The factory instrument panel was just horrible so I purchased replacement panels from LASAR. The Left Panel, Kit128 was $250 and the Right Panel, Kit 128A was $125. My DG was on it's last legs so I purchased a Sigma-Tek 4000B-30 to replace it and a R.C. Allen RCA22-7 Horizon Gyro to fit the 3.125 hole. I also purchased a new Suction Gage and the Davtron M655, a 5 function temperature meter. After some investigation, I also purchased Nu Lites. My reasoning was that post lites cost approx $28 each and the Nu Lites were $34 each, a $6 increase times 6 instruments, well for $36 more I wasn't about to skimp on the lites and although there were reports about fitting problems, the consensus was that they were excellent for night flying.

Visit the NuLite Website for more information about this product.
Visit NuLite Installation for detailed information about the modifications I made to install the NuLites.

For some background reading on the LASAR panel, visit these fine websites:
Journey to the perfect Panel by Mark Travis

Old Panel with Royalite Covers

Old Panel with Royalite Covers Removed

As I began to dismantle the old instrument panel, I discovered that the wiring left a lot to be desired. I found 10 in-line fuse holders behind the panel, 2 of which were actually inside a wiring harness. I found many instances where wires had been chopped off without any tape or other protection, and in general, the wiring was very old with cracking insulation and in some cases with bare copper showing. It was obvious that putting in a new instrument "left-panel" was a waste of time if I wasn't going to correct the underlying wiring nightmare.

I also planned to perform the following items:
Move the VOR head from the right side to the new left-panel
Move the JPI scanner from the left-panel to the right side
Add a Davtron M655, 5 function OAT unit to the left-panel
Add a clock, model to be determined to the left-panel

The results of this was a very poor right side layout, not to mention that I also wanted to replace the in-line fuses with panel mounted circuit breakers.

After numerous panel sketches using the LASAR KIT 128A right-panel to no satisfaction, I finally decided to bite the bullet, and replace the entire-panel and all the associated wiring.

New drawings were generated, materials purchased, and a good friend, Gunner, was imposed upon to help with the machining. The 1st day with Gunner was a Saturday, and we reviewed the project, incorporated several of his suggestions, setup tooling, and did some last minute purchasing. We fabricated a plywood base that was made from two 5/8 pieces laminated together 15" x 44". The panel material is 2024 Aluminum .125 thick.

On Sunday, we cut the panel material into 2 pieces, a left & right half, milled the center edges, sanded both sides, joined & mounted onto the plywood base, with the best side down. All work would be done from the back side of the panel. Peripheral holes were drilled, countersunk, and fastened to the plywood using sheetrock screws. The center seam had 2 1/4" steel dowels set to lock things in place. Next the rear of the panel was sprayed with a red paint that machinists use and set aside to dry. When dry, we started the process of transfering all of the layout to the panel, scribing center lines. We used the old panel to transfer the mounting holes, peripheral contour, and yoke mounting. The pilot side yoke was rotated 180 degrees to allow clearance for the Directional Gyro.

Monday morning Gunner called and said his other job was delayed, and it was a good time to continue working on the panel. I quickly revamped my schedule and drove to his shop. We worked from 8:30AM to 5:30PM with a break for lunch, and had 90% of the work finished. There was about an hour of milling work to be finished, and Gunner said that he would do that part the next morning before breaking down the setups. The remainder of the work would be fitting the panel to the a/c structure, and the remaining holes would be completed on the drill press.

Tuesday evening Gunner called and said that he had finished the milling, and contoured the outer edges. The panel was ready for the first trial fitting in the airplane, so I went and picked up the pieces that evening.

New Panel Ready for 1st Fitting

On Wednesday I added the 3 mounting holes and 1 shaft hole for the Direction Gyro, mounted yoke ball ass'y and the gyro with a NuLite on the left panel and headed for the airport. The objective here was to determine how much the panel would need to be canted forward for the Gyro to clear the yoke shaft. The corner radius needs to be raised to clear the airframe, the 2 headphone jacks will have to be relocated because they are too close to the edge and the headset will not plug-in, and the ignition switch may have to move a bit to clear the "V" brace of the airframe. The first order of business will be to adjust the radius and get the DG to clear the yoke. The holes can be plugged and moved later.

On the following Sunday, Gunner and I did some rework on the panel. We increased the corner radius on each panel, added winglets for the headset connections, drilled all the instrument mounting holes, plugged the unused holes and solved the problem with the yoke mounting. The original yoke mount consisted of 2 half shells. a phenolic ball, and spacer washers. The problem is that when you rotate the assembly, you need to start adding spacers at each of the bottom mounting points so that the panel isn't stressed by bowing. We milled from the backside, creating a cavity for the rear shell half, mounted the front shell half on the finish side, and used the remaining panel thickness as the spacer. The shell half that is on the finish side will be painted the same as the panel and should look reasonably professional.

Cutouts for the instrument knobs, small reliefs for the cable harness, and the remaining instrument mounting holes were machined on both panel halves. 2 standoffs 2.5" long were machined for the top of the panel to establish the mounting angle. Instruments were installed and the panels mounted for another round of fitting.

New Panel on Workbench for Wiring

Most of the instruments fit without a problem, but because the angle of the panel has changed, the radio stacks now hit the support structure. The fix for the main stack is to canter the stack by 10 degrees. Unfortunately, the short stack when canted runs interference with the Load Meter and Engine Scanner Instruments, so here I will have to nibble a bit of sheet metal to provide the necessary clearance with about a 5 degree cant.

The panel was bead blasted, alodined, 3 coats of dark grey epoxy color sanded between each coat, silkscreened and finally 2 more coats of clear matte to protect the silkscreen and reduce glare.

Click on Pic for Larger Image
Photos by Ralph Otto at CMA