This post covers the past 2 days, with Day 1 being almost entirely focused on finishing up the ground connections as best possible.  All told I terminated at least a dozen grounds with about half of those on the G4 ground buss, a couple on the G5 avionics ground buss, and another few on the new G7 auxiliary ground buss.  I also routed and terminated a good few wires onto the Master Power Bus.

Today I added a couple more ground wires onto the G4 ground buss, which leaves very few left to terminate onto this ‘Forest of Tabs’… with the only outstanding wire left to attach (that I know of) is the pitch trim actuator, which I’ll do when I actually install it.  I’ll also note that the G4 ground buss is only physically populated to around 60%, so a good bit of capacity left on that for any future grounding requirements.

For the most part I took a break from all the wiring on Day 1 and focused on getting a couple of components designed in CAD that will be required for upcoming installs.

The first component is a 90° bracket that connects on the backside flange of the GNS-480 GPS navigator.  I’m essentially copying Marco in what he has on his Long-EZ, that is used to corral all the wires and antenna cables behind the bracket to keep them away from the nearby elevator control tube.  Also, as you can see in this pic, there is a brace arm that hangs down from the aft side of the F28 bulkhead and is bolted to the flange.  With the GNS-480 being about 11″ deep into the avionics bay, clearly this brace helps support the rather long and heavy GPS unit.

Here is another shot of Marco’s GNS-480 unit, with the bracket removed from the flange to show the particulars of shape and configuration.  Note that this flange is a new style that replaced what was essentially an aft plate (underneath bracket) that covered a lot more of the aft end of the GNS-480.

After making a number of measurements and extrapolating the configuration of Marco’s GNS-480 aft bracket, I then did a couple of iterations in CAD to get to my final version for my GNS-480.  Here it is 3D printed, with the aluminum angle stock that I will machine it out of sitting atop the GNS-480’s mounting “tube.”

As I was on the computer in my crazed CAD mode, I went ahead and measured the dimensions for my nose battery compartment G0 ground buss that will be really nothing more than a bent piece of brass plate with tabs soldered onto the vertical side.  I show two tab assemblies in place to check out sizing if I need it, but starting off I’ll just be using one tab assembly, so 10 tabs total.  A final note on this is that I plan to Velcro the vertical plate to the battery to keep it from vibrating or chattering.

As for actual work on the bird, I did splice one of the big wires coming from the nose area to one of the circuit breaker wires, and again I terminated a couple more wires to the G4 ground buss.  I know there are a probably a few more ground wires out there, but they are seriously getting fewer and farther in between now.  And that being said, my next major focus will be hooking up the Master Bus power wires.

I also did the final install (not wiring, yet) on the top row panel indicator lights by securing each one in place with a dollop of hot glue on the side and top edges.  In addition to the actual indicator lights, I installed the dimmer switch for those lights with E-9000 glue since the panel was too thick to get a nut on the threads of the dimmer switch.

Here’s a behind the panel shot of that.

Note the hot glue on the top row indicator lights. Also note that the bottom edge of the cured dimmer switch dips just a hair into the top edge area of the TruTrak ADI… which I test fitted to assess clearance before then using my Dremel tool to quite judiciously make a depression in the top case surface of the ADI, to allow for stress free installation when it gets mounted into the panel.  Yes, the component clearances are very tight as all the panel stuff gets packed into this small area.

And with that, I called it a bit earlier night than usual to have dinner with my wife at a somewhat normal hour (2100!) and actually relax a bit in front of the TV!