Jul 10, 2022     More wiring - (2 hours)       Category: Panel/Electrical

Today I finished connecting up all of the wiring and tidied things up a bit. I added shrink tubing to all the butt connectors. I also added some self adhesive tie wrap anchors on the root tube to keep the wiring organized. I put terminations on the CHT and EGT leads from the EIS unit and then connected them to the probes from the engine. I also connected the tachometer lead to one of the spark plug wires and the ground lead under an exhaust manifold bolt. I also tested the flap actuator to make sure the bell crank on top of the root tube didn't come in contact with any wires. I then connected the battery and tested the strobe light and turned on the EIS unit and set all of the parameters. Next I need to finish up the fuel lines and get them tidied up too. Then I will be able to start the engine and do the initial break in process.

  Jul 07, 2022     Wiring - (2 hours)       Category: Panel/Electrical

Today I ran the wiring from the instrument panel to the root tube. I enclosed the wiring in wire loom to keep things neat. I installed the velcro strips for the windscreen attachment before I tie wrapped the wiring to the front aluminum tube. I also attached my fuse box to the root tube and ran several wires to switches.

  Jul 02, 2022     Tiny Tach - (.5 hour)       Category: Panel/Electrical

Today I installed a Tiny Tach unit. I just found out that the tachometer feature in the EIS does not work with the MZ201 engine!!! They use the Tiny Tach instead which is included in the engine install kit. I knew it was there but figured I wouldn't need to use it because I had the EIS unit. I wish I would have known earlier because I would have been able to plan for it in my panel design. Since I'm not going to remove my panel and take it all apart to cut a new flush mount hole for the Tiny Tach I decided to surface mount it to the right of the EIS unit. There was just enough room. I also prepped the EIS wiring harness for installation. I labeled the wires to make installation easier. I had to insert the pinned wire from the warning light into the DB25 connector and then I heat shrinked the wires and assembled the connector.

  Jun 30, 2022     Instrument panel installation - (.5 hour)       Category: Panel/Electrical

Today I installed the instrument panel in the fuselage. The first step was to run the tie-wraps through the anchors on the back of the panel. A short piece of plastic tubing is used to provide a "stand off" when the panel is attached to the fuselage aluminum tubing. Next I installed the panel in the fuselage. The next step will be to wire the EIS.

  Jun 28, 2022     Instrument panel assembly - (1 hour)       Category: Panel/Electrical

Today I assembled the instrument panel. The panel itself will be attached to the fuselage tubes with tie-wraps so the first step is to attach the tie-wrap anchors to the edge of the panel. Besides the adhesive backing, the anchors are attached with rivets. Next I installed all of the instruments. The EIS came with screws and KEPS nuts so I attached the rest of the instruments with the same.

  Jun 26, 2022     Paint instrument panel - (1 hour)       Category: Panel/Electrical

Today I painted my instrument panel. I used Rust-oleum self etching primer and matte black paint. I roughed up the surface with 600 grit sandpaper and then applied three coats of each. It turned out pretty good. I'll let it cure for a few days and then I'll install the instruments and attach everything to the fuselage.

  Jun 12, 2022     Panel cutouts - (3 hours)       Category: Panel/Electrical

Today I cut out all of the holes in the panel for the instruments. I started out by center punching all of the drilling locations and then removed the layout drawing. I then drilled the center pilot hole for the round instruments. I used my adjustable circle cutter to cut out the instrument holes. I then drilled the mounting screw holes for all of the instruments. Next I drilled a small hole in the corners of the square holes I needed to cut for the EIS and slip indicator. These holes will provide some stress relief to help prevent any cracking in the panel. I then drilled larger holes for the starting points so I could use my jigsaw table to cut out the square holes. After that I used a file and emery cloth to bevel the sharp edges and clean everything up. Now I'm waiting on some matte black paint from Brownell's so I can paint the panel.

  Jun 09, 2022     Panel layout - (2 hours)       Category: Panel/Electrical

I finished laying out my panel today. The Aerolite 103 panel is pretty small but you don't really need much for ultralights. I started out months ago with a mock-up using a sheet of coroplast and scaled pictures of all of the instruments I planned to use. Once I had all of the instruments in hand and had all of the mounting templates, I used my CAD program to draw everything up and position things where I want them. Now I have the drawing taped to the blank panel so I know exactly where all of the hole locations are.

  Jun 09, 2022     Grand Rapids EIS       Category: Panel/Electrical

I finally received my Grand Rapids Technologies EIS (engine information system). I've been waiting on this so I can build my panel and then break-in my engine. They were in short supply for quite awhile I think due to supply chain issues. This instrument will give me tachometer, CHT, EGT, engine hours, flight timer, altitude, vertical speed and a few other things. The other instruments I included on my panel are an analog airspeed indicator and altimeter and a slip indicator.