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RV-7 N117TR

Andy,
I like the design you came up with for your panel. You are just ahead of me on the panel and wiring. I have cut one out, but didn't like it so I got new aluminum and will try again. I was happy my saber saw cut the holes as well as it did. Keep the pictures coming - I am learning a ton! Thanks.
 
Nutplates installed on the panel, Ray Allen trim and flap switches cut. Trim is centered above throttle and flaps centered above mixture. Bought some reinforced heavy duty cutoff wheels for the dremel, they worked ok with light pressures and were able to cut the small shapes pretty well. Trying to decide on the spacing between the G3X screens .
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I clamped a scrap piece of angle on my lines as a guide and cut the G3X holes with a die grinder. Leave the angle on and file the edges nice and straight. I touched the corners up with a 1 inch sanding drum in my drill.
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The little square hole is for the Ray Allen trim rocker switch. The bottom of it's hole is a little goofy because I made a last minute change to raise the switch slightly and lower the G3X screens slightly so the bottom of the bezels all line up.
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I ended up leaving 20/32 between the two cutouts, I believe that will leave a little over 1/8 inch between the screen bezels. I'm trying to decide wether to label my switches on the lower panel right above the switch or on the panel just below the G3X screens.
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I got the seat heat wires ran and soldered to the right seat.
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I also riveted on the tabs/nutplates for the panel on the canopy rail.
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I've decided to not put in a single bendix mag and to run dual EFII ignitions. Partly the wait to have the mag built, partly because the mag is "custom" made to fit the dual mag accessory case, partly because of maintaining the "custom" mag later, partly because of the installation/maintenence ease and performance of the EI. Price wise it's more but a set of aviation plugs and wires makes it an even trade. Robert at EFII has been very helpful with all my questions and my current ignition is back in the mail to him so he can reprogram and test with new the dual system.
Since I've been working backwards I really needed to work on something semi-fun, walked into the garage saw the HS on the wall and decided that was todays project. I've previously drilled/mounted the tail but was concerned with the edge distance on the HS bolt through the longeron. I've delayed fixing this problem for a while, time to cross it off the list. This pic shows the hole with 6/32 from center to outside (line) of longeron.
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I had just a little bit of scrap angle the right thickness and made an enlarged spacer reinforce the longeron (I hope).
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Pic of HS mounted on spacers on aft deck.
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Sent photos and details to Vans, waiting on an answer.
 
I mounted the roll bar for good, I used a unibit and drilled out the #40 hole on the underside of the canopy deck and cleaned it up with a dremel sanding drum and files. When I originally fit the rollbar I put the bolts in from underneath.
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I ended up super glueing the rear #4 nut and washer to the spacer, used an extension and it was pretty easy. The front #3 were easy with fingers.
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My catto prop came today, order your early! Too bad I have to wait for my crank sensors to put it on.
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I wanted a little more recline than the stock seats offered while retaining some adjustability. Here's how I've seen a lot of RVs,
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I cut the support with a hacksaw
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I put the bent flange opposite the hinge on the bottom to fit inside the angle on the rail in the fuse. I also used flush rivets on the outside.
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This pick shows the orientation better, I shortened it about 1 3/8 with a minimum of 1/4 gap between seat back and support. The lower hinge position of the seat back varies the geometry and distances quite a bit, I like it for more reclineability while retaining adjustability using stock parts.
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A shot from the rear of the Citabria today, best flying day we've had all year. Low 70's light and variable, perfect day to teach some tail wheel!
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Prepping the rest of the interior parts for paint. I'm sure I'll find at least one more after I've got these painted.
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Might try bending those tabs on the cabin heat shroud before painting. I had some paint flake off after bending....
 
I made the avionics cooling/defrost locations final, used 2 80 mm computer fans and drilled a ton of holes.
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I bought a Skytec starter on the classifieds, pic of old starter
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Comparison pic
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I was able to make the existing cable work.
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I ended up using a Kick light switch/dimmer that was a smaller diameter than the toggle, I was going to use a washer of some sort but I ended up glassing it in and fairing the top with a little filler and re-drilling.
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I made the doubler for the RAMI comm antenna, I chose to mount under the removable seat pan in the most outward bay.
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I drilled it to the underside of the belly, much easier to measure and drill. I didn't drill the nutplate holes through the skin, just the doubler. I almost drilled the large center hole of the doubler before I match drilled to the skin, glad I left it #40 and match drilled with a unibit on the doubler and skin.
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I made a couple square doublers for the transponder/ADSB antennas.
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My youngest helping remove plastic after pre-school
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Proud Dad moment!

