Bill VonDane's RV-8A Builders Log

Here are a couple of photos of my Fuel Flow transducer installation... Greg at Grand Rapids said I should try to get 5" of straight line before, and 2" after the transducer, and I got about 6" before and 3" after...

New Panel Info... Here's the old panel... I have had many different configurations with many GPS's installed in various ways... The new panel will have a Garmin 196 mounted to it, but I will still be playing with my iPAQ, trying out different applications...

Here's the NEW panel... Although I'm sure it will just be number 2 of many NEW panels... :)

Created with my
ePanel Builder

Converted to CAD by Ross Schlotthauer at Experimental Air

This kind of shows how the EIS will be mounted behind the panel

Ross at Experimental Air has a pretty good deal going... You can send him your images from the ePanel Builder, he will convert them to CAD, and then have your panel water jet cut. So all you have to do is mount the instruments and hook them up! I cut my first panel myself, and am so glad I found this service for the second one... More info to come!

More on the new panel...

Great access for
wiring up the new stuff!

PS Engineering
PCD7100I

This is the new LRI head... All digital with LED display, and audible stall warning

More Photos of the new panel... It looks great!
Ross was even able to duplicate my custom map box cutout!


I worked for about 4 hours last night on getting everything fitted to the new panel... I ended up mounting the PDC7100I slightly recessed to try to match the rest of the equipment in the panel, and I think it turned out great! The EIS is mounted behind the panel and this cutout turned out perfect! Ross was able to cut this to exactly what I asked him too, even though what I asked him to do was wrong... :) I forgot to account for the wording above the buttons, so I will need to open this up a bit, but it shouldn't be too much of a problem... My fault totally!

In there photos you can see the installation of the PCD7100I, the EIS, radios, and the new digital LRI head...

Ok, here's the EIS cutout modified to the correct size... Looks much better...		Here's the panel ready to paint... I'll be using the Cardinal paint I used on the rest of the interior...

I got the new panel installed last night!

Created with my
ePanel Builder

I got everything installed and mostly hooked back up, although I forgot to put the fresh air vent tubing back on and I think that is going to be quite difficult now...
I still need to make the angled mount for the Garmin 196...

Garmin 196 Mounting
I made me a simple but effective hockey puck looking thing to mount my 196... Basically, it's the diameter of the back of the standard 196 mount, and it 3/16" high on one site and 1" high on the other. This allowed me to swivel it around until I had the angle I wanted... Worked like a charm!
Sorry, don't know why some of these are blurry...

Mountain Scope Moving Map Software!
Since I finally got another iPAQ, a 5555, I decided to get another Moving Map application to run on it... I talked with these guys at the Rocky Mountain Regional Fly-in last year, and since I live in Colorado, I thought this package would be very useful... I will be installing it and playing with it this weekend and then post an update...



When I got home last night I found the Bluetooth GPS I ordered had arrived, so it was time to play... The GPS Receiver is about the same size and weight as my cell phone, pretty small and light... I hooked it up to the cigarette lighter adapter in my car and went for a drive... The Receiver seemed to lock up the satellites pretty quickly, and the Mountain Scope software worked perfectly... Even with the hi-res terrain display the map updates quickly...

Above you can see the installation of the iPAQ in the plane... I bought an aluminum sleeve from Proporta - www.proporta.com, got a RAM 1" ball with a threaded base, a 1" ball with round base, and a standard arm from GSP City - www.gpscity.com... Just drilled a hole in the F-816B-L angle, actually I put one on both sides, and used a thin washer and nut with some locktite to attach it... Then I mounted the round base mount the the sleeve, along with a clamp for the cable... This is the second one I have done this way, and the first one worked out great!

Gear Leg Intersection Fairings

I will be using my buddy, and RV-4 driver, Loyd's method for making gear leg intersection fairings... We simply set the gear leg fairings in place with some spring clamps, laid up some glass on the work table, and put it on the airplane... The first application is just two layers and is just laid up as a base... Once this cures we'll match drill them to the wheel pants and the gear leg fairings and then remove them for more layers and finish work... The lower fairings will become part of the wheel pants, and the uppers will be removable... These fairing will end up be very tight to the airplane and look great! Here' some photos of the initial lay-ups...

more to come...

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