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M20E Avionics Upgrade Project


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14 hours ago, spleecho said:

Can anybody chime in on how to paint this aluminum instrument panel? I don’t want it to look like Joe painted it in his garage 

My preference is powder coating. I found a local place and they did both LHS and RHS panel for me in off white. It is is tough and there was no damage of the finish during the (RHS) panel installation. 

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This has been an awesome thread.  I am doing a similar upgrade to my M20E.  N7142U.  They must have been sitting next to each other on the assembly line.

Although I am installing non-certified avionics as I am transitioning to Primary Category.  I am doing my mods and climbing the FAA paperwork mountain at the same time.

 

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1 hour ago, Flybeech21 said:

This has been an awesome thread.  I am doing a similar upgrade to my M20E.  N7142U.  They must have been sitting next to each other on the assembly line.

Although I am installing non-certified avionics as I am transitioning to Primary Category.  I am doing my mods and climbing the FAA paperwork mountain at the same time.

 

That is fantastic! What are the chances of that!? Do you gave pics of yours? Share some please

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On 2/27/2020 at 2:16 AM, spleecho said:

Can anybody chime in on how to paint this aluminum instrument panel? I don’t want it to look like Joe painted it in his garage 

Here's the saga redoing the panel in our '67C.  We used Cerecoting, which is a baked-on ceramic-like coating.   Folks do it with firearms a lot.

 

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Haven’t posted in awhile, we’ve been doing tons of work yet this is the stage that shows very little progress, mainly been focused on Finalizing things and the audio panel is taking up a lot of time. Had to re-wire every single connection, we are down to last 5 pins! Left side of the panel is just about done with the additions we did, transponder is all done, overhead lights installed and GPS waas antenna done. Will post more pics as there’s more visual progression and not just the pinning out wires. I think the annual is just about done too

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Speaking of audio panels, how much slack do you leave behind for the various wires?  Any chance for pictures from the other side, while it's all opened up?  Pretty please?

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5 minutes ago, tmo said:

Speaking of audio panels, how much slack do you leave behind for the various wires?  Any chance for pictures from the other side, while it's all opened up?  Pretty please?

A substantial amount, some about 12 inches others about 2-3 feet. Looks like rat's nest at the moment till we clean up everything and route which way to go. Will get some pics tonight.

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Audio panel officially wired in, only things left on it is the marker beacon antenna because we aren't sure how you'd pin a fat coax cable into such a small pin. Wiring to be cleaned up and organized tonight then the shelf goes in.

Absolutely LOVE the new overhead LED lights, installed red and white color switches, both can be dimmer or mixed. Pics show red, white and mixed.

MVP-50P audio output alert tones also in audio panel and works.

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2 minutes ago, gsxrpilot said:

What is the big red button???

Press play on video below. ADS-B Imminent Traffic acknowledge button wired into the transponder. Yellow alert light next to it. Yes I know it's huge but always wanted a "big red button"!

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So there is basically no way to tell which wire is which, right?  Not questioning, just making sure I'm not missing anything.  Looks like a project for next winter...

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1 hour ago, tmo said:

So there is basically no way to tell which wire is which, right?  Not questioning, just making sure I'm not missing anything.  Looks like a project for next winter...

It’s all single color wire so I don’t know how you would on any plane other than following pin outs from install manual 

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6 minutes ago, Immelman said:

Nice work. Can you share what you used for the new cabin LED lighting?? Looks like a cool upgrade, pardon the pun if you had the old lights that got super hot... :)

I know what you mean! Those things have burnt my fingers and fell on my head way too many times! I used two of these and wired them on individual switches for red and white:

OPTILITE FAA-PMA Dual Color

Screenshot 2020-03-06 13.31.44.png

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Good luck with the tests...


Did we discuss this...?

If you have difficulty getting good FF numbers...

Check the install instructions for tube distances in and out of the FF sensor....

The elbow right in front of the sensor may cause some flow challenges...

The Wire run offsets look great! Nice clean data running through there...

 

PP thoughts only, not a mechanic...

 

Best regards,

-a-

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I doubt to have any fuel flows on the run up as I think it’s on wrong channel. As far as elbow I had the old red cube from from old fuel meter which is identical we only replaced it with new and old meter was very accurate so not expecting issues as it’s all the same. Wiring in Bose LEMO plugs now while they finishing engine. 

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5 hours ago, spleecho said:

Had to bring in somebody knowledgeable to overlook the engine.  

E3D0A45A-CFD7-4C45-AF66-1BCE2AA38A7D.jpeg

Not sure if a seeing eye dog is as accurate as a cat scan, look for an airport cat for a second opinion.

Clarence

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