My oldest daughter helped me on the airplane tonight (besides pulling off plastic), we blind dimpled the holes for the antenna doublers on the belly. She sat in the fuse and positioned the nail in the die and inserted the assembly through the skin, a first for being real help! It made my day that she was just as excited about the whole deal as I was!
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Just for a reference as to how long this project is taking me,

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Standing on the Finishing Kit in 2008
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A friend shot the primer in his paint booth for me, it turned out way better than in my driveway.
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My experimentation with some 1 1/8 4130 and a large hammer looks like it will make a nice stick grip, still need to bend it first.
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I got my package from SteinAir the other day, finally able to finish the seat heater wiring.
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Reading up on installing my ELT but I'm a little distracted...my oldest daughter said "you don't need that" my youngest said. "Cool, how much does it go!"
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Mounted the ELT to the mount, not real fond of the latches or the straps on the ACK. The strap hooks bent and I had to re-press the handles into the latches. Still trying to find the battery for the remote. I'm thinking ill leave the audible buzzer thing out.
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My EFII dual ignition came today, here is the dual crank sensor. The top sensor is 88 degrees before top dead center. The lower one is 71 degrees before TDC, the coils and Ecu's are matched to their associated sensors.
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Magneto block off plate/coil mount with the dowel to plug the hole in the accessory case for the single dual Bendix mag.
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On the engine minus the coil.
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The dual manifold pressure sensors, I ran the vacuum tubing with the rest of the wiring and mounted the sensors close to the ECUs.
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Routing for top plug wires.
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I terminated the first 2 plug wires and figured out routing for the rest of them. I was told to use the silicone adel clamps for anything on the engine so ill be doing most of this again.
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I think I'm going to install a vibration absorber (mouse pad idea from smokeyray) where the ECUs are mounted, it can't hurt. I still need to get some small clamps for the vacuum connections.
The Taylor 8mm wires (almost local in Grandview, Mo) with the end stripped to 1/2 inch as suggested.
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It helps to slightly bend the tabs in on the terminal so it fits in the jaws of the crimper.
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I clocked the terminal to the wire, bent the center conductor so that it lies against the outer sheath of the wire and on the bottom of the terminal. The Taylor crimper does a great job of crimping, I was impressed for $12.
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I routed the right side wires on the baffling to the center of the engine mount.
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Top plugs on both sides used the existing bolt in the baffling for an adel.
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The left top ones exit the baffling to an adel on the oil cooler then to the coil on the mag block off plate. I had already drilled the hole for a mag blast tube so I just ran it through an adel on the coil to the fuel pump.
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Hard to see anything in this pick but the blue wires on the left come from the top right plugs and along the back of the baffling through the adel on the engine mount then join the coil power wires to the coil on the mag block off plate. The blue wires on the right come from the left lower plugs to an adel on the oil cooler to the adel on the engine mount to the coil on the firewall.
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I bought some of these steel conduit fittings at Ace ($1.50) to use as firewall passthroughs for throttle mixture and carb heat/alt air. No actual fire test, but Its better than plastic.
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Engine side of firewall.
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Cabin side of firewall.
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I plan on fire sleeve on the inside and outside of the pass through.
 
