Steve Inman’s 1969 182M Panel Upgrade
By Steve Inman
I have owned N70809, my 1969 182M, for about five years. It was set up well for me when I bought it because I like to fly the backcountry and it had vortex generators (VGs), a heavy nose fork, and oversize tires. The panel was IFR certified and decent for an older avionics setup, but after getting my instrument ticket a couple years ago, I felt I needed a certified IFR receiver and an autopilot. I really liked the new 175 Navigator and the GFC 500 from Garmin. My altimeter had to be replaced on my last pitot static check, and the direction gyro (DG) was getting sticky. There were a few other occasional issues that made me uncomfortable flying True IFR conditions. The panel had gone through several rounds of rework before my ownership, and the wiring was somewhat of a bird’s nest under the panel, which made me uncomfortable.
I had already added a JPI EDM 700 with fuel flow and used my Garmin 496 to provide a position source to give me all the fuel numbers. I added a 406 Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) and drove the WAAS input off another Garmin 296 portable on the yoke. I had met ADS-B compliance with the GDL 82 and a GTX 327 back in 2019. My yokes were ugly with chipped paint and a Velcro PTT on the copilot yoke.
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