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Installed center stack radio rack. Was all new to me so I will describe the process. The company that cut, coated, and labeled my panel asked if I wanted rails for installation of the radio racks. These turned out to be aluminum angles riveted at the sides of the opening for the radios. The rivet heads were apparently filled, can't see any evidence of them on the front of the panel. The radio racks all had countersunk holes for #6 screws (2 at the front and one at the rear). Exception was the very short rack for the autopilot controller. Screws are installed from the inside of the rack into nutplates. I used miniature floating nutplates. I wanted to have some adjustment in case I hadn't drilled the holes in the rails exactly correct. All the racks need to be adjusted to be flush with the front of the panel. I initially taped the 4 racks together and inserted them in the opening to make sure they fit, then marked the holes from the inside of the racks onto the rails. The support at the rear turned out to be simpler to build than I had expected. Cut .040 aluminum pieces and installed nutplates to tie the three racks together. I will use 1/2" aluminum tubes flattened at each end to tie the bent tabs on the rear of the supports to the diagonal tubes above. Now ready to start work on the wiring harness. Will build as much of it as possible on the bench.
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