I was surfing Tom Wruble's site again and he purchased some large aluminum air vents from Air Kit, LLC.  Unlike Van's air vents, these are machined aluminum.  It was the picture below originally posted on Tom Wruble's site, that convinced me to spend the money on this upgrade.

My wife does not like cold drafts in a car either, so I figured that Van's air vent probably wouldn't perform well enough for us.  Tami's folks live in Minnesota and it can get cold up there and that could make a long flight for me if you know what I mean.  Therefore, I decided a air vent that had a good seal was in order.

You can read Tom's opinion on the air vents offered by Van's and Air Kit, LLC by going to his web page at:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/thomaswruble/Soapbox.htm

Needless to say, I was convinced and sent Air Kit, LLC a personal check for $288 (for 2 large air vents).  They had a price increase January 1, 2004 so I ordered them before the end of the year so I could save myself $20/pair.

The picture is deceptive of how big these vents are.  They are really nice and I think they will work well.  I am glad I came across them on Tom's website.

Air Kit, LLC can be reached at the following web address.  They didn't have on-line ordering when I ordered, but I just e-mailed them, Jeff (I think) promptly returned my e-mail with a confirmation, and then I sent him a personal check.  He promptly got the air vents in the mail to me.

http://www.bravoavtech.com/airkit/

I have more or less decided that I am going with the more conventional "steam guages" for my instrument panel.  I have always been a high tech individual, but as I get older, I seem to be slowing the pace I adopt high tech.  Besides, it is always expensive being on the leading edge.  Hoowever, in my hipocrisy, I am keeping room on the panel for a Dynon EFIS, JUST IN CASE.

I had a wild hair up my a_s (My .Mac account won't let me post web pages with cuss words in them...  BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING).  I got bored last week while working on some of my college homework and placed an order to Chief Aircraft for a Mid-Continent turn coordinator.  Well, UPS left me a Valentines present in the garage today.  Man is this nice looking instrument.  I won't need this for a while, but I am trying to purchase and pay for some of these smaller things when I get the cash for them.  I foresee instruments and avionics as a big expense and one of the more difficult to pay for.  My strategy, one device at a time...

Not shown, but I ordered the amphenol plug to wire this into the panel (If I ever get that far...).

I also got 50 feet of 26 AWG, 5 conductor wire to wire the electric trim servo from Aircraft Spruce.  I think that should be more than enough to wire the trim servo up.  Ray Allen also sells this on his website too.