Planning ahead

Spent tonight building a spreadsheet with everything that needs to be in this plane.
This is to get an idea of the cost, which is obviously fairly scary.
But also determining the choices I'll need to make for the electrical components and any items I might need to factor in during the earlier parts of construction, such as wiring runs.
Right now my plan is to have a dual electrical system, and avoid any vacuum driven instruments, and not install a vacuum pump at all.
As for panel layout, I am currently looking at a variation on the 'standard six-pack'.

The standard six pack is how instruments are typically laid out in production aircraft and is how most instrument rated pilots learn to fly on the gauges.
It has six primary flight instruments in 2 rows, going from top left to right, we would have:

• Air speed Indicator ( aka the 'ASI', not powered )
• Artificial horizon - typically vacuum powered.
• Altimeter ( not powered )

Then on the 2nd row, we have from left to right:

• Turn Coordinator - typically electrically driven, this is used to determine 'standard rate' turns for Instrument ( IFR ) flying and also shows 'the ball' which shows if the aircraft is flying straight or 'skidding' or 'slipping'.
• Directional Gyro (DG) - This shows direction, like a compass, but stabilized with a gyroscope since a normal compass has lots of idiosyncracies ( spelling? ) when actually changing direction or under accelleration forces, this is typically vacuum powered.
• And finally on the lower right, the vertical speed indicator which shows the rate of climb or descent ( feet per minute here in the US ), not a powered instrument.

In my preferred layout

• The artificial horizon is replaced by an Electronic Flight Information System (EFIS), which may also include engine monitoring capability, the one i am currently investigating is the Advanced Flight Systems AF-3400.
  This instrument will, on it's own, give me everything all of the other instruments listed above give, plus more, and as such will be placed top center of my instrument panel.
• The DG is replaced with a combined HSI/DG.
  A HSI, is a Horizontal Situation Indicator, it shows gyro stabilized direction plus the needles for the navigation radios VORs, Localizers and Glideslopes, and GPS courses.
  

Outside of the standard six pack panel layout, on the right hand side will be the navigation radios & GPS unit, currently looking at a Garmin GNS430W and a Garmin SL-30 NAV/Com, and a Garmin GTX-330 Mode S transponder, with traffic and upgradability to ADS-B.
Also investigating 2-axis auto pilot.

This full setup will give me plenty of redundancy both in terms of flight instruments and navigation aids, while still fitting into the limited space afforded by the Tandem ( as opposed to side-by-side ) seating in the RV-8.

Powerplant wise, I am looking at a 180 HP Lycoming IO-360 (Fuel Injected), with Unison electronic ignition, coupled to an MTV15 2-blade composite hydraulic variable pitch prop.
I prefer 2 blades over 3 for efficiency cross country, Composite in case I have a prop strike as it is less likely to cause major engine damage in that situation, and hydraulic variable pitch for efficiency and aerobatic capability, also planning for inverted oil and fuel.

Clearly, all of this is costing many $, so compromises are to come i am sure, but now i have a good idea of what i am looking for.