I still say go for it...

With all due respect it's beginning to sound like your seeking validation on what you've already decided to do. Various members of the BCP have offered some sage advice, they are just trying to "keep it real" for you. Maybe you should review some of the restoration experiences documented within this forum.

Stew0014 wrote:The math I did...

Sounds like you have it figured out. I'm with Lopes... Go for it...

Bigrenna wrote:........The best bet is to keep the ear to the ground, find that $35-$40k bone stock flying 170B, pull the wings, slide it into a 40, and get her up and flying down under. Fly it for a bit while you gather the parts and slowly add the stuff you can limiting the down time to 2 week periods. 180 gear in a weekend... Sportsman another week... extended baggage some other weekend, etc etc etc... You can even strip the bird bit by bid and keep her flying......

Very sound advice, from someone who's been there & done that.
There's at least one person I can think of on this site who would have
saved himself a lot of misery had he followed this advice.

Hey mate,

I'm in Aus too, also doing a similar project. Mines an earlier C172 I've converted to taildragger via the Williams STC.

I've got it sitting on the taildragger gear with the bare fuselage primed.

I believe what a lot of these guys are saying is very true - it gets expensive quick if you are buying everything.

So far I have $7k (AUD) into mine total (including the engine and tailwheel STCs), and around three months full time work. Progress is slow, but I'm not in a rush, and I'm not out of pocket lots of $$.

I still need an O-360, and I've got some good wings lined up under $10k.

To keep a project like this cost effective you need to be an opportunistic buyer of parts. For example - my gear legs were given to me off a C180 that got put on floats.

My workshop also buys lots of wrecks, so lots of smaller specialised parts I've gained for close to nothing - dynofocal mount, larger wheels and brakes etc... I've got a prop and good instruments etc...

In any other instance it would not be viable for me to do my project. I've been fortunate that we have a fuselage and wing jig to suit my aircraft which I could not have repaired the fuselage without.

Over the coming months I'll likely start a build thread on here as it starts to come together, as I'll be getting stuck back into it shortly.

Cheers
Brady

Also keep on mind you will be up for some significant expenses to get a CofA, registration, noise certificate weight and balance etc.. as you are bringing a new aircraft into the country. Being a certified aircraft it will carry much more expense than your father's experimental aircraft.

You'll also be expected to show compliance with the regs with how you repair the aircraft, this will be scrutinized when you are going through the CofA process.

To avoid a lot of the headaches and admin expenses, it would be highly beneficial to at least start with an aircraft that's already CASA registered. You can then certify everything yourself if/when you gain a AME licence.

There's several running cheap C172's on the market nearby you at the moment that need some cosmetic work and SIDS that could get you flying without bankrupting yourself.

Best of luck!

So now you have opinions both "in country" and "out of country" recommending the same thing by my count with that airframe as presented. No one is trying to blow up your Plan A but many on this forum have seen very similar plans go down a long, deep rabbit hole.