More progress today! The fuel flow transducer is fully connected between the gascolator and carb with new fire-sleeved teflon hose, and I just need to fabricate a minor bracket to keep that in place. The oil pressure probe is also on (visible on the right side of the pic below just above the blue coupler), though I need to clamp that to the firewall down below where it's resting now. The electrical panel (small rectangular piece in the above EI kit picture) is mounted inside the firewall, meaning I can now wire in all 14V supply wiring to the shunts and beyond, as well as the 24-pos ground block for everything.

Very importantly to running it, the magnetos are also now on and timed! In a first for this project, I had them IRAN'd and they came back with zero work on the 'RAN' part - both checked out with a clean bill of health as-is. I'll run the harnesses I got with them for now, but will get shiny new custom ones later once the electronic ignition comes to fruition.

The engine now has air and spark. All that remains to start it up is fuel (very close on that), firewall-forward wiring to engage the solenoids/starter, reconnecting the controls temporarily, and connecting all of the probes to the EI interfaces. I estimate 30 minutes with an extra set of hands and a solid day of further effort and I'll be at the point of putting fuel to things that make noise.

The panel design is complete! Plastic gets cut on Monday for a test fitment, if that all checks out then we will cut/powder coat/silk screen the real metal panel pieces shortly thereafter. I also got some of the Pinpoint Harnessing wiring and new solenoids in yesterday, will hopefully have that locked down this weekend along with some more fuel system work.

Looks great! Did you do the panel layout or contract that out?

Bagarre wrote:Looks great! Did you do the panel layout or contract that out?

I'm having Saircorp do it. He has the structural measurements for the aircraft already, and the experience/skills to turn this into something presentable. I made a foam-core template of the overlay and decided where I wanted stuff, sent that to him, and we have been refining it for a while since then.

This year of 182 has been a solid challenge. There isn't a lot of room to fit things around parts of the plane, and I'm adding systems which all require new panel parts (switches, breakers, displays/gauges, so on). I still may make more changes once the plastic test template gets installed and I see how things actually line up in the real world.

I'm going thru a similar exercise but DIY with a copy of Solidworks in my 170B.

Bagarre, how accommodating is Solidworks of a tech challanged dump ass DYI'er ? I'd like to try and sort out a new panel layout for my 170B as well.

Mapleflt wrote:Bagarre, how accommodating is Solidworks of a tech challanged dump ass DYI'er ? I'd like to try and sort out a new panel layout for my 170B as well.

It's a pretty steep learning curve. I went to school for drafting back in the stone age and have a few years experience working AutoCAD and Solidworks was confusing as hell until I watched a few hundred videos online. I picked it over AutoCAD as it's free to students and prior military. It's a lot to soak up just to make one panel tho.

After doing this one, I'm toying with the idea of offering the service to others. I think I could keep basic design cut and finish for under $1k on something like a 170B. Still need to see how well I can silkscreen or find someone with a frame laser engraver that will fit a panel.

How about if you took it to the "dimensional" drawing point as a digital file and thereafter the end user would or could source a local fabricator unless they requested that level of service thru you.

For the time you will spend going back and forth with the owner, cutting samples and then real metal, coating, finishing, etc I think $1k is selling yourself way short. Not that we don't all appreciate a bargain, but I think you're giving it away at that price. I know how long mine is taking to do, and while I don't have a breakdown of his time since it's a flat rate, he's competitive at the price I'm paying. Some other shops charge a good deal more in fact. Factor in the value of your education as well (not everyone can just whip out SW and draft a usable panel), materials, machine time/access and tool costs, etc. It adds up quick.

Now for anyone wanting to play with SW, it's free for EAA members now. So for like $40-something a year, you get access to that. They are supposed to have some training materials as well, though I haven't gone through them yet.

colopilot wrote:For the time you will spend going back and forth with the owner, cutting samples and then real metal, coating, finishing, etc I think $1k is selling yourself way short. Not that we don't all appreciate a bargain, but I think you're giving it away at that price. I know how long mine is taking to do, and while I don't have a breakdown of his time since it's a flat rate, he's competitive at the price I'm paying. Some other shops charge a good deal more in fact. Factor in the value of your education as well (not everyone can just whip out SW and draft a usable panel), materials, machine time/access and tool costs, etc. It adds up quick.

