Starting to make some progress
Well, it has been a few weeks. The rebuilt flight instruments (Alt, VS and Turn Coordinator) took forever from the instrument shop. I did not want to release the new instrument panel until we got these and confirmed that we had the right measurements. Measure twice and cut once was what my dad used to say. Anyway progress has been slowed because of the delay in the panel.
I have been building the radio rack at home in the basement. The instrument panel is coming from the machine shop tomorrow and I have the week off between Christmas and New Years. I have moved the paint back to 2/15 just to give us a little cushion to fly the plane around before sending it off to paint.
The rear avionics tray is back in with modifications to make it stronger. A new ELT has replaced the side mounted system that was in the airplane from the factory. This ELT has a remote head on the instrument panel so you can check activation without tunning the radio and you can check operation without pulling the unit out.
http://mansfieldlanding.com/forum/photos/1972_cessna_172l_restoration_n19662/picture223.aspx
The GPS antenna has also been installed over the cockpit area which is standard on the new Cessnas. We put a cover over the old Loran antenna in the tailcone which could be used someday for XM weather, etc. We also ran extra wires up to the MFD for this option in the future. Someone will be very happy if they go to install the system and found the aircraft pre-wired. The original OAT probe in the Cessna which is mounted in the air vent has been replaced with a Davtron M803 digital OAT. You can see the new OAT probe and GPS antenna here:
http://mansfieldlanding.com/forum/photos/1972_cessna_172l_restoration_n19662/picture224.aspx
We have also installed a backup vacuum system by Precise Flight, Inc. which has a shuttle valve that can be pulled from the cockpit. This valve will route manifold pressure to the vacuum instruments. A very simple design but a nice feature for IFR. We will also run the "Low Vac" warning to the master caution panel. The original "L" model had only one warning light - the over voltage light. With this new setup we will have a new Cessna master caution panel that displays Voltage, Low Oil Pressure, Low Vacuum and Low fuel -- very nice.
http://mansfieldlanding.com/forum/photos/1972_cessna_172l_restoration_n19662/picture222.aspx
You might also notice in this picture that the battery box and relays have been pulled off, cleaned and painted.
The single EGT instrument has also been replaced with a nice JPI EDM-700 Graphical Engine Analyzer. This will show CHT and EGT for all cylinders. It also has a carb temp probe which will be very nice to alert us to possible carburetor icing. Here is a picture of the probes installed. This aircraft had a nice Tannis heater and we wanted to keep it. Fortunately JPI had special probes for the cylinder temp that could be installed under the Tannis probes.
http://mansfieldlanding.com/forum/photos/1972_cessna_172l_restoration_n19662/picture221.aspx
Anyway, when the instrument panel shows up tomorrow things will start to take shape fast. Please watch for more posts......