Hi. New here and thought I would share my build I'm doing. Here is how it started. 1953 Cessna 170. All the standard back country googah, Horton STOL, STOL Fences, pponk gear boxes, blah blah blah, but an old C145 dragging it around. After about 6 months of owning it. She let go finally . On to the fun. I will apologize ahead of time for the picture bomb.

Here she is not long after getting her


One trashed cylinder, tons of metal and an unserviceable camshaft. Seems like a good time to clean the firewall

Bring on the new parts! xpmods stc, factory overhauled continental IO-360 and 80" McCaully. Now the fun begins.

First thing first, header tank support bracket. Time to drill the first holes in the airplane.

Next, fuel return lines. These lines utilize the original vents and later we will add outboard wing vents like newer Cessnas

Moving onto the outboard wing vents. More holes to drill into the airplane. Worked out the left wing, made a template and repeated on the right wing. Make sure to flip that template! It's mirror image. Little notes for myself to keep things on the up and up.

Sweet. Fun project

Should be a blaster when it’s done. Keep the pics coming.

MTV

Next it's time to turn our attention to the panel. Look at this hideous thing.



I think thats gonna need a quick makeover. This panel will be temporary as I want to rewire the entire airplane but I dont want to drag the project along to long. New metal and some flanges to pickup the original holes.





That should do. Now, required instruments, nothing more nothing less.



Time to cut some holes. To make the holes, I decided to sketch them up in Fusion360 and 3d print some router jigs. These worked amazing with a flush cut router bit to make perfect holes.

Looking good! I speak for everyone here when I say we appreciate regular updates even when no one responds... we're following along.

Figure with all the weight on the nose, it's a good time to move some weight aft as well. Strobe and ELT were located behind the baggage bulkhead so took the entire assembly and moved it back one more bay. Combined that with adding some extended baggage.

Drilling more holes in the airplane


Adding the new support to match the previous one we had.



Still a little wiring cleanup but that should work well. Also took the time to install nutplates instead of using nylocks to hold everything down to make it easier in the future to remove stuff if needed. Hate having to reach underneath with a wrench, especially when you are balanced on a skinny piece of wood in a tiny cave.



Last, we need to figure out how to dress the headliner, but digging the extra space.

Now with the back of the airplane worked out, lets turn our attention back to the front. Before we get too deep, we need to see how the cowling fits. With this STC, some airplanes will have interference with the induction system. The STC allows the induction system to be flipped if this is the case. Lets roll the dice and see. Spoiler alert, it dont fit.









Ok, lets see how this induction flip is gonna look. Well crap, looks like this isn't gonna be easy.

malichite wrote:.....Last, we need to figure out how to dress the headliner, but digging the extra space. ....

I just wrapped my headliner up & over the bulkhead, & fastened it.
Slit excess headliner as required to get it to fold nicely & lay flat.

Beige Betty's looking good, Ryan, looking forward to seeing it out & about.

Thanks for the regular updates.

A local guy has the IO360 in his 170B and it’s pretty awesome. Great engine choice IMO.

I had to flip the intake on my BH and it was a pain. The oil fill and baffling was a bit of a challenge.

Induction flip ended up causing interference with the oil neck. "quick solution" and now it all fits well. Welding complete, now to get it back together and on the plane.

Nice welds. Love following your progress!

Finally checked this out. Great build thread!

Not a super fan, but the STC calls for using the original o-300 exhaust, but modifying it with new flanges. It's a tight fit, and it should work for the short term at least. It's an absolute pain in the rear to install once it's all welded up. There is NO room to get it on without lifting the engine, and even then, it took us 6 hours just to bolt it up after welding.

JPI showed up. Tons of wiring in my future here. Lets start with fitting it into the panel.

One of the best things about my O-360 swap was bolting On a new exhaust that fitted. I hated that O-300 thing.

The STC also says we can use a Hawk XP exhaust and "modify as needed". I think that will be the route we switch to this winter.