45 - Cowling (finished camloc installation); Other (avionics panel install)

Recently, I passed a milestone: 1500 hours working on this project over the last 2 years and 1 month ... and it still excites me every time I go into the workshop!  This was a big couple of weeks - first, I finished the camloc installation, which was a pain in the ass, but they look great and hold the cowling very well.  Second, and perhaps most important, I started installing the avionics panel!  Lots and lots of wires and gizmos behind the panel, but the panel itself is a beaut and I am glad I went with the larger GTN750xi instead of the smaller GTN or the even smaller GNX/GNC boxes.  Real estate matters, esp. flying IFR.  Specifics are as follows:

- installed camloc flanges on the sides and lower part of fuselage

- epoxied the inside of both cowlings (did this early in the camloc install process, so I don’t have to uninstall all of the camloc grommets later)

- added two more camloc flanges to upper cowl (the ones that are aligned with the side flanges of the lower cowl)

- added two camlocs to upper cowl; positioned and trimmed aft edge of lower cowl (needed 1/8” or so trimming for most of it); had to grind off some of the corners to make the cowl fit well (and bend the camloc flanges back a bit in the lower corners); wife helped hold aft section of lower cowl

- installed side camlocs on lower cowl; drilled holes for bottom camlocs on lower cowl; trimmed lower aft edge of lower cowl; installed two wires (one to alternator and one to starter) 

- installed camloc retainers on bottom of aft lower flanges (4 per side); cut upper flange of lower cowl and sanded to trim line (near-final; only needs a few touch-ups)

- spacing and drilling flanges for the horizontal sections of the lower cowl; countersunk all holes in lower cowl for flange rivets; countersunk flanges to accept retainers

- riveted flanges to lower cowl; drilled holes and installed grommets in upper cowl; fabricated screw mechanism for grommets that are close to engine mount bolts; installed retainers in lower cowl; essentially completed rest of Camloc install (except for locking the remaining retainers); drilled #19 holes in forward part of cowls

- Delivery, uncrating and partial unpacking of SteinAir panel!

- finished unpacking panel

- trimmed, clecoed and floxed inlet ramps onto upper cowl; installed upper cowl on fuselage; prepped oil door and drilled holes (1/4”) to install camlocs

- installed panel onto panel frame on fuselage (with wife and daughter); enlarged hole for canopy release; drilled and deburred 6 holes for Nav’s mounting bracket; placed all wires in respective areas; installed circuit breaker panel (needed to modify support by bending forward flanges aft 90deg); drained water in air compressor

- Installed Nav and audio panel; planned placement of other boxes behind panel

- installed transponder on shelf on right side (shelf had to be altered to fit, and 4 brackets were constructed from 0.025” aluminum, bent into angles); started remote comm install; checked placement of vent cables and how they impinge on avionics shelves; retied right cable bundle

Installed left side flanges (Camlocs):

Epoxied top cowl to protect from oil, etc:

Closeup of camloc, installed and locked:

Taping lower cowl into place for spacing of aft edge and forward edge:

Epoxied lower cowl:

This flange with the clecos was match-drilled last - you save this one for the last, since you need to make sure that it is in perfect alignment with the side camlocs that hold the upper and lower cowls in place:

Pic from SteinAir showing the circuit breaker panel: 

Aaaaaaand, here it is - a pic from SteinAir showing the panel on, and functional.  They disassemble the center stack and all of the remote boxes prior to crating and shipping to me:

Back to the cowl - this is the right lower aft side, completed:

Right lower bottom side, completed:

Another view, bottom cowl off the fuselage:

All aft camlocs installed ... except for one (which I'll explain later):

Side flanges cleco-clamped in place with a rivet fan, which enables even and accurate spacing of holes - here, I've drilled 3 holes so far on the left:

All the side flanges in place, prior to drilling: 

Fully-drilled and countersunk right side:

Every other camloc pilot #30 hole drilled on the right:

Ready to drill the remaining holes:

Left side, fully clecoed and countersunk:

Right side, completed - note that I have to file a little of the bottom edge of the top cowl to prevent any overlap.  NOTE, that the painter wants all the gaps as tight as possible - they will do the final touches.  So, the max gap is at the front right outboard part of the nose, and it is still <0.032"!  Not bad, not bad. 

The "special" camloc ... which if you look closely, is not a camloc.  Because I wanted even spacing of the camlocs, there was no way to do this without having one right next to the engine mount.  The retainer is too thick to fit between the flange and the engine mount here, so I engineered a solution.  here is a floating #10 nutplate, riveted to a small piece of aluminum with a spacer.  You'll see that the #10 screw, with an adjustment made to the grommets, looks almost exactly like a camloc.  

And, here it is installed - the camloc in the middle isn't a camloc; it is a #10 screw.

Here is the left side, partially completed:

And, fully completed:

Drilled two holes for nutplates in the front part of the cowl, behind the spinner on each side:

Hardware I used for the modified nutplate/flange:

Back to the panel - it arrived a few days ago, and this is the tangle of wires that I had to contend with.  

After a couple of hours finagling the wires and panel and other such things, the cockpit is really starting to look like an airplane.  Very motivational!

Started working on the oil door (below), while the inlet ramps on the upper cowl were being floxed in place (not shown)

After installation of the Nav (GTN750xi) in the center and reinstallation of the canopy release handle:

Now, it's time to install all those remote boxes that enable such a clean-looking front panel. Here is an avionics shelf that I made a while back (when I had more access); however, I started adding flanges that will support the ADS-B transponder:

Rack for the transponder, mounted to the shelf:

Transponder installed on the shelf, which is now situated behind the right panel screen.  What's not shown here is the redo - I had the shelf too far outboard, which would impinge on the yet-to-be-installed right heater vent control.  Oh well - I took it all off, drilled new holes about 1/2" from the original, and then reinstalled. This is the beginning of what I imagine will be a week (or so) of locating and installing all the remote boxes, one at a time.