Wire bundle surgery, power wires and LRU nutplates

Lots of wiring harness surgery...I kinda wish I hadn't paid Stein for hand lacing since I'm having to remove/redo so much of it...

To re-consolidate the VP-X wire bundles (move all wires that should go into the main bundle into it, and move all the wingtip wires out the side the same way), I had to de-pin the Molex 150L connector, which was quite annoying to do, at least with the pin that Stein provided:

Removing VP-X connector pin using SteinAir-provided pin tool

I then got the official Molex tool, and unsurprisingly, it easily removed the remaining pins - the tip was just slightly rounder than the one from Stein, which did the trick:

Molex MX150L pin removal tools - SteinAir-provided (white) and Molex official (black)

I also moved the stick grip and flap wires into the tunnel bundle for simplicity:

Tunnel wire bundle

(Also, did you know that Spruce sells heat shrink by the 4ft piece, and not by the foot? Guess who didn't realize it when ordering and will now have a ton of leftover heat shrink? 😄)

For the EFII's AFR sensor, I got the Spartan 3 which seems to be good in terms of firmware and sensor, but I wasn't happy with the connector they use for power and data (screwed-in wires, specifically a OSTTE100104) so I chose a Molex connector with the same pitch but with a latch (172287-2308), and redesigned the case to fit it:

Spartan 3 AFR controller in original box, without original connector (left) and replacement connector (right)

AFR box model with connector and board

Center section of the AFR box

I also tried a right-angle connector, but ultimately didn't see a reason to use that:

Right-angle connector version of the AFR box

I'll eventually 3D print that (probably PC+CF filament?).

I received my main battery cables from Aircraft Specialty, and they actually fit as intended (caveat that they use white wires and only color the heatshrink, but the terminations are really high quality which makes it worth it):

Box of wires from Aircraft Specialty

(mock) battery, contactors and external power port with wires near their intended spots

(mock) battery and contactors with wires near their intended spots

After a batch of primer, I riveted all the LRU attachment nutplates, to the tailcone avionics tray and the subpanel:

Tailcone avionics tray with LRU attachment nutplates

Subpanel parts with LRU attachment nutplates

I also riveted the VP-X attachment parts:

Riveted VP-X attachment hinge and bracket with nutplates

Coming up next: more wiring work, need to check/complete the GEA24 discrete inputs, rework the fuse block wires (I consolidated a few that go up to the overhead console, added the AFR sensor, etc.), connecting the trim position and ELT wires to the side breakpoint connectors, and simplify a lot of the O2 wiring (MH told me it's OK to run a single power wire to all the overhead distributors, so I'll do that instead of having 4 shielded sets).

Time lapse:


Total avionics rivets: 49
Total avionics time: 45.2h

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