So... in addition to continued work on the wing fairings, after 14 (!) months of procrastination, I've finally been digging into and conquering the final punchlist of things that need fixing and resolving behind the panel. [No pictures here, nothing to see except panel guts hanging out again.] After spending most of a year building the panel, the prospect of tearing into it had become hugely onerous in my imagination long ago. Completion of this task has been hiding up in the "Before Engine Start" section of the task list spreadsheet all that time. None of these things affects airworthiness, but all should be fixed.

Four of five items I've now diagnosed rather easily, as I suspected I would. Two LED lights that were ON when they should be OFF due to simple wiring errors -- working too fast to finish back then, I expect. Flap and elevator trim position indicators not working -- one a loose connection, and the other a fairly straightforward calibration issue. I've also replaced the ELT remote's internal battery that was set to expire in December, but is now good for another four years, and re-routed a short piece of the static plumbing.

All that's left to figure out now is why the ARINC 429 interface box isn't talking to the AFS EFIS. And so far, it looks like this will, as I feared, require getting at the ARINC box itself, which is perhaps the most inaccessible item crammed into the very tight, panel-challenged Rebel's avionics innards. Getting to it is going to require pulling several parts of the panel apart. When I built the panel, I knew the ARINC box would be hard to get to if I ever had to. The time has come -- sooner than I expected. Not fun, but it probably won't be as bad as I've imagined it will be for the last 14 months. After all, I do have passable notes about the disassembly sequences required, which are complex.

Nevertheless, at this point, having gotten up close and personal with all the wiring again, and having conquered the other things on the punch list, I'm actually looking forward to just getting it done, whatever it takes. I really have no choice, because it's the last thing standing in the way of re-installing the rudder & brake pedals, re-installing the control column, building the control cables, and... in short, the one thing that can't be put off any longer.

Let the surgery continue. Scalpel, please.