Hi Kevin, welcome to SimV.

There are a couple of simple rules of thumb for panel installation:

- make sure that you use the correct panel for aircraft type: twin jet gets a twin jet panel, single prop gets a single prop panel etc: otherwise you could get some unusual things happening.

- 'busy' panels with loads of gauges might affect your frame rate, as the PC has lots to do in updating them.

- many custom panels use the concorde.gau gauge (some of mine do) used in FS2000 but not supplied with FS2002. If you get a panel with obvious gaps, or a download specifies it, you can get this gauge on this site.

Having said this, there are many custom panels out there that are improvements on the default panels. Many have extra effects (sounds such as wind noise etc.) included. Simply find the ones you like, unzip them to a temporary folder and follow the instructions included, backup the original panel folder somewhere safe, and copy the new one in its place - that's normally all there is to it.

You might want to add some gauges or some extra functionality to your downloaded panels, but you learn this by exploring the panel.cg and findng out what it does (but don't forget to backup first). You can 'transplant' gauges from one panel to another, as all the panel.cfg file does is reference a gauge stored in your gauges folder.

Don't be put off if it sounds difficult initially: it isn't, and you get a real improvement.

Enjoy!