The Instrument Panel goes in.....
The new panel finally came out of the machine shop last Friday and we installed it with all the instruments this weekend ----
http://mansfieldlanding.com/forum/photos/1972_cessna_172l_restoration_n19662/picture242.aspx
Because we shoved the DG and AI up enough to clear the control yoke we ran into a clearance issue with the vacuum hoses. We ended up cutting the top of the instrument panel cover and making a dog house to give us some extra clearance. I will put some pictures up once it is finished. The panel fit went well and we have pulled it back out to complete the vacuum plumbing, the pitot/static plumbing and the lighting. Once the rest of the metal cutting is complete the panel will go in and stay in.
Since we have some time off this week from out "Real" jobs the plane is getting a lot of attention. We are almoust done building a radio rack that will allow the complete radio package to be removed from the aircraft as a unit. This will save a lot of work later if we need to add a wire to one of the radio connectors.
We have also added a carb ice probe to the carburetor that will connect up to the EDM-700 graphic engine analyzer, a nice feature.