I've been putting it off, but time to put the tail on for good. It takes up a lot more room but hopefully I'll be in the hanger in 1 1/2 months.
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I bought these 6 wire connectors from Stein, the male plastic connector will fit through a -10 snap bushing.
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The hole in the spar was too small for the -10 bushing and I couldn't fit a Unibit so I enlarged the hole with a sanding drum on my dremel.
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The 24 awg wires on the Ray Allen servo are pretty small so I stripped twice as much wire and folded it over to double it up. I also trimmed the insulation crimp tabs to get a nice crimp. The terminal on the left as received, the right one trimmed.
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Don't do like me and put the female pins in the female plastic connector, I think in order to snap the connector and line up the pins correctly the female wire terminals should go in the male plastic connector.
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I decided to run my rudder strobe/nav wiring through the lowest top rudder hinge. I used a spacer between the hinge and will secure the wires with an adel clamp.
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Guess what came in the mail today !
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David Esterline of Oregon Aero suggested I spend some time (read a magazine and have a beer or two) in the seats to really get to know them so I could have them fine tuned.
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I gave up on the connectors and ended up soldering the servo wires. I drilled another hole through the elevator spar to run the wires through, the existing hole was for the trim motor screw. I ground down the edges of my small Unibit to except a socket to be able to drill this hole.
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I put 2 small bends in the cut down threaded rod so it cleared the elevator skin and was within the max deflections listed in the manual.
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I exited the strobe wire here And put a spacer to keep the bolt/adel from squishing the hinge.
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I cleaned out the threads on my crank flange to prepare it for mounting the saber spacer.
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Empennage is all on and torqued!
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The rudder wiring.
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I used Popsicle sticks and super glue to position the washers on the center bearing of the elevator.
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Thanks to a local friend for the use of his paint booth I finally painted the rest of the interior pieces.
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I boxed up some of the pieces a little too early and have some bubble wrap indentations in the clear, oh well still better than my driveway.
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I painted the top and bottom of the glareshield black.
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I made the little steel plates that connect the rudder cables to the rudder pedals. 2 inches between the hole centers seemed to give me a natural feeling pedal geometry to mover the pedals and brakes.
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I mounted the ELT antenna under the empennage fairing, I made a little bracket riveted yo the HS with a snap bushing to hold the antenna in place. The main body of the antenna I drilled to the aft bulkhead above the aft deck.
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I got these AMP free hanging connectors from Digikey for my Ray Allen trim and flap switches. So far I really like them, 22-26 and 18-22 awg pins and sockets, everything fits together easily and securely.
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Panel test sticker from Hasty Awards in Ottawa, labeling an aircraft panel is a little different than the trophies/medals they usually do but they have been great to work with! Can't wait to see all of them...
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I got the tailwheel all hooked up!
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I installed the rudder pedal links, the tab on the rudder pedals on both sides weren't lined up with the rudder cables.
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I used a cresent wrench to slightly bend the tab so they lined up with the rudder cables.
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I installed a cigarette lighter in the fuel selector cover.
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I installed the computer/defroster fans on the forward top skin.
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I suppose it's perfectly safe but with fuel lines and a possible leak, is that the best place for a cigarette lighter? I am yet to gain any knowledge in this area so forgive my ignorance but it just raised a red flag when I read it.

Other stuff looks great.
 
I kinda wrestled with that myself, I placed it there to keep cords from dangling getting tangled up in legs etc. My initaial thoughts were "I'm going to make dang sure I don't have any fuel leaks to start with," and "I need to quit dreaming of possible places and drill a dang hole." It is worth some more input/opinions for sure.
Thanks!
 
Mounted the comm antenna and ran/terminated coax for Xpdr and ADSB.
Comm on the belly outboard seat rib.
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After googling BNC connectors i got a great tutorial off of Matt Burch's RV-7 site. Thanks Matt, Stein should thank you tomorrow! I borrowed a coax stripper from a friend, I didn't have a screwdriver small enough to adjust the blades so the inner conductor and outer shield weren't quit cut through. I touched up the coax with my strip master and a razor blade. Here's a pic of the friends stripper and the crimpers with the BNC jaws from Stein.
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I believe the stripped coax should look something like this.
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Then trim the the center conductor down so the center pin slides over the wire and is just long of touching the center insulation and crimp with the smallest die. When crimping don't catch the shoulder of the pin in the crimper.
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No pic but slide on the ferrule first then the body of the connector, the tail of the connector will slide under the coax shield. The body of the connector should be pushed on until the center pin "clicks" and the tip of the center pin is flush with the forward surface of the connector.
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Slide the ferrule over the shield and crimp with the appropriately sized crimper.
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Not complete but the first trial fit for the boxes of stuff I got today. Thanks SteinAir for all the help and Hasty Awards in Ottawa for making my labels.
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I plan on flying the first year with a handheld and then possibly add a TruTrak Gemini/WAAS GPS/Transponder/Autopilot/ADSB. Perhaps I'll just buy Avgas instead, we will see after she's flyin!
 
