Wed Sep 24 18:13:11 2008 - It's hard to see here, but the top has been rounded to help guide the latches into place. The canopy now closes into place very precisely.

Wed Sep 24 17:40:20 2008 - Shaping UHMW plastic is not as trivial as it sounds as the plastic is inherently abrasion resistant. What worked really well for me was a 50 grit drum sander. The GatorGrit brand has worked very well for me. I then finished off the piece with the ScotchBright wheel at about 1900 RPM.

Thu Sep 4 19:54:08 2008 - Drilled and bolted the canopy latch fingers. My initial holes were dead on. I hope they stay that way even after I add the weather stripping.

Thu Sep 4 19:48:04 2008 - Finished up the canopy side lock for the most part. I need to order an AN4-12 as the AN4-11 was just a tad too short and would not allow a cotter pin to fit. The AN3-11 fits great. The forward latching handle comes tapped for an AN3 bolt and although a long spring comes with the kit, I just couldn't come up with a decent "look" that didn't involve showing a spring all over the place. So, using some stainless hinge pin material, an AN3-5A bolt, a jam-nut, and the OEM latch spring, this is what I came up with (similar to David Burden's idea - RV9A driver). I'll be purchasing a proper nut and lock-washer in the near future. The latch has a good solid feel when engaged. I'm quite pleased with this setup.

Tue Sep 2 19:59:07 2008 - The "kickstand" in action. No pressure is applied to the plexiglass.

Tue Sep 2 18:57:16 2008 - I made this little "kickstand" for holding open the canopy just enough so as to not allow the front canopy skin to interfere with the clecos holding down the top forward skin.

Mon Sep 1 13:32:48 2008 - And this is where I'll drill the first holes. I'll make any height adjustments using these holes and when I've got that taken care of, I'll drill the 2nd set of holes. This'll help ensure that the latches won't stray from their position. I did note a substantial differenced in hole position. I'm going to run threw this exercise again and verify that the latches were in their proper positions. Could just be differences in the canopy frame height, however.

Mon Sep 1 13:20:13 2008 - Now that the canopy is in place, remove the tape. The latch is then held up against the canopy frame by the foam. I then adjusted the latch as necessary and marked my hole using the butt end of a #30 drill with some machinists dye. I unlocked the latch, and pulled the latch out from the bottom.

Mon Sep 1 12:51:47 2008 - Next, I used some painter's tape to hold the latch aft to allow the canopy to be lowered. Note that the tape does not wrap around the outboard edge of the frame. It does wrap around the inboard edge, however. I then carefully lowered the canopy into place.

Mon Sep 1 12:49:15 2008 - So here's the latest puzzle. Somehow, I'm supposed to position the canopy latches while the canopy is closed (which covers up this area) and drill them. So here's what a came up with. I had to trim the hooks themselves a little since they were binding in the baggage compartment bulkhead slots. I installed the latches and then engaged the locking mechanism - this kept the latches from falling. Next, I cut two pieces of soft foam and wedged them into place as shown (one on each side).