The International Cessna^® 170 Association

wa4jr wrote:....so who among us will step up to the plate and lend a hand to the blind

Er...could you say that again? In braille?

It's going to have to be a mighty short chassised radio to fit in a center stack with a stock column.
Of course if you have no need to be able to either climb or flare for landing, what the hell.

Aha! That is the reason I am going to place a Garmin 496 in a panel dock in the area that has limited behind-panel space due to the T bar. The 496 panel dock only takes up a couple of inches behind the panel. The audio panel and KX-155 are at the top of the stack riding over the T bar, with the remainder of the long radios at the bottom of the stack riding under the T bar. I just got off the phone with the Washington FSDO, and to my surprise the inspector is very enthusiastic on the panel mod, and said that he saw no problems at all as long as the steam gauges were used once again, and the "Items for Continued Airworthiness", are complied with if they are applicable to my installation. With all the talk about FAA field approvals being a rarity these days, I am pleasantly surprised by the conversation with the Airworthiness Inspector today So this fall after the major portion of the years flying is over....out comes all the ratty stuff, 50 year-old frayed wiring, and a Frankenstein instrument panel. This blind man is about the get his red and white cane out and do some work

wa4jr wrote:...The audio panel and KX-155 are at the top of the stack riding over the T bar, with the remainder of the long radios at the bottom of the stack riding under the T bar. ...

What about the vertical part of the T-bar? Are you offsetting the lower radios to the left or right in the panel to clear it?

Miles

That will be the idea, the stack being offset enough to the right to allow the vertical control column to pass to the left of the radio stack. All the fine tuning will be done when everything comes out. I can't wait ot get all that old mess out. I do have a question though. The pitot, static, and vacuum lines are all metal tube, which presents a pain when it comes to installing instruments in more logical posiitons. Has anyone used flex lines for the pressure and vacuum instruments. I see flexible vacuum and pressure lines in cars with harsh under-hood conditions so it seems that such lines could be used behind an aircraft panel. I know my A&P will give me a guiding hand when the time comes, but just thought I'd throw it out for thought.

It is considered an acceptable practice to use hoses to plumb both flight and engine instruments.

Good deal! So I will plan to transition the metal pitot line to flex hose after it exits the wing root, and replace the static and venturi metal lines with flex hose for the extent of their run. Will make the installation of the various instruments much easier and may even reduce weight

Hey John, any updates on your panel project?