Misaligned cowling

Folks

I have had my cowling and nosebowl off and on - stock PA18-150 - several times with no problems.
However this time refitting has caused much head scratching and some words!

Having not touched the rails or the support rods the bottom cowl aligns and fastens OK with nosebowl and rails but the top cowl is way out.

I measured the diagonals from the top rail attachment on the firewall to the nosebowl to find nearly 1" difference between them. there are no 'misplaced holes' on the nosebowl to cause confusion in attaching the upper rails.

Any ideas as to where am I going wrong?

Thanks all
Frank

check the nose against the starter and ring gear.

loosen the hardware.

Hold in proper place and retighten.

If you mean the top of the side cowls, there is some slop up there - loosen the three fasteners and re- position the cowl piece, then tighten.

The cowl itself is complicated, considering how simple it is. There are stacks of washers on the latches, adjustments that happen when things get loosened or bent, things that hit exhaust stacks if not carefully adjusted, etc.

Before I knew better, I watched a CC mechanic trim metal off the forward edge of the cowls to fit the nose bowl - he could have just adjusted it before tightening.

If you did not remove or adjust the lower cowl rails loosen the cowl rails to nose bowl screws top and bottom and fit all the cowling and reach in and mark the attachments. Have seen elongated holes that if fudged the wrong direction throw everything off. If you think you messed up the lower cowl rail adjustment unbolt the two support tubes, get the cowl to fit and then reattach the support tubes. This has alway worked for me when I have had an issue like you have described.

Thanks all

Finally got it all together - with a little 'pressure' applied here and there.

I have no idea how this situation came up as I was careful not loosen the rails and there are no seriously elongated holes.

Frank