Aug 15 2003 - I am getting a good start on the panel cutouts. The large area to the right is where the ACS2002 engine monitor goes. The empty 2.25 hole is for the g-meter. Only a couple switches and the intercom are left to mount.

Aug 23 2003 - I finished up all the panel work with the exception of the ACS2002 engine monitor. The side panels are now complete as well.

Here is the support I made for the rear of the radio tray. This goes between the tray and the cross member.

Here is the support mounted in place. Not too much room left! There is about another 3/8" before the tray would hit the upper bulkhead which is removed for this shot.

Note that I mounted the radio and transponder further into the panel than shown in the mounting instructions. I thought the radios looked horrible when the tray was flush with the front of the panel as directed. In that configuration, the radio sticks out 11/16". I left 1/4" sticking out and if I did it over would go even further, with only 1/8" remaining which matches the Dynon when using the flush mount bracket.

Aug 26 2003 - I fabricated an access panel into the aft wall of the baggage compartment. The 0.050" thick doubler mounts to the front face of the bulkhead and ties into the cross member. There is still plenty of room for the nylon latch block.

If I were to do this over, I would leave more material around the top. I left 1.125 inches. Leave closer to 2.0 inches so that interference with the hinge support is not an issue. I had to bend the end tab upwards instead of downward and cut a notch in the access panel door.

I have generous radii in the corners and I am going to trap the hinge pin rather than make the door removable. Since the hinge eyes face aft, the sides of the doubler will trap the pin.

Sep 1 2003 - I made the final cutouts in the panel for the engine monitor, low voltage warning light, and compass adjust holes. Ready for paint.

Sep 2 2003 - Rob at ACS sent me the configuration software to change the screen layout on the engine monitor to a vertical orientation.

Here is a crummy picture of the layout. I prefer this to the horizontal layout even if my small panel didn't dictate the vertical mode.

Software 2.5.2 A04 is what they sent me. Note that changing screen orientation basically involves loading all new code into the unit.

Sep 5 2003 - I finished painting and lettering the panel and installed all the instruments. In taking this picture I noticed a problem with one of the instruments, which is now on its way back to the supplier to be fixed. Can you spot it? (answer at the bottom of the page)

The left side. The radio/GPS is a UPSAT GX65. The transponder is a Garmin GTX327. A PM1000II intercom is used in place of the GX65 intercom since I wanted to include the ACS2002 voice alerts. The built-in intercom lacked the flexibility.

The center panel. (hint - look close in this shot)

I will turn off the Dynon functions that have analog gauge equivalents to keep clutter down.

Right side. The ACS2002 fit nicely due in no small part to the included drill/cut template. It still took lots of filing to get nice straight edges and even gaps, though

Answer - The altimeter hands do not agree. In the photo above, the hundreds hand is at 900 yet the thousands hand shows just over 7000. Aligning the hundreds hand at 0 puts the thousands hand at about +400 feet, not pointed right at the number as it should.

Sep 29 2003 - The altimeter is back from repair and the panel is complete again. Now back to wiring....

Oct 17 2003 - A really tough shot of the panel in darkness. My camera with its hot spots really struggled with this. The EL strip has just been set on the top row of clecos for this shot.

The multimeter in the shot shows 3.1 amps total for all the items in the panel as shown.

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