On the inside, I just drilled the hinges to the cowl and oil door, using an .032" backing strip to help reinforce everything -- so that if the door is unlatched and the wind catches it, or if somebody inadvertently leans on it, it's not just a couple of rivets holding things together. Instead of a couple of rivets that could pull out, there are seven rivets per side.
The issue that I'm having now is the sequence...whether I want to rivet all of this together now or not. The thing I'm wondering about is how this will get painted if I rivet it together now. Since the door wouldn't be painted separately, The problem would be that the flange beneath the door wouldn't get any paint if the cowl is painted with the door closed. And as the door opens, it blocks part of the exposed cowl -- so it's not like it can be painted with the door open. Here it is in the open position.
Here it is as it starts to open and blocks normally exposed cowl...
...and here it is all the way open, blocking about 1/2" of cowl.
Another view for kicks.
