Panel Finishing (5)

5 hours

I finally have all the holes cut/drilled in the panel!  So now it is time to label everything and paint it.  I had been looking into trying to take the panel somewhere to have it powder coated and get all the labels laser engraved, but I didn't really find anywhere nearby that could do it.  So, here is how I did it myself.

First, I primed and painted the panel.  I used Rustoleum Pro Aluminum primer and matte black paint (both from Home Depot).

I let the paint cure for a few days before moving on.  Next, I printed all the labels on my label maker, using some white-on-clear tape.  I laid everything out, figuring out what would fit, how large to make the text, and so on, and then carefully applied all the labels with tweezers.

Finally, I sprayed a few coats of satin clear over the labels.  The passenger warning sticker is from the EAA certification kit.

I let the clear cure for a few more days.  Then I installed everything that goes in from the front (start button, LED lights, and the USB port), and then I installed the panel back in the plane!

I still have a few more things to wire on the panel (seat heat, the interior lights dimmer switch, the iPad dock, and wires to the wings for lighting), but it's nearly complete now!

Coax Cables (1)

1 hour

With most of the antennas installed, all the was left was to create the coax cables to each one.  I used RG400 cable and BNC connectors, except the GPS antenna which has a TNC connector.  I think I bought 25 feet of RG400 total.

Anyway, I hadn't done any coax stuff before, but I found this video pretty much explained what I needed to know:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPyLeBIcf9c&ab_channel=SteinAir

Also, this is the crimper I bought:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0771QGR6Q/

Anyway, it was pretty easy once I understood what that video said.  I made the GPS cable first, which has a specified minimum cable length of 6.5'.  That will leave some extra, which I'll coil around and tie down next to the GPS box somehow.  The transponder antenna was more like 4'.  I'll make the VHF radio cable later once I mount the antenna!

Autopilot Servo Access Panels (2.5)

2.5 hours

Since I'm putting the autopilot servos under the seat, and the seat gets riveted in, I needed a way to access the servos later in case I ever need to adjust or remove them later.  I found some pre-made access panel kits here that I think will work pretty well: http://experimentalaccessories.com/index.html#/ (I bought a 5x5 and a 5x7 panel).

The panels came with instructions that were easy to follow.  I cut two holes in the seat and installed both panels!

ELT (4)

 4 hours

The ELT I'm using is an ACK E-04.  I had previously created a mounting area just behind the baggage area and installed the little mounting tray there, but I hadn't realized that the mounting screws also needed to go through the two mounting straps.  Luckily I was able to just reach way back there and undo the nuts, install the straps, and reinstall all the hardware.  Then I could install the ELT into the tray and strap it down.

The wiring is pretty simple, it just has a 4-wire connector that consists of power, ground, a signal wire from the GPS box, and a "test" wire for verifying that the ELT is receiving the GPS position.  It was tricky to solder the little connections in this area behind the seat, but once the connector is assembled it seems pretty sturdy.

The other cable on the front of the ELT is an RJ11 cable (same thing as a phone cord) that goes to a beeper and the remote control panel.  I placed the beeper on top of the upper right longeron with two-sided tape, and I installed the control panel above the headset jacks using more of the same M3 screws that I used for the flap position sensor.  The beeper and control panel both required special batteries.  Annoyingly they need two different batteries, but the replacement interval is 10 years so I guess I won't have to go find replacements any time soon at least!

The last thing was to install the coax cable to the antenna.  I used a 90-degree adpater at the antenna end, since clearance was tight next to the channel at the top inside of the turtledeck, where I installed the antenna previously.  The other adapter in this picture is an anti-static filter that came with the ELT.

I used a few zip tie mounts to route the cable along the top channel up to the ELT.  The included 5' cable ended up being just about the perfect length.

I didn't consider this way back when I built the mounting area for the ELT, but I put it a little too close to the turtledeck former, so there wasn't quite enough room for the coax cable to bend behind the former.  I just drilled a hole for the cable to pass through and then curve towards the rear.