Now for anyone wanting to play with SW, it's free for EAA members now. So for like $40-something a year, you get access to that. They are supposed to have some training materials as well, though I haven't gone through them yet.

I'm not thinking about something like the panel you're having done. That's dozens of hours of back and forth R&D, fit, move, tweak, re-do. Plus final finish, professional silkscreening... I have about 20 hours and one plastic prototype that only showed me my first idea was all wrong so far.

But I think I could fill a niche for a more simple panel where there are very known quantities.
I have a decent handle on the 170 panel for example. My idea would be someone wanting a re-org of the existing floating panel without secondary machine work and probably no lettering or simple dry transfer lettering.

If it's more than that, you're right that I'd have to go time and materials at some hourly rate.

It has been a while since the last update and a lot has been done since October. The tail and wing wires are run, and the AeroLED tail stinger light is pinned to the Molex connector and bench tested. Engine probe wires are all routed and ready for connections in the next couple days. Wing wires need connectors, but I estimate about 4 more hours of work to connect the probes and pin up the wing leads for light installation.

I took one step backward on the fuel cells after deciding I didn't like how the original metal outlet tubes had held up. In the interest of zero leaks and no more soldered-screen problems, I am going to install a set of Burl's tubes instead. Once those are installed and primer lines connected on the engine side of the firewall, it will be ready to take fuel and start up for the first time! Since the tank outlet installation will require me pushing from the inside of the cell I have left the necks disassembled, so I estimate about 2-3 hours more work to get the fuel system buttoned up.

The new panel required an additional plastic test template due to some changes and fine tuning, however I tested the unfinished metal panel a couple weeks ago. It is currently with Saircorp for powder coating and screening, and I hope to have it back very soon. Since I already know how and where everything will fit, the actual install should be fairly straightforward. All instruments have their home, the radios will go into RadioRax rails tapped for the new panel, and most of it should just work. The panel electrical will take the most time as that's all still virgin wire, but I've spent a while on wiring diagrams (which I am still refining) so that should make it go efficiently. I will finish wiring the EI displays, AoA, radios, and pitot-static. My avionics shop is currently slated to get the plane on 2/18 for transponder and G5 install/certification. I could be wildly off, but I think somewhere in the 12-16 hour mark to get the new panel installed, plus an hour or two doing some radio tray pinning on the dining room table.

Antennas still need to be done, and this will take some effort. I'm debating farming this out to a local avionics person on the side just due to the amount I have remaining, but we'll see how the rest goes.

We are approaching the finish line! Engine and electrical/panel testing will commence hopefully all in the next 2-3 weeks. From there I just need to put the interior back together and clean up some things, finish paperwork, do a new W&B on scales, and take to the skies! I am optimistic about at least a test flight by end of month/early March, with full signoff not too far past that point.

Here's a picture of the panel test fit with the actual metal pieces, pre-finishing. A couple things are loosely placed so don't read too much into alignment weirdness that you might see. In this you can see the EI CGR-30 displays, AV-20-S AoA, dual G5's in the flush mount tray, and radio trays (not screwed in place). I also have the ELT panel and one of the Stratus USB power modules in there, along with the lower left switch/breaker panel where I've consolidated everything. The transponder will be in the left open space on the bottom and GDL receiver under that on a small shelf, and the right open space will become the map box. The open area on the upper right will house the Guardian CO sensor on a metal faceplate (tied to the EI and part of their kit), and a shelf behind for a few avionics-related things.

colopilot wrote:For the time you will spend going back and forth with the owner, cutting samples and then real metal, coating, finishing, etc I think $1k is selling yourself way short. Not that we don't all appreciate a bargain, but I think you're giving it away at that price.

