Back side of all of the radio trays....

[resrob66]

Does anyone have some pics/ideas of how they managed to deal with the interference of the FWD strut tower brace and the rear of the radio trays. I've seen some nice pics of left side mounted avionics stacks, but nothing really of the rear of the trays and the brace clearances. Working with a friend on his 8 panel and trying to figure this out, he's got some issues with connectors hitting the brace even with nothing connected yet.

Thanks!!
Robert

[Ironflight]

This is a common problem with the taildragger -8's. Like most, I discovered it after I had already laid out my panel and mounted the trays because heck, who thinks that length will determine where they will go? Best to put the short stuff lower, and the long stuff high to clear the forward cross-brace in your initial design. If you didn't, you can get creative with right-angle antenna connectors to salvage the situation, but it will always be very, very tight back there.

[William Slaughter]

For my stack, I have (from the top) PMA8000BT Audio Panel, 430W, 327 xpndr, and an SL-40 (the long one) on the bottom. I originally had the xpndr on the bottom, but the SL-40 hit the brace. By moving it to the bottom, I was able to get it just under the brace. Clearance is rather minimal, but I believe that with good bracing and probably a rubber bumper in there I will be okay. I'll try to take and post some pictures this evening. Even clear of the brace, there's only about a finger's width between the back of the SL-40 and the bulkhead.

[vmirv8bldr]

I originally had (top to bottom)

Audio Panel
GNS-430
SL-40
X-ponder

It would not fit, so I moved the audio panel to the bottom and it barely fits now,....but it fits. And yes, I used the 90-degree connectors for all the antenna cables. Final config is:

GNS-430
SL-40
X-ponder
Audio Panel

Another option would be half on one side, half on the other mounted at the top.

[Skyflyer]

In the T/W 8, any instrument that requires more than 10.5 inches of clearance including allowance for connectors should be positioned at or above a line 3.375 inches above the lower lip of the panel.

From top to bottom I stacked GNS-430, SL-40, GTX-330, GMA-240 and last but not least the GX pilot flat pack. The last two items are short and lay below the critical line. The GTX-330 is at the line and the coax connector just clears the cross brace. (focus!)





I fabricated a stabilizing support attached to the left rear of the stack and the cross brace.



As you can see things are still tight behind the upper components. Harnesses must be carefully dressed and protected from chafing. I used right angle coax connectors with exception of the SL-40 which includes a right angle connector to a short straight pigtail.

[resrob66]

Thanks for all the replies. Anyone ever think of duplicating the aft brace which sits lower, mounting it on the front side of the strut towers at the same height as the aft side and then relieve or notch the top fwd brace to allow more clearance. With the addition of the lower brace the structural integrity of the top brace wouldn't be as much of an issue? Think that would pose problems with cracking or stress later on in life?

[William Slaughter]

View of the SL-40 under the brace:


Tighter shot:


Bezel alignment relative to the instrument panel face:


Panel overview:


AFS-4500 in the middle (due to ship in 4weeks), 696 on the left.