ACK! With the upper half of the hinge installation partially cured, we discovered that we had neglected to insert the clecos for the upper cowling at the fuselage. (You can see those clecos starting in Picture 190.) With the upper cowling out of position, the alignment of the hinge pin was incorrect. We didn't even think twice...

We drilled out the pop rivets. Then we used the heat gun to gently heat the hinge until it could be pulled off of the cowling. Because the holes in the cowling are already in place, we've decided to cut a new piece of hinge for this area. We'll use the removed piece of hinge on the lower cowling. "Waste not, want not."

We're grateful that we discovered our mistake so quickly. Otherwise, we would have certainly been repairing all of the hinges. We feel like we avoided a minor disaster.

3/20/2018   Picture 221