I really have to laugh at myself for how optimistic I was.
You're right, the hours involved to come up with a usable design is quite large.
I ended up with three or four cut prototypes and probably 100 hours in time.

If there is one thing I've learned through this entire project it's, The professionals charge what they charge for a reason..... and it's worth it.

Bagarre wrote:If there is one thing I've learned through this entire project it's, The professionals charge what they charge for a reason..... and it's worth it.

Saircorp raised the prices a bit after mine, I don't know if I finally broke Larry with this project but his work has been excellent on all levels. Speaking of which, he sent me this picture earlier today. Powder coat is done, just waiting for the screen printing to cure overnight and it will be in FedEx back to me tomorrow! This means starting this weekend, I put the panel back in the airplane for real! The color shading isn't a lighting thing, I two-toned the panel. Matte black on bottom, and a matte dark grey on top to break up the visuals a bit.

Today was surprisingly productive as well, given that the outside temp was 19 degrees with freezing fog most of the morning and my hangar isn't heated. Fortunately my truck has heated seats during breaks. All engine cylinder probes are wired in, all monitoring wiring is routed and dressed. Just have a few ancillary probes and the engine ground strap to connect up and she'll be just about ready to run (FWF anyway).

I'm hoping for warmer weather the next week and a half, but this is motivation to put on a thick coat and deal with it.

Man I love that subpanel, that’s such a clean look compared to most of the factory ones that have been cut up over the years. Looks great!

Very nice. Love the layout and the two tone. Sometime I will make it out east to FTG to check it out.

CenterHillAg wrote:Man I love that subpanel, that’s such a clean look compared to most of the factory ones that have been cut up over the years. Looks great!

That right there is why I ended up going the new panel route. I realized there was no way to do what I wanted to do without making the existing panel look like a hacked up monstrosity. I've also flown enough new Cessnas to appreciate their consolidated, OCD-proof approach to electrical layouts these days, and wanted to emulate that if not do it better.

asa wrote:Very nice. Love the layout and the two tone. Sometime I will make it out east to FTG to check it out.

There's a good chance I could be persuaded to make a Boulder run. Any good food around the airport there? I haven't flown this thing in so long, I'm already stacking up every justification I can to go anywhere I can (with the bar being set low - days ending in 'Y').

I've spent several days in the hangar running a propane jet heater non-stop due to single-digit and teens temps, but this afternoon I was able to see that effort come to fruition! All of the cabin/firewall wiring is now complete, and today marked a huge milestone when I saw the new panel light up for the first time. There were a couple glitches (audio panel won't power up and an ammeter is reading zero) but overall it went well. The G5's are still disconnected, though I may convince my avionics guys to let me pin power to those just to test them.

After I sort out the minor discrepancies, I will wire in the wing LED's. The whole electrical system routes to the subpanel (lower left) and lighting is already run to Molex connectors, so I just need to crimp pins on the wire ends and plug them in. I have a couple more wire runs to make as well, but that should be fairly quick. I did reinstall the tail stinger today and put ship power to the AeroLED Suntail for the first time as well. I'll show off the rest of the lights once they're all running.

Oh yeah, and it's about time to test run this thing too! I will pull it out in the morning (depending on weather which has been quite unpredictable) and crank the prop without plugs in, and if that all goes well, install plugs and mag harnesses and go for broke. I need to leak test the fuel system as well but that should be quick.

Here's a shot of the new panel powered up. A few things are missing in this picture, like the transponder to be installed in the lower level under the copilot yoke, and CO sensor which mounts to the cover plate top right which then covers up the misc avionics hardware I mounted in there. Plus a couple controls and tidying up, but this is basically it. I'm beyond ecstatic with how this turned out and can't wait to fly behind this for real!

SPECTACULAR

Wow, that looks great!! Good job!

Looks nice...I love my 58' Straight tail...its been a work in progress. It will go to most of the Big Four, like Big Creek, Johnson Creek, Moose Creek and I can't remember the other one...if it was a tail wheel it would go more places.