Today was a bit of a milestone for me. I got the Instrument panel physically mounted for the 'final' time. I had been anxious about this step for months. Partly because I have put an effort into having the interior neat in appearance, and I was worried that this might not go well and I'd scratch some paint ot worse yet, I'd find that I couldn't install it as a 'unit'. So this morning, I inventoried all of the 'loose connections that existed on the firewa;;/subpanel so I could ensure they all got reconnected. I measured again to make sure i'd not have any problems w/ interference with other items already mounted. I have had an issue wit a small gap between the top of the fiberglass panel and the glareshield. I've done several things to eleminate it. I found some grey vinyl welt cord and superglued it to the top of the fiberglass. It worked great and gives the panel a nice 'finished' look 2 the glareshield juncture. Judy helped me position the panel into the cockpit, I climbed in and through a series of small moves VIOLA! the panel went in. I did have to temp remove the side panels. I secured the fiberglass panel to the panel mount bracket 9I had to remove the center stack temporarily to get access to those screws. I atteched the screws at the bottom edges. then installed all of the control cables. The remainder of the day was spent reconnecting the Forest of Tabs ground block and making several of the connections between panel and subpanel. Several more days of this and then I can put th epower to it and test it.
Instrument panel physically installed
Grey vinyl welt cord superglued to top of glareshield underside
