With all the panel upgrade posts I thought I'd document my upgrade with a Ron & John's STC'd panel. For those not familiar, the R&J panel for the PA-24/PA-30 actually cuts out the original panel and puts a .125" aluminum overlay screwed into the support structure. I've had this in work for quite some time, but several challenges have delayed things until yesterday when my new A&P & I started the demolition of the original panel.
I'd made my own upgrade when I bought it in 2006, but that was limited to a new floating panel and replacing the original DG & AH. It turned it into a quasi 6 pack, but it had it's limitations. Here is a photo of how it looked when I brought it home. Bleeding edge technology for 196X/197X!
So I had spent several email exchanges with John Van Bladeren laying out my panel and what would go where. With an eye to the future I had four additional 3 1/8" openings cut to the right of the six pack so I could move my tachs & manifold pressure over to the left side or if the cables didn't reach leave them blank for a future EIS install.
The first step is to remove all the existing instruments and cap the pitot/static lines. With the planned upgrades I also pulled out the vacuum system as the artificial horizon was the only vacuum instrument left and I was changing to a modern ADAHRS AI. Here is a pic with everything pulled out.
One thing I had planned was to keep the left side radio stack. At this point the new panel overlay wouldn't quite fit until the original rivnuts were removed. Although as we got started we discovered that either the original T-12B ADF or when they upgraded to the T-12D the installer chopped off the factory mounting flange on left along the sidewall. So in order to mount my transponder we'd need to rivet on some angle to the new panel to serve as a mounting rack. However, there just wasn't enough room on the side to get anything riveted on. A couple emails with JVB and he said we could move it to the right, but whatever was installed there would need to be shorter to avoid interfering with the brake system. I had thought I would put my GTX 345 and KN-64 over there. The GTX would clear, but the KN-64 is deeper so it wouldn't clear the brakes if it was shifted to the right. So trying to make lemonade, I now get to re-think my panel layout since it has to be re-cut anyway. Regardless, the mounting holes for the screws won't change. So..as Mike Patey would say, Back to Work!
First we started out with tin snips to cut the larger pieces out and not get as much metal shavings everywhere.
Then he started in with an air nibbler.
Finally he took a sanding wheel to smooth out and round over the edges.
Now, with that big space opened up it allowed some really good access to inspect things behind the panel. I'd already ordered the landing gear components, but with all that access we got a really good look at the brake lines. They had seen their better days, so I pulled off the tags and sure enough, they were original. Well they've served well for over 50 years, so I get to replace them while we have plenty of room to work in. The other thing is I planned to move all the avionics circuit breakers up into the right side panel as well as any of the items from the essential bus that may need quick access like a trim circuit breaker. So we started pulling all the breakers and wires from the "hell hole" and as a result cleaned up quite a bit of the rats nest of wires that had been added over the years. We even traced some wires that had been hooked up to the hot side of the bus to power things. There's still more to go, but we made some pretty good progress. All told, the Comanche weight reduction has been 10 lbs of wiring & radio harness, 9 lbs of vacuum system, and 29 lbs of avionics. Of course some of that will be replaced by the new avionics, but nowhere near as much.
Still a little more to do once the new panel is re-cut, but I couldn't help but take a picture to admire the much improved panel!
Once the new panel is in we'll finish trimming the original panel with whatever changes I make, then it'll need to be painted and placards printed. I'm pushing to try and finish everything up within a month, not sure if I'll make it, but I'm going to try!
I'd made my own upgrade when I bought it in 2006, but that was limited to a new floating panel and replacing the original DG & AH. It turned it into a quasi 6 pack, but it had it's limitations. Here is a photo of how it looked when I brought it home. Bleeding edge technology for 196X/197X!
So I had spent several email exchanges with John Van Bladeren laying out my panel and what would go where. With an eye to the future I had four additional 3 1/8" openings cut to the right of the six pack so I could move my tachs & manifold pressure over to the left side or if the cables didn't reach leave them blank for a future EIS install.
The first step is to remove all the existing instruments and cap the pitot/static lines. With the planned upgrades I also pulled out the vacuum system as the artificial horizon was the only vacuum instrument left and I was changing to a modern ADAHRS AI. Here is a pic with everything pulled out.
One thing I had planned was to keep the left side radio stack. At this point the new panel overlay wouldn't quite fit until the original rivnuts were removed. Although as we got started we discovered that either the original T-12B ADF or when they upgraded to the T-12D the installer chopped off the factory mounting flange on left along the sidewall. So in order to mount my transponder we'd need to rivet on some angle to the new panel to serve as a mounting rack. However, there just wasn't enough room on the side to get anything riveted on. A couple emails with JVB and he said we could move it to the right, but whatever was installed there would need to be shorter to avoid interfering with the brake system. I had thought I would put my GTX 345 and KN-64 over there. The GTX would clear, but the KN-64 is deeper so it wouldn't clear the brakes if it was shifted to the right. So trying to make lemonade, I now get to re-think my panel layout since it has to be re-cut anyway. Regardless, the mounting holes for the screws won't change. So..as Mike Patey would say, Back to Work!
First we started out with tin snips to cut the larger pieces out and not get as much metal shavings everywhere.
Then he started in with an air nibbler.
Finally he took a sanding wheel to smooth out and round over the edges.
Now, with that big space opened up it allowed some really good access to inspect things behind the panel. I'd already ordered the landing gear components, but with all that access we got a really good look at the brake lines. They had seen their better days, so I pulled off the tags and sure enough, they were original. Well they've served well for over 50 years, so I get to replace them while we have plenty of room to work in. The other thing is I planned to move all the avionics circuit breakers up into the right side panel as well as any of the items from the essential bus that may need quick access like a trim circuit breaker. So we started pulling all the breakers and wires from the "hell hole" and as a result cleaned up quite a bit of the rats nest of wires that had been added over the years. We even traced some wires that had been hooked up to the hot side of the bus to power things. There's still more to go, but we made some pretty good progress. All told, the Comanche weight reduction has been 10 lbs of wiring & radio harness, 9 lbs of vacuum system, and 29 lbs of avionics. Of course some of that will be replaced by the new avionics, but nowhere near as much.
Still a little more to do once the new panel is re-cut, but I couldn't help but take a picture to admire the much improved panel!
Once the new panel is in we'll finish trimming the original panel with whatever changes I make, then it'll need to be painted and placards printed. I'm pushing to try and finish everything up within a month, not sure if I'll make it, but I'm going to try!
