Geek's STi Build

[Geek]

That is a very nice panel Gary. I like the way you labeled the plugs; I used a marker on the back, haha. Shows you are in a class above me. Haha
Your wiring looks great and the detail securing of the wires is very nice.

Far from correct Harlan. Your plane is a beaut and you all did a great job on it. Was envious of how you made it a family event and the smiles all said they were happy to be there.

Your panel is top notch! I enjoy seeing the attention to detail in your work.

Good stuff Gary.

Thanks Brett. Coming from you after seeing how nice your paint is coming out is a true compliment. It's snowing here like a big dog so have done more plowing and helping neighbors then airplane today and most likely tomorrow. (when you have over a foot of snow and a tractor with a big blower - your neighbors who have small hand-pushed blowers all like you. And they pay with beer!!!).

Gary

[alexM]

Finally something to slow you down!

[Geek]

Ullr, the Norse god of snow and ice obviously heard your request and granted it. This is the third day in a row I have not been able to work on the plane cause of snow and ice trying to keep stuff cleared out. C'mon Alex - give a guy a break!!! I'll wire slow. I promise.

Hope you had a great holiday. Was interested to hear what your Lane problem with the ferry flight turned out to be. Those lights seem to have some life of their own sometimes.

Gary

[Geek]

Finally got to start wiring on the Garmin system. One of the things I learned about wiring D Sub connectors back in my working days (daze?) was to put a black mark on both sides of the connector to ID pin 1. No matter how the connector is oriented or if it's the male or female side, it's easier to place pins with that visual reference. I wired in the mount and power supply for the iPad display. I also got the autopilot wired in as well. Since I have a G5 in the mix as a back up attitude indicator, it has its own GPS antenna to connect. I saw an install (maybe at the Kitfox factory during the fly in) where this antenna was mounted on a bracket attached to the panel support rod. Thought that was a pretty clean way so I bent up my version of the bracket and match drilled it to the support rod so that I can rivet it on when I'm ready. Happy New Year to all of you!!

Gary

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[Eric Page]

That antenna bracket is a work of art. Well done, Gary!

[bbs428]

Not bad for an Ol' swab. You're a cut above this old box puller, that's for sure. Good stuff!

Happy New year to you as well!

[Geek]

That antenna bracket is a work of art. Well done, Gary!

Not bad for an Ol' swab. You're a cut above this old box puller, that's for sure. Good stuff!

Happy New year to you as well!

Thanks guys. Definitely not a cut above anyone - just lucky enough to have had people with the real skill who took the time to teach me stuff and a box brake in the shop that makes metal bending like that possible. I'll whip out my HVLP sprayer and you all will get a great laugh!!

Gary

[Geek]

Have been pretty much focused on wiring in the panel/Garmin boxes and preparing for wiring in the firewall forward engine bay requirements this whole time. Still need to wire in the VPX power out connectors which is on the list for this coming week. Ran into one hiccup wiring in the Lane A/B LED lights. Left my soldering iron heat turned up a bit too hot when connecting the Lane A LED. It opened up the connection inside the LED itself so now that LED is inop. Heather is taking care of my mistake as we speak. Rookie mistake on my part. The LEDs themselves looked like they were ones that had the current resistor integrated so I asked Brandon if the factory was installing the resistors called out in the instructions. He said they weren't so obviously the current resistors are already there. The LED polarization also isn't marked directly or in any of the other ways LEDs are done (i.e. long/short leads). So the other question for Brandon was which lead was hot. For others reading this, the gold lead is hot and the silver lead is ground. Just for fun I hooked a 9V battery up to see how bright those lights were and they were definitely bright. So I went ahead and put the resistors into the circuit. It did dim them down somewhat but certainly will still be able to see them in direct sunlight.

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[airlina]

Gary, if electric wiring can be pretty you win the beauty contest, very nice and super neat , great job. Bruce N199CL

[Geek]

Gary, if electric wiring can be pretty you win the beauty contest, very nice and super neat , great job. Bruce N199CL

Thanks Bruce. Appreciate the compliment but still have to smoke check it so the functional block check isn't in the bag just yet. Have been working on ringing out the connectors just to check and if I said so far they have been perfect - I would be lying. Literally found the GMU-11 connector (first one I did a long time ago when working on the wings) pinned in a mirror image. The good news is that it made me more inclined to check all the rest of the connectors.

G