Mike's RV7: Wiring and Panel

182 Hours
467 Total Hours

I switched jobs and was lucky enough to get a couple of months off before my new work began. This enabled me to get a lot done. The building is still taking a lot longer than I thought it would. You would think 10 hrs a day would produce incredible progress! But all of the research and learning to do things such as planning, wire crimps, wire diagrams, terminals, connectors, and just making decisions on where to put things really bogged me down for a while.

I had taken my rudder pedal assembly out, prepped and painted it. I ordered some non slip wing walking material and installed it on the pedals and it really looks good! After reading all the threads on VAF about brake pedals trying to stick, I installed stainless steel return springs from McMaster and Carr on the shafts. I also installed one long AN3 bolt in place of the two bolts on the brake pedals. The two short bolts had a tenancy to bind a little.

I installed the assembly back in the plane and after much debate with myself and research, placed the mounting blocks 3 1/2 inches away from the firewall. I drilled two extra sets of holes so I can adjust it forward later if needed. Connected brake lines.

Next I cut the controls sticks and installed my Toston 8 function grips. I cut the sticks just enough for my thumb to comfortably pass under the panel. The pilots grip wire will run out the bottom of the stick so not to compromise the stick strength.

I want the co-pilot stick to be removable. This creates several problems. I drilled a hole just under the grip for the wires to exit on the outside. I ordered a Quick Release button from McMaster and Carr and installed it. The stick is easily removed. I will need to figure out how to connect the wires later.

I ran my wiring thru the wings. After much debate and research, I decided not to run plastic conduit. The wires are supported well with the plastic bushings and I can get to any wire I want to in the future thru my inspection portals. Who knows what I will want to add later in the wings. I wired the landing and taxi lights and the strobe connections in the wingtips. I then wired up the auto pilot roll servo. I used Sub D pins and sockets and heatshrink for the connections.

I hooked up my landing and taxi lights to a 12 V battery and tried them out.

I put nut plates in the front of the mounting bracket for the VPX box to make it easier to remove. I painted the three #8 screws red to make it easier to identify if the VPX needs to be removed.

I got in a big order from Stein Air. All of my Dynon components except for the Comm radio, as was back ordered.

The first thing I saw was this! The box that the 2200 dollar mode S transponder came in. I examined the contents and it looks like the box just got pinched. Everything looked ok inside.

The first thing I did after about two days of reading, was start making wire runs with the Vertical Power Sport wiring kit thru the center tunnel. The kit comes with all the different sizes of wire that you need, although I ran short on 20awg wire in the end. They have enough wires with the VPX power pins already crimped on. I mounted the SV network hub behind the baggage compartment. I also mounted the ADSB module behind it. I built and ran a network cable from the ADAHRS to the hub. Ran wires from the roll and pitch servo to the hub. Once you make a few connections with the D-Subs, you realize why they are so popular because it is very easy to strip the wire and crimp the connectors.

I had to many wires to run down the tunnel because I routed my Pitot and AOA tubing there also. I drilled of the passenger side baggage compartment floor and ran a piece of 3/4" conduit. I ran my network cable for the hub, roll servo network wires, and the serial and power wires that send the position signal back to the ELT thru the conduit. The wires come out under the co-pilots seat. I will rivet the floor back on when I know everything is complete. I will also leave a string in the conduit in case I want to pull wires thru there in the future.

I built a antenna cable from RG-400 for the ELT. I made a doubler for the ADSB antenna and build an antenna cable for it.

While in the antenna building mode, I built a doubler and installed the transponder antenna in the first bay under the co-pilots seat.

I bought and installed a distribution block to bring all the strobe and position lights together. When I permanently mount the wings, I will bring in the strobe wires from the wings and connect them here. I will use lock tight on the screws at final assembly.

I mounted the transponder just behind the sub panel. It mounts into the bracket with a clip retainer and will be easy to remove if needed.

I mounted the EMS module upside down between the firewall and subpanel. Four #8 screws removed and the unit will drop straight down for easy removal. All my wiring incidentally will be on the bottom of the panels so I will be able to remove the entire harness if needed, more on that later. This pic was taken looking up at the EMS module from the floor.

I mounted the backup battery for #1 Skyveiw unit here. Notice a round hole in the subpanel that was put in by the previous builder.

I went to work on the panel so I could get everything in place for wiring up. Cutting the holes for the D-1000's was easy with a jigsaw. It did scratch the panel some but I should not have any trouble buffing that out later. My project also came with an extra panel so that took a little pressure off of me!

