Yep, I spent way too long today dialing in the left side exhaust pipe brackets and sleeves in prep for welding.

With the brackets and sleeves dialed in, the final configuration has the left inboard pipe ending up about 1/8″ further inboard than I had planned.  While this actually results in both left exhaust pipes being more parallel to each other than what I had planned on, it does place the inboard pipe about 3/16″ total closer to the prop spinner lampshade flow guide.

That being said, I’d be more concerned with the inboard exhaust pipe being positioned closer to the prop spinner lampshade if it wasn’t for the fact that with the curved pipe end it STILL points outboard in its current untrimmed state.  Thus my plan is to trim the pipe end to have it —and all the other exhaust pipes— to simply point as straight as possible aft, out of the cowling [in an attempt to attain Mike Melvill’s configuration of having the pipes aimed more towards the prop hub… where the prop doesn’t generate hardly any power].

I confirmed the left exhaust pipes near-final configuration by mounting the prop spinner lampshade and the bottom cowling. However, with the left inboard pipe even a bit more inboard, it made me no-kidding push the right exhaust pipe pair as inboard as possible in an attempt to balance out the left and right exhaust pipe pairs in relation to the prop spinner lampshade.  The bottom line was I was able to squeeze them inboard another 1/8″ (I’m at max inboard now).

This of course blew my current right brackets’ configuration out of the water and requires me to make new ones.  Oh well… need to get it all as correct as possible.

Below is cardboard template #4 that I slowly dialed in.  I worked until late into the evening before calling it a night.

Tomorrow my main push will be to get the third version of the right brackets dialed in and recut out of 316 stainless steel on the plasma cutter.  Also, as I did on the left side I’ll be adding in screw mounting reinforcement brackets on the aft right baffle wall to buttress up these assemblies as best possible.  Then on to welding (at least tacking) these brackets up!

Pushing forward… slow and steady.