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Finish your cockpit like a pro!

Written by Sonny Wiersema

Well, maybe a better title would be "Make your cockpit look good on a budget", since that's basically what I did.  Not to mention that I didn't start the cockpit so how could I finish it?  All kidding aside, I simply wanted my cockpit to look nice.  That's not to say that it didn't look OK before; Dale Hollingworth did a great job putting together a functional cockpit, but I wanted it to be personalized to my tastes.  Maybe some contrasting shades of gray to make it look better than your average Spam Can.

When I bought my airplane, it looked like this:

Actually, remove the side panels with the pockets and it looked less attractive.  The 2 vertical ribs on each side of the cockpit were not painted and had the yellow epoxy dried on them.  You can't see it in the picture, but there's a couple areas next to the air vents that had the same yellow epoxy in silver-dollar-sized spots. 

Here's a good picture of the sides to give you an idea of what the yellow stains looked like:

The reason I didn't have the side panels installed is because the cockpit isn't very wide and I wanted all the room I could get.  I noticed that between myself and most smaller passengers, shoulder room isn't a big deal.  However, taking anyone flying that's my size or larger poses a problem.  The canopy rails measure about 37 inches straight across.  I'm guessing that the 39 inch cockpit width measurement on the Pulsar manufacturer's website is measured at the widest part about one foot below the rails.  Elbow room is nice, too, so I can't complain!

Anyway, I got a couple ideas from other Pulsar owners about how to approach installation of carpet in the cockpit.  I was set to go with using craft paper and cutting out templates, which I would transfer to carpet for cutting out the proper shapes.  Sounds easy, but the biggest problem was getting the paper to hold still while trying to maneuver to both sides of the rudder-pedal area.  There's not much room to work, so what I found was easiest was to cut a large piece of carpet out in the shape that you want.  3 or 4 inches oversize is what I went with.  Next, I glued down a large section of one side of the carpet on the floorboard.  Using 3M spray glue, I sprayed the floor and then put a second coat on the carpet.  This allowed me to use some industrial scissors to cut the upper edge of the carpet along the lines I wanted, which I then glued down. 

You can't see much in this picture, so I added a second picture below it to show the left side of the cockpit. 

One thing I didn't mention before was the new stick grip.  The electric pitch and roll trim was previously mounted on the panel next to the throttle.  I like the look of the newer Mac throttle that everyone has, so I installed the one that Dale gave me when I bought the plane.  Wiring was fairly simple, and the foam grip doesn't let my hand slide around when it's sweaty!

The right side looks pretty much the same as the left.

One thing you can't see in the pictures is the forward facing bulkhead that's right behind your legs.  There's a bit of difficulty in carpeting this area because of the numerous cables, hoses and wires that come out of it.  My plane also has a parking brake on the left side so it was necessary to cut the carpet around that.  You can see in the picture that there's also some cables that run aft, that are to the left of the rudder cables.  These 2 cables are actually only one cable that runs around 2 pulleys.  They remove the load from the rudder cables so as not to allow for stretching or wear on the rudder when the toe brakes are applied.

Of course carpeting around all of these items was a pain, but it paid off in the end!

After this, I carpeted the upper part of the seat backs.  I failed to get a picture of this part, but since it was by far the easiest part to carpet, I'll leave it to your imagination as to how it looks.  One thing to mention is that I removed the shoulder harnesses and brackets before carpeting the upper seat-backs.  I cut holes in the carpet and inserted the bolts when I was finished.

One thing to mention here is that during this whole process I was having new seat cushions made.  Again, my height of 6'1" made the old cushions a no-go for me.  With both the seat bottom and back in place, the top of my headset touched the canopy.  So,  I had a local auto-upholstery shop make some new ones.  They cut the old ones open and found that the foam was one inch thick with additional 1/2" padding sewn into the lining fabric.  I wouldn't think that 1-1/2 inches of padding would be too much, but it was.  The semi-reclining seats in the Pulsar distribute the pilot's weight pretty well.  Compression of the old foam was probably about half.  The new cushions were used with 1/4 inch firm closed-cell foam glued to 1/2 inch soft open-cell foam.  I figured that after the 1/2 inch foam compresses, I wouldn't need much more support.  The firm closed cell foam is there "just in case" I need it. 

Finally, to complete the carpeting work I glued some panels to the sides of the cockpit.  I did the same as before and cut an oversized piece and then glued it in place.  After that, I carefully cut the shape around the recessed parts of the bulkheads.  This paneled look is what I was after for the contrasting light and dark gray colors.  I think it gives a more professional look over the single color like most automobiles have.  One color is just too plain!

You'll notice how the two support rails no longer have the yellow stain on them.  I painted over them before carpeting with Zolatone paint.  The very last thing I did was wrap some carpet around the bulkhead with the air vents.  I didn't even remove the air vents to do it!

In the event that you've noticed the black panel on the left seat not being centered, it's because of the flap handle.  No electric flaps here, so the handle takes up about 1-1/2 inches of seat cushion.  The funny thing is, the auto upholstery shop centered the black panel and didn't line it up with the centered black panel on the seat back cushion. 

The result of the auto upholstery shops screw up is apparent.  Interestingly enough, the owner wanted to charge me to fix it! 

Finally, the last picture below is just a future plan for my panel.  It's still just a basic VFR panel, but a panel just doesn't seem right without an Artificial Horizon.  The Dynon Avionics EFIS seems to be a good deal at just under $2,000.  I'd spend at least that much money on instruments alone.  The cost and hassle of installing the vacuum pump is another reason I'm planning on going with the EFIS.

The blank-out plate in the center is still where I plan to mount the GPS.

Overall cost of this was less than $350.  The new seat cushions cost $300.  The carpet was $10 per yard and I bought 3 yards (2 would have been enough).  Spray glue was another $7.  The cost associated with the time and labor isn't factored in.  Chalk it up to a fun learning experience!

If anyone has questions or comments on this article, please send an e-mail to webmaster@pulsaraviators.com.