• If You Are Having Trouble Logging In with Your Old Username and Password, Please use this Forgot Your Password link to get re-established.
  • Hey! Be sure to login or register!

Panel Discussion: Cessna 180 Upgrades on Poor Webjanitor Budget

Will he parts swap over to convert?
not sure, but i think no... this was 17(19?) years ago.... I bought this one first, and when I was looking for the sprockets and stuff I found a whole complete other unit....
So below is our 1955 C-180 panel. It's hard to think about changing it because it was completely redone for me by the late Paul Fisher eight or ten years ago, but there are lots of things that need to be addressed and so I am looking for advice on this VERY slippery slope.
View attachment 34554
Wow sj, That is a typical 1940-50s panel. A mismash! (no offense intended) Here are some comments from an arm chair perspective.

The first thing to do is to investigate changing the yoke from a T to a Y. Get out the parts manual and study the pictures. Get some measurements of the critical points to be sure that it is doable and is it legal without spending your wad of cash. I do not think that the cables and sprockets will be a direct swap. Perhaps under the floor where they connect to the rest of the system? Someone else here may have the answer?

Take the panel out and mount it above the fireplace with a placard honoring Paul Fisher.

This panel is so full of wasted space that it is difficult to say where to begin.

Start with a piece of cardboard cut to the outside dimensions of the available space. Mark on the cardboard where all of the behind the panel restrictions are located.
Cut out some full sized squares of cardboard +1/8" all around of the maximum dimensions of each instrument and radio. Allow for the radio support brackets. Make note on each piece of the depth including connectors. Then like a jig saw puzzle move them around until you like the results.

Update your brain into the 21st century and set up the flight instruments in the "basic "T" layout.

You have way too many 2-1/4" engine instruments sucking up space. Consider one of the "all in one" units which are available. Place it way over on the right side.

Take that stall horn and hide it behind the panel somewhere. If you want the light just place a separate light where it doesn't interfere with the rest of your more important stuff. It won't be hard to find a small acceptable location after all else is done. You will still be able to keep the marker beacon lights. Consider turning them vertically.

The GNS430 can easily move up where you can see it. You may even find that it actually does more than you think it does. :p You may even find that some of the other radios can move upstairs though leaving them below as secondary uses would not be inconvenient. Move the transponder up to the top of it's current location.

Move the ILS indicator over to where the turn coordinator is now. Move the turn coordinator to the right one space. Move the VOR indicator down to the left of the KX-155. You don't need those two instruments up in front of your face. The VOR indicator is only used for secondary purposes anyway.

If the DG will not fit directly under the AH then move them to one side a bit.

Include your smart phone in the layout if you wish so that it's use will not cover other instruments.

If you have a G-5 (or 2) in your future keep that in mind now by making allowances for it.

Perhaps I'm a bit naive but I'm seeing the biggest expense being the new engine instrument and some labor for making the new panel. This does look (at least from here) as though it can be done without changing the control column.
 
Thanks! I think I am going to skip the Y thing. I have had four people offer me Y yokes, one for free! Just seems like a "whole 'nother" can of worms.

sj
 
This is the panel in my buddy's 1956 180. Garmin 420 so 430 will fit in the same place. Clears the original T yoke. He had it cut on a CNC mill by one of the local machine shops, I don't know if he still has the CAD file.

Derek 180 panel 002.JPG

Tim
 

Attachments

  • Derek 180 panel 002.JPG
    Derek 180 panel 002.JPG
    245.4 KB · Views: 353
Northern Lights Avionics has a cut file for my '53 180 panel that at least the perimeter would be a good starting place.

6 pack on the left with com and txp top center and EDM 900 bottom center. Right of the center stack is EMPTY!!

I figured I can do a 430 and com 2 top center and move the txp somewhwere, keeping the EDM IN PLACE. When pigs fly and 430's are affordable again.

T style control column assembly in my plane.

I beieve I own the cut file if you want it SJ
 
Northern Lights Avionics has a cut file for my '53 180 panel that at least the perimeter would be a good starting place.

6 pack on the left with com and txp top center and EDM 900 bottom center. Right of the center stack is EMPTY!!

I figured I can do a 430 and com 2 top center and move the txp somewhwere, keeping the EDM IN PLACE. When pigs fly and 430's are affordable again.

T style control column assembly in my plane.

I beieve I own the cut file if you want it SJ

Dave, I'd love to see what it looks like!

Fortunately, I already have a 430.... purchased back in the old days :)

sj
 
sj,
Do you have any experience using an HSI? Once you do, you will never want to go back.

cf-lg.jpg
Replace the DG and the ILS indicator with the G-5. https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/570665/pn/K10-00280-30# One instrument replacing two which is a lot easier to use when flying IFR.
 
Better yet, get two for certified IFR. Include the GMU 11 magnetometer and you will never look at the compass again.
 
Slightly easier with the 3 panel method vs a single, but keep your mind open about 3 dimensions. Every 1/2" of protrusion into the cabin in the center panel (avionics stack) provides the room needed behind the panel, makes it an easier reach, and easier to see. As long as yokes with hands holding them clears, it's free space.

A good tech can bend a single raised panel using one piece, or you can switch to 3 panels and mount the center out.

pb
 
I'm not a Single Engine IFR type of guy, so we went straight VFR, but I will say, we love the G5, and If I were to go IFR Dual G5's would be the way to go.
32293545714_f13b742e22_o.jpg
 
Here is that slippery slope I was talking about....

sj
Yes but you did mention $10,000. Unless I'm way off in my labor hours and you do what labor you can you should be close to the $$$. The most time sensitive portion is the panel layout. You can do all of that.
 
Thanks! I think I am going to skip the Y thing. I have had four people offer me Y yokes, one for free! Just seems like a "whole 'nother" can of worms.

sj

back when I did that yoke/tree conversion 19? 17? years ago I was told the one main piece was over $4K thats why I looked around for used... you might want to take that person up on the free one!!
 
If you go to the Garmin page for the G5 and look at the pilot operating manual it shows vertical guidance on the far right side of the HSI and the far left side of the AH. It will not be shown if an ILS freq or a GPS approach with vertical guidance is not selected. The indicator diamond will be green for a ILS or magenta for a GPS indication, in the same fashion as the course deviation indication.

Tim
 
Ok folks, thanks for the awesome input (on line and off line). You have stimulated great contemplation which I am still in the midst of.

I will report back with more questions, or when I figure it out...:lol:

sj
 
Just sell the Super Cub to fund the full blown dream panel and be done with it. 8)

Part of the problem is I don't have a "dream" about the panel. I just want it to be a lot more functional. If I had all the money you airplane mechanics have I still would not know exactly what I would want to do.

sj
 
are you an old school round dial kind of guy or an early adopter that likes gadgets?

I was looking at 180's back before I bought my Citabria. The biggest problem with the panels, IMHO, was that people would modify them but they wouldn't make much of a jump forward in layout/design so to a buyer it still looked like mumble jumble even though the seller was probably pretty impressed by it as it was being done. Having said that, I'd try to get it as close to center stack, left/right standards as possible.

Isn't there a control yoke mod that updates the controls behind the panel so the layout can be updated? If I remember correctly.
 
He is a gadget freak for sure.

Let me know when you want to compare financial portfolios and evaluate each others possessions. ;)
 
then you can do a lot more in the way of rearranging and redesigning the framework of it. but you guys probably knew that, i'm just the new guy trying to keep up.

if you're handy SJ you can do a lot without spending a lot of $$ just on the panel materials to get the layout exactly how you want it. i did a new panel in an Aztec way back when and it made a huge difference.
 
Back
Top