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TomM
TomM,
I fabricated a new pilot side panel out of piece of 2024 T3 (I think it was 0.060" if I recall). I wanted to layout everything exactly as I wanted, remove a few things I no longer needed. I knew it was going to be a tight fit, so I traced out my old panel on some paper, and started laying it out using the old pencil and ruler. I had played around with some online tools, but I needed to be exact.
Once I thought I had a pretty good layout, I transferred my dimensions to a sheet of Lexan, and using a hole saw, made a test panel. This was a key step in making everything work - as you can see from my photos, I had to do a lot of modification to the G5 mount plate to clear the other instruments and the panel mounts at the top. My goal was to get my '6 pack' as high on the panel as I could. Once I made the panel out of Lexan I installed instruments and installed in aircraft. From this I made some changes to my final measurements for the metal panel.
Once I was happy with everything, I made my own metal panel, making the investment in a instrument punching tool (ATS 123C) and the instrument holes template (ATS T123C). Again, I considered the idea of using a local company with a water jet, etc, but this tool did a beautiful job!!! Again, test fitted everything and spent a day with my files customizing all the holes - then had it powder coated locally.
This is not the first instrument panel I have done, and I would not do it any other way. Buying a few tools, some lexan on Amazon and some 2'x2' aluminum from Aircraft Spruce, was so easy, quick and allowed me to get it right the way I wanted it. I strongly encourage you to look at doing the same, so you can lay it out exactly how you want it. I am also happy I went with the flush mount of the G5s.
Good luck!
Jeff
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