Today was all about getting the aft right side baffle seal reinforcement angle strip configuration finalized and installed (the install part didn’t happen)… along with the baffle seals that it will help secure.

Here is the original right side baffle seal reinforcement angle strip (blue) held in place with a clothesline pin.  Note there is very little peaking out on the bottom from behind the actual aluminum vertical baffle wall.  There are 2 reasons for this: A) I was using a length of 0.032″ 2024 that I had leftover from the VANs baffle kit and this length was all I had remaining after cutting out the left side, and B) I had intended to simply copy the bottom edge of the baffle wall to allow for clearance of the #2 CAMLOC while mounting the top cowling.

However, after assessing the aft right baffle corner with the requirements on how the right side exhaust pipe brackets will get secured, I simply didn’t have enough clearance with the right outboard exhaust pipe (from cylinder #4) to make an inward facing tab, as I did on the left.  The tab would have to face outward, so I decided to create a wedge just below the existing vertical baffle wall using the right side baffle seal reinforcement angle strip.  Clearly since the original angle reinforcement strip doesn’t hang below and isn’t long enough, I needed a new one.

After scrounging around I found this length of 1/16″ 2024.  A little thicker than I was looking for, but definitely not too crazy thick.  I temporarily secured it in place to check if the length was good.  It was.

I transferred the outline of the original right side baffle seal reinforcement angle strip to this new stock and then cut out what I could on the band saw.

And finished up some the trickier corner cuts using my Dremel tool.  Here we have the old right side baffle seal reinforcement angle strip along the newly made one.

Again, I did a quick test fit and it looked like it was definitely going to fit the bill in regards to my new requirement.

Somewhat as I did on the left side, and after a few rounds of assessing the aft right corner’s configuration, I mounted a 10-32 platenut to the right side baffle seal reinforcement angle strip onto the bottom edge peaking out from below the vertical baffle wall.

To confirm how the right side exhaust pipe brackets would fit before I proceeded further, I spent the rest of the evening painstakingly and iteratively creating first the bottom bracket, replete with its outboard mounting screw hole (pic #2).

I then did the same thing for the top side, making up the mounting bracket mockup in thin cardboard.

I’ll note that I of course reserve the right to change the design of the top side bracket, in that it looks a little round on the corners to my liking… perhaps I’ll try to match it more with the left side, still allowing for the exhaust pipe clearance opening in the baffle underneath.

Tomorrow is shaking out to be a rather busy day.  I have an EAA meeting in the morning, multiple scheduled phone calls, etc.  but hopefully I can get out into the shop to knock a good bit out.