Antennas (2)

 2 hours

Today I installed three of the four antennas I'm going to use:

Garmin GA 35 for the GPS

Comant CI 105 for the transponder

and the ACK antenna that came with my E-04 ELT

The fourth antenna will be a Comant CI 122 for the VHF radio, but I'm not exactly sure where I'm going to put that one yet.

The GPS antenna was the only one that really took much custom work, but it wasn't too bad.  I located it on the turtledeck just behind the canopy.  Since the two sheets that form the turtledeck overlap right there at the top, it created a non-level surface.  I added a small doubler to the right side so the antenna could have a flat surface to sit on.  I also drilled out five rivets and replaced them with flush rivets.  I guess it's not really flat, because it's obviously curved, but you know what I mean.  I bought a piece of 1/8" thick rubber sheet from Lowe's to make a gasket, and that sort of worked to close the gap between the antenna base and the top of the plane.  I think I will find a slightly softer piece of rubber and redo this later.  If the gasket compresses a little more I think this will work okay!

I don't have any good pictures of it, but I installed the transponder antenna on the floor just aft of the baggage compartment.

I put the ELT antenna on the turtledeck right above the control mixer.  That allowed me to reach up through the mixer access panel to reach the connector on the inside.  One note I have is, if you install the antenna close to centerline like I did, the connector will be real close to the C-channel that runs down the spine of the turtledeck on the inside.  I was able to make it fit by using a 90-degree adapter, but it would have been a little easier to just drill the hole slightly farther off-center!

Flap Position Sensor (2.5)

 2.5 hours

While shopping for other electrical parts and stuff, I realized I could add a little position sensor to my flap actuator, and wire it right into the G3X system so it would display the flap position on the PFD.  The sensor is a Ray Allen POS-12.

This took a little figuring out but in the end it ended up pretty simple.  I picked a spot on the right side vertical channel, just in front of the actuator, to mount it.  I used a little piece of scrap C-channel cut in half so it's just a small piece of angle pretty much.  That got riveted to the side member, and I screwed the sensor to the bracket.  

For the pushrod, I just picked up a 12-inch "Kwik-Link" rod from an RC hobby shop (I also picked up a couple M3 screws there too to mount the sensor).  One end has a little adjustable plastic connector thing, and the other end is just plain rod.  The plastic connector actually fit perfectly in the sensor.  Once I figured out the length I needed, I bent the plain end into a hook shape and cut off the excess.  Then I just ziptied the hook end to the arm on the flap tube.

Here's how it looks all hooked up:

I ran a 3-conductor wire from the sensor the GEA 24 box on the inside of the firewall.  Once I had the wires hooked up, it was super easy to set up and calibrate on the G3X display.  Here's all I had to do to get it working:

Finally, here's how it looks on the PFD screen!

Transponder Installation (6)

 6 hours

The last Garmin component I finally bought was the transponder.  I couldn't really decide if I wanted to get a GTX 45R, which does ADSB in and out, or the cheaper GTX 35R that does ADSB-out only, and add a GDL 50 later for ADSB-in.  I was leaning toward the 35R, since it plus the GDL 50 was still cheaper than the 45R, and having the GDL connected to an iPad would give me a simple backup navigation system in case of aircraft electrical failure (since the GDL and iPad each have their own battery).

I stumbled on an open-box but never installed GTX 35R on ebay a while ago for about $700 cheaper than MSRP, and that's what finally did it for me!

Anyway, this transponder is made to be installed in an avionics rack, which I don't have.  It slides into this little bracket conveniently, I just needed to figure out how to mount the bracket in the plane.  After a little head-scratching, I ended up just making some little brackets to attach the mounting bracket to the side skin in the baggage compartment (opposite the radio and GPS).  There's not enough space to be able to slide the transponder out of the bracket, but if I ever need to remove it, it'll be easy enough to undo the screws that go through these brackets.

Next I ran the wires.  I just continued my wire bundle from the right side of the baggage area, along the floor just behind the seat, and up the left side to the transponder.  It's not on the CAN bus, so all it needed was power, ground, and RS-232 connections to the ADAHRS and the GPS.