This was easier than I thought it would be. I mounted #6 nut plates to mount the screens. I think the biggest plus for splurging for the two big D-1000's is how easy they can be removed to work on stuff behind the panel. Thats a big plus for the slider because after the top forward skin is riveted on, everything has to be accessed through the D-1000 holes or from below.

After getting the screens in, I mounted the intercom and switches, including the dimmer switch on the right side of the intercom. This is exciting! I am trying to keep my plane and panel as simple as possible. There will be no steam gauges. I wanted to leave a space in the middle in case I wanted to add a pocket effis like the Dynon D2 for a backup. The VPX takes care of my fuses, gives me backups to all my switches controlled on the screens, and I can reconfigure them and the fuses any time I want to. Also, the VPX will enable all my flap and trim indicators to be displayed on the screens. This gives me an abundance of panel area to mount other things later if I want too.

I cut another 1/2" off of the control sticks to ensure they would clear the throttle bracket and controls to be added later.

Then I prepped and painted the sticks black and re installed the grips.

The Tosten grips had 10 wires. I had originally planned on using a 15 pin D-sub connector to connect the co-pilots removable stick but it was too big and bulky to leave down in the control area. Being afraid of an inflight obstruction I ordered a mini-din male and female connector. After performing some trick soldiering and splicing, I was not satisfied with it either. So after 3 days of fooling with this control stick, I finally settled on a 9-pin D-sub plug. I wired the two ground wires on the grip together so 9 pins were enough. Due to the VPX, there is very little current that travels thru these switches. I ran the wire on the outside of the stick on the front. I'm hoping the stick boot I'm getting with the Classic Areo interior will hid the connector and the tape securing the wire. A clamp will hold the wire below the connector. This was the best configuration I could come up with. The wire below the controls moves very little working the sticks and there is absolutely no strain on the connector. I will deal with the cosmetics later.

The wires from the Co-pilot grip passes thru plastic bushings into the section just to the right of the pilots stick. I crimped two wires in each pin of the co-pilots side of the plug continuing the circuits to the panel. Then connected the wires from the pilots stick to the mating D-sub. These wires exit the pilots stick thru the bottom. I singled out the co-pilot PTT wire and ran it separately from the pilots PTT wire.

Just when I got going good, something else came up! I had planned on buying a mid-time Lycoming IO-360 engine so I could start flying with it and study and learn how to overhaul the engine maybe a couple of years later. Well, I had been looking for such an engine on Barnstormers, VAF , and even Ebay for a year but found nothing but prop strikes and run out engines that needed overhauls. Then I saw an ad for a IO-360 B1E on Barnstormers one day. It had 1500hrs TT and 88hrs SMOH. I didn't call about it until I saw the ad on VAF the next day. I called. The engine had been taken out of a Piper Arrow that had corrosion in a wing spar. The owner was an older gentleman and decided his flying days were over and decided to part the plane out instead of trying to repair the corrosion. He purchased the plane new and had been the only owner. To make a very long story short, I wound up buying the engine. It had a new cam installed at the overhaul 6 years before along with new main and rod bearings. I will need to buy a horizontal sump for it but the Hartzell prop governor, Bendix fuel servo and divider, both mags, and mechanical fuel pump had all been rebuilt and had 88 hrs on them. Cold compression check was all mid-high 70's. I'm not sure if I will tear down the engine or just mount it up and run it and check it out. I have mixed emotions about putting a used engine on a new airplane but I am building this plane for "ME". I see ads for RV7's all the time that are 10 yrs old with less than 600 hrs of total time. I hope I will fly mine more than that, and plan to, but chances are, I will never reach the 2000 hr TBO on this engine. It may effect the resale value but like I said, I'm building the plane "I" want. I have a lot of studying and researching to do before I crank this engine for the first time but I found one so I can quit worrying about that now. I hope to be concentrating on the engine in six months or so.

Now, I will set that aside for later and get back to my wiring and panel. I installed a 30 terminal fast connect ground strip on the back of the sub panel after reading about how important that everything is grounded in the same spot. Actually it was 3-10's and I riveted it to the sub panel.

I had to find a special bucking bar for the job. Actually it was just a scrap piece of 1/4" metal strap that happened to have a pin welded on it. The pin made it handy to hold onto. It fit perfectly in between the two rows of fast connectors.

I started wiring everything up. It sure looks messy now but I will clean it all up after I test everything.

I am labeling all the wires with white heat shrink and a fine tip marker. This is the switch harness that goes from the row of switches to the J2 plug on the VPX. Remember I can configure any switch to any power pin at any time! Really cool feature of the VPX and makes it easy to add to the panel later on or change something I dont like. The switches carry very little current, just enough to send ground to the VPS to let it know to turn the power on to that particular device.