I could have moved the screens up a tad higher, I think 1 1/4 (1 3/8 max) from the center of the screw hole in the forward rib down to the top of the screen to clear the rib without cutting the rib (slider).
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Making the bracket to hold the GMU 22 magnometer on the aft deck. I made it out of scrap .032, paralleled the longitudinal centerline added a couple extra rivets and lightening holes.
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Mounted the GMU 24 on the subpanel with nutplates
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Mounted the GMU25 on the tray I made for the GMU 44 that the GMU 25 replaces. The 25 is way smaller and the tray seems huge now. I suppose it leaves room for more boxes later.
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Underside of tray showing the reinforcements.
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I'm still trying to visualize all the wiring and connectors crammed behind the panel and utilizing the best layout.
 
Getting a little tail time mounting the GMU 22
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I saved all of my packing peanuts and bubble wrap from various orders and stuffed it in trash bags. Makes the crawl into the tail kinda comfy!
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The mounting ring riveted to the mounting plate.
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Installed with non magnetic hardware, I used an adel clamp to hold the connector.
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Wire runs in the aft fuse for GMU22/ELT/Static. I choose the left side of the plane for the GMU22 run and the middle for lights/antennas and the right side for the strobe power. The only power wires the GMU22 Wires get close to are the pilots seat heat.
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I ran the wires under the rudder cable at the ELT, I didn't want the static/GMU22 wire visible under the longeron. Next time I would add conduit under the baggage floor on both sides.
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Under the seat pan.
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GMU25 on my support shelf and the wires exiting the subpanel.
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Cleaned up the magnometer wiring/pitot/static in front of the spar and along the firewall.
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I routed the engine sensor wires, 1 cylinder done 3 to go!
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Here's the mess o wires I need to find a home for to run the G3X.
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My fingers are holding the ring terminal that came on the EGT/CHT sensors, I went with spade terminals and heat shrink.
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My Oregon Aero seats/carpet/stick boots/armrest came today, I'm very impressed with the service and quality. They will probably live in the plastic for another month or so, more pics later.
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Is that your seat heater connectors sticking up there? How did you determine the location?
 
Sorry tkatc, it's really not bad especially if Stein does the harness. The coils of wire on the bench weren't making much sense to me, I had to "visualize" it!

Bill those are my seat heat plugs, I figured the wires would exit the seat on the rear side regardless so that narrowed it down. The middle wasn't great because of the elevator pushrods and my coax runs making things tight, the outside of the fuse didn't have much for wiring. I mounted the seat heat relays on the rear of the copilot subpanel and down the copilot side of the firewall. Aft of the spar I ran to each outside rib and the through the floorpan. I also ran strobe power/gnd along this ame run keeping it away from everything else.
I also made some aluminum panels from armrest to seatpan to hide wiring rudder cables.
Things would be different on my next one though, more wiring runs through the baggage floor.
 
I'm going to need more zip ties.....and various sizes of heat shrink/spade connectors/shielded wire.
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Left side EGT/CHT done and fuel flow back by the engine mount. I wanted to mount the wires on the inside of the exhaust but this was way easier and seems very secure.
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Crappy pic of the pressure manifold, I used spade connectors in case I have to replace a sensor later. Really not sure if its organized chaos or a rats nest at this point but everything is secure and won't chafe.
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Quite a bit more organized than the last panel shot, hard to believe this photo has all of the same connectors as the previous photo but with the wiring run. I laid the various boxes on the table, hooked up Stein's wiring harness and got the basic layout. Then I mounted the boxes and started running wires. I really wish I had enough $$ to buy the radios now instead of who knows when. The wiring would be simpler. FWF is hooked up except for the shunt 1 and 2. I have the elevator trim indicator/fuel quantity 1&2/flap position/main buss volts/OAT/power&gnds run but not terminated. I have the RS232's and discrete inputs coiled for future equipment additions. Stein's harness and drawings were very helpful, he's lucky he's closed for Oshkosh cuz I've got a list of questions for him next week!
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