Series 5 cowl on SS7 Fuselage question

This might be a memory test for those that are flying a series 5. I'm in the process of mounting the round cowl on my SS7 and was getting ready to make a cut on the top cowl when I thought it might be prudent to see if what I'm about to do will cause downstream problems. If I place the top cowl in position and let it lay on the firewall, the rear side walls extend down past the joggle in the lower cowl. That wouldn't bother me except for the fact that there is a witness line on the cowl that appears to match the overlap between the top and bottom cowl. Maybe it has a significance I'm missing. In other words it appears to be the area of the cowl that would fit in the joggle on the bottom cowl. Additionally, I trimmed from the witness line to the bottom of the cowl but encountered places where the factory cut too much off and so the bottom edge is not straight. Cutting the top cowl to the bottom of the upper most tape line (see the picture) would give me a straight line, put the cowl right on top of the firewall, and lay perfectly in the joggle - I'd be real happy. BUT, and there is always a butt, will that cause me a problem later? Maybe installing the windshield? Is there anyone with a round cowl (no boot cowl) out there that remembers enough to give me some pointers? Any advice will be appreciated.Attachment 23320

Hi Darrel,
Sorry I won't be of any help here, but your situation reminds me of when i was building mine. I couldn't fit the cowl till the window was in, i couldn't finish the window til the glareshield was installed, i couldn't fit the glareshield til I trimmed the instrument panel, I couldn't fly the plane til I got off my ass and did this stuff. You get the idea.
Ken

I sure do - understand. The goal here is to take advantage of other folks' experiences before I learn that hard way that a cut shouldn't have been made. (As in: Shucks, I've cut that cowl three times and it is still too short.) My copy of the manual doesn't have windshield mounting instructions for "the special case of a 7SS with a round cowl" and I didn't run into my question until after the factory closed down for the weekend. Unless someone weighs in with an answer, I'll probably make the cut today and live with the "re-fiberglassing" consequences - whatever they might be. It makes sense to try a rough fit with the windshield before doing so to see if any issue becomes obvious but I don't like handling expensive plastic until I absolutely have too. Call me wimpy. Thanks Ken.