Kit parts, stages, purchase order, other..

Hey gang,

So I'm rapidly coming to close with my empennage.. I'm enjoying the heck out of the build process and can't wait to move forward.

I'm guessing the general order of purchase is Empennage, Wings, Fuselage, Finish..

but where does avionics and engine fit into that list? Does everything forward of the firewall need to be purchased with the engine? come with the engine? before the engine?

I got to poke around with both a G1000 and a Dynon Skyview and I must admit those things are awesome. When should I consider avionics? What other items do I need to consider?

What about strobes and lighting? etc..

I'm trying to plan for "all the things" so I can get approval from "she who makes decisions".. Thanks for advice and input.

If I recall correctly your engine mount will come with the finishing kit. Once you have your engine you will want to purchase the firewall forward kit. Pretty well everything you need to install your IO-540, like baffles, oil lines oil cooler etc., is included.
As said on here many times the avionics are changing every day so put that off as long as you can. All the servos for AP can be installed easily after the components are built.

There's a lot of wiring involved in the wing kit. For me I made a 90% decision on my avionics when I started wiring the wings (though I'm delaying any efis purchase until the last moment). I decided on Dynon. This allowed me to buy the A/P servo and the pitot/AOA and get the right wiring and plumbing installed and out of my mind. I say 90% because I can still change my mind, but I'm liking Dynon more today than I did before.

I also decided on leading edge landing/taxi lights and wingtip nav lights and wig-wags in the wing tips during the wing kit build, and also the aileron trim servo. All these were easy to install while the wings were under construction. But any of them could be done after the fact, too, I believe. Just easier before.

I don't think you need to be 100% sure during your wing build, but you should probably have a good idea. Then run the wiring and plumbing accordingly.

If you plan for wiring, you can install conduits now and can wait to run wires until after everything else is done. The engine and avionics can be all purchased long after you get the finishi kit. You don't need ANY electronic stuff until your airframe is almost done. I have seen way too many projects with avionics that are out of warranty before every being turned on. Don't finalize your avionics decision until you are almost done with the airframe.

Jesse said:

If you plan for wiring, you can install conduits now and can wait to run wires until after everything else is done. The engine and avionics can be all purchased long after you get the finishi kit. You don't need ANY electronic stuff until your airframe is almost done. I have seen way too many projects with avionics that are out of warranty before every being turned on. Don't finalize your avionics decision until you are almost done with the airframe.

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Jason - I'm doing exactly as Jesse describes. You can see the conduit in this pic:



In this pic, you can see where I ran the string out for future AP wire runs:



It's extremely easy to run the strings through the conduits using your compressor. I certainly do not want to paint myself in a corner, but I want to be pretty much complete with the airframe and then focus on systems.

Jesse said:

I have seen way too many projects with avionics that are out of warranty before every being turned on. Don't finalize your avionics decision until you are almost done with the airframe.

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As an example I bought a Vertical Power unit thinking I would get a jump on the prewiring during the build but by the time I was done with wiring and turned power on to check systems found out I had a hard failure with the VP, received an rma for return because it was an out of the box failure, but they would not back their product like I thought they should and notified me of the cost of repair since it was out of warranty. Had to pay up to get it back-- hope it works now, lesson learned.

Dave Ford