Let the Games Begin - Major Avionics and Interior Upgrade

[Terry Carraway]

I dropped off my plane at the avionics shop last week for a major upgrade. The shop is close enough for me to visit on a regular basis, so I will update this thread with pictures and progress reports.

Scott, FYI I have been in touch with Larry and he is very interested in following and using mine as an article also.

Below is a pic of the current panel. I have:

Aspen 1000 Pro (not max) with AoA and Synthetic Vision

Garmin G-5

Garmin GTN-650Xi with FS-510

Garmin GTX-345

King KMA-24 Audio Panel

King KAP-1150 Auto Pilot with KAS-287B altitude preselect

JPI-830

King KX nav/com (can't remember which one)



Planned setup

Garmin G3X Touch 10" with EIS

Garmin G-5 backup (from above)

GTN-750Xi (FS-510 moved from 650 to 750)

GTN-650Xi (from above)

GTX-345R (remote)

PS Engineering 450B Audio Panel

Garmin GFC-500 Autopilot with trim and yaw damper

AirGizmos AERA 760 dock for right side

Alpha Eagle AOA indicator

Replacing rocker switches with toggle switches

Whelen Light Pulser

Original project start was Jan 8, but will be slightly delayed due to a plane ahead of mine having some parts issues. Projected to take 8 - 10 weeks.

Also having a nearby shop redo the interior while it is out of the airplane for this work. Picture below of current interior and also the materials for the interior work. In the materials picture, the bottom sample is the carpet, the middle is the seat fabric, and the top is the leather for the side panels and sides and backs of the seats. I am going with cloth seats as they are cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. The plastic parts will be repaired and painted, not covered in ultraleather. Yokes will be leather wrapped.

Should be an interesting journey.

[Scott Dyer HPN/NY]

If you're up this way talking to Anglisano, lemme know!

[Terry Carraway]

I will, not sure the logistics of what and when.

[Terry Carraway]

Work started on Monday. I went to the shop on Thursday to See the progress and talk to the shop.

Pictures below.

1) Current status of panel
2) First box of wiring coming out. They expect 3 more boxes.
3) The new stuff - top 4 shelves, plus two other big boxes.
4) All the old stuff
5) How they keep track of project and install the right things

One interesting thing, is one tech is responsible for the whole project. With help and oversight, but one person "owns" the project from beginning to end

[Russell Holton]

Work started on Monday. I went to the shop on Thursday to See the progress and talk to the shop.
One interesting thing, is one tech is responsible for the whole project. With help and oversight, but one person "owns" the project from beginning to end

Nice! I like that.

[Terry Carraway]

Update Number 2 - INSTALLATION HAS STARTED

Went back to the avionics shop on Thursday. They have completed 90 - 95% of the removal of old things and have actually started the install of the new equipment. So far they have installed the WX500 bracket, the GDL-51R Sirius XM receiver and the tail autopilot servo mount and the pitch servo. When I left, the tech was installing the yaw servo.

The interior shop picked up the interior for that work. Next week I will also stop by the interior shop and get some pictures and update info.

Pictures

1) The inside with the interior out.
2) Current box of wiring taken out. This box is maybe 3 times as big at the one the week before.
3) Autopilot servo bracket with pitch servo
4) WX500 mount and GDL-51R (black box)

[Terry Carraway]

Another Update.

Was by the shop yesterday.

All the autopilot servos are installed and hooked up to the controls. All the mounts for remote boxes are installed on the shelf. He had just finished replacing the engine sensors (going with Garmin EIS).

Next couple of weeks will be building wiring harnesses.

I also stopped by the interior shop. Mainly to drop off the yokes for leather covering. The avionics shop forgot to remove and give them to the interior shop. They have not started on my interior, but they have a while before the airplane is ready to get it back.

[Terry Carraway]

Stopped by yesterday.

At first glance, not much different looking. But looking closer, they have mounted several of the behind the panel boxes and a lot of new wiring harnesses waiting to be connected.

I spend some time with the head guy going over the panel layout. This was basic concepts and thoughts. He will do a CAD layout next week and we will tweak it from there. We covered the main panel items placement. Pretty normal, but the autopilot controller to the left of the stack just above the throttle.

I am going from rocker switches to toggle switches. We are putting all the engine switches on the left (ignition, starter, master, alternators, boost pumps, primer, prop heat). All the lighting switches will go on the right (beacon, nav, strobes, recog, landing, taxi, flasher). We looked at the annunciators and will get rid of the factory setup as most of them will be integrated into the G3X with EIS. He is getting a quote from Dallas Avionics for some slick rectangular annunciator lights by Eaton. The gear with be a split light with Amber "Unsafe" on top and Green "Down" on the bottom. These will be fully lighted with black letters as will be the Speed Brakes one. The others (Alt Air, Starter Power) with be lighted letters on black.

Things are moving along.

[Scott Dyer HPN/NY]

Good report!

[Terry Carraway]

I did learn one other thing. The G3X has 6 digital connections. So, with my setup, I am maxed out and will not have the comm and nav frequencies on the G3X. No problem, as they are on the 750 and 650 in the stack.

If I were to add a 7" display on the right, instead of the AERA, that would give another 6 digital connections.

[Scott Dyer HPN/NY]

You're right Terry, no big deal. I don't have the freqs (G500Txi doesn't support that) but the 750 is close at hand.

[Terry Carraway]

The one thing I may be missing is pushing the frequency from the G3X info page the radios, but again, that can be done on the 750 and 650.

[Terry Carraway]

No progress this week. Tech has been out sick.

But still on track for mid to late March completion.

[Terry Carraway]

Moving along, but the part where there is not a lot of visual difference from week to week. But all the wires are becoming harnesses with connectors and bundled.

May make a change in the plans to put a 7" G3X on the right side instead of the AERA 760. This would give a full PFD/MFD for a pilot in the right seat, plus a full screen for engine when I want. OTOH, the AERA 760 is fully self contained with its own AHRS, so can provide AI and nav, but only GPS track (not mag heading) and GPS altitude. And no engine display. But can put engine display on iPad running Garmin Pilot.

Any thoughts?

[John O'Shaughnessy [FCM]]

I like the idea of the dual G3X units. We have a Garmin G5 as a backup to our 10" G3X.