N247BR

Doors Preparation - Hinge Install

I have broken the door preparation into several sections to keep the individual pages smaller and give some logical sections.
	The positioning of the door hinge is in the molded portion of the fuselage roof and the inner door frame.  This shows the inner door frame positioned and the opening for the hinge at the top.
	The positioning of the door hinge called for in the instructions had the hinge mounted deep back and down in the hinge well.  I didn't like the positioning and the very small amount of hinge area on the door.  As usual, I tried something a bit different with admittedly mixed results. The first change was to move the hinge forward to the point where the recess in the hinge was at the edge of the door.  This gave another half inch depth on the door and positioned the screws in a stronger/thicker portion of the door.
	I raised the hinge up an1/8 inch by placing shims under the hinge in the door.  This leaves space under the hinge for a rubber seal when the door is closed.  It also ment less filler required over the hinge and in the door. As I mentioned though, the results were somewhat mixed.  The unanticipated problem was the top door edge does not clear the roof as it should.  When allowed to fully open the door edge hits the roof.  I still have some work to do on this issue.
	The final installed hinges were attached to the doors after painting and just are just barely high enough that the door does not hit the fuselage top at full open.  (Just barely)
The final install on each of the doors was the same.	The inner nuts are partially hidden by the overhead console.
Once the Overhead Console was upholstered the nuts were hidden from view.	The remainder of the upholstry hid the openings.