In designing the instrument panel, there was not a lot of room available between the main sets of instruments. My plan is to reinforce the panel with the mounting framework for the Garmin stack. I left about 1/8" between the Garmin instruments to enhance ventilation. This is a pretty visible opening when there is light behind the panel, but I'm thinking this will be invisible after the panel is installed. The hole was cut so that the instument bezels will go through the panel. The instruments will be recessed into the panel so that the front of all bezels will be flush, extending about 1/4" forward of the panel. The hole will also allow the instrument chasses to be pulled through the panel. This is critical for being able to make updates to the wiring at the back of the instruments. All wiring harnesses will have suffient service loops to enable the chasses to be pulled out 6" beyond the front of the panel.
