entire plane look crooked. If you go for a minimal gap on the smaller side, you should only end up with about a 1/8" gap on the larger gapped side of the spinner.

Bring the engine up high enough on the engine box to have the top edge of the spinner backplate blend into the top of the cowl or cowl ring, depending whether it's an Edge or an Extra.

Thanks,

Any idea on how to measure side to side?

Glad to have this forum back!

Craig

Just stand it in its tail and strap it to the side of the bench, put your stand-offs on the motor and set it into place, mount the cowl, then just slide the motor around untill you have it like you want it. You will have to make your rough cuts in the cowl first, but with a little carefull measuring its not that hard. Just be prepared to R&R the cowl several times to get everything perfect.

Brian

Ok. Got the holes drilled. I need to go ahead and purchase a spinner but for now I was using a 4 inch and 3 inch spinner to help me align. I know, that's not a bright idea, but it's all I had on hand so I wanted to get the thing mounted. LOL.


Anyhow, Is 1/16 th of an inch too small a gap for the spinner. It is plenty on the opposite side but because of the right thrust it appears a little tight. Will that be ok?

Thank you gentlemen for all the help. I want this bird to be set up right and I appreciate your time.

Craig

Absolutely fine right where it is (it must have taken as long to take that picture as it did to mount that motor LOL!) mine looks just the same, or did before I planted it, 40 odd flights no problems with spinner clearance.

Ouch! How did you plant it?

Thanks for the response,

Craig

Nose first, I have spinner clearance issues now!! I was flying beyond my capabilities. Apparently I cannot land anymore my approach was fine I like to touch the tail wheel and set down the mains, our field is like flying on and off a carrier with severe drop offs at either end and I flat misjudged my position and she dropped like a rock if I had been 5' closer to myself all would have been fine "Live and Learn", It is a shame because I truly love Wild Hare products even though I have messed Tom around with orders but he said he will have another shipment in 2-3 weeks.You will have tremendous fun with your plane. Good luck

Has anyone that used a DA-50 found that they needed UP THRUST during the trimming process? I want to get the engine as close as possible the first time I drill the firewall. If I need to shim the engine during the trimming process my spinner will be off center for sure. Thanks for the help!