I haven't done much physically on the plane lately, but I have been planning my panel and picking up a few instruments on Ebay.
I bought an "antique" 1977 Hamilton Instruments HI400 vertical card compass with lighting for $150. Hamilton invented the vertical card compass, and although there are reports that the original models had problems, I figured it was worth the risk since it has never been used. I'll find out when I try to calibrate it.
I picked up a re-manufactured Mid Continent DC electric (12-32V) turn coordator gyro for just under $500. It comes with a fresh 8130 and a 6-months warranty.
I was checking my new-old stock Falcon altimeter and it was off by about 400 ft, so I found the directions on how to calibrate it. You need to know field elevation and barometric pressure to do this, so I used the baro from KBAZ which is less than a mile from me and elevation from my GPS. Not sure how accurate the elevation is, but its a lot closer now than it was!
