As the alaska flying season came to a close, I weaseled my way into yet another garage project blurring the lines of model and identity, taking two airplanes and making them one, until death or the FAA do us part.

My friend is a shitbox airplane trader by profession and stumbles upon many unique planes. He's always wanted the dream 180hp C170B and couldn't afford it so he purchased a ground looped C170A with Avcon O-360 and then a rolling chassis C170B which someone at some point had the idea of rebuilding. He only asked me to wire the panel and mount the engine, but when he dropped them off, he also left me with things like wheels, brakes, tailpull handle... none of which is the panel or the engine. So we will see how this winter evolves. Both airframes have been in a dusty Kentucky barn for 3-4 years so none of this is clean. Overall goal is retro, affordable, capable, light but nothing crazy. Reuse as much as possible. Not your usual bespoke restomod.

I've always wanted a 170B with 180hp but other than window shopping, I know very little about them. So here we go.

The first delivery was The "good bones" as they say... '52 170B. I don't know if I'd call it good bones, but decent bones. Don't be fooled by the Lyc mount, this was a O300, friend just hung the engine mount to day dream. Had to sit it on its axles and remove antennas to fit it in my 7' garage door. He dropped off new solid axles so these are sacrificial. Wedged her in - it's bigger than a maule.


Got it on furniture dollies and re-arranged to make more usable space. I can feel the magic starting. Didn't even have to displace my motorcycles!


It attracted a mate the next day. Although heavily injured, I believe they will breed.



The donor plane is a 170A with avcon engine conversion as well as the U-style yoke setup for a center stack panel. Panel is filled with lots of useable stuff.


First order of business was getting the black airframe cleaned up and make a workspace out of it. All the old wiring was still in place including like 6 antennas from what was apparently a full IFR panel at some point. No instruments, just wires and antennas. I stripped all that out and tidied it up a bit.



Started mocking up a panel for him, mainly to start the back-and-forth and to get anything on order that he wants. Sticking with the retro style, not moving the U yoke over. The upper panel will be (L>R) airspeed, AV30, Altimeter, flush aera 660, tach, then a cluster gauge with Fuel P/Oil P/Oil T. He's doing a ground adjustable sensenich so no M.P. gauge. Will use the 4 small holes underneath for clock, amps, egt, cht. No digital engine stuff. Bottom left will be GTR205 and the stratus txp that came with the 170A. Bottom right probably CB's and such. Keeping the piano key switches with a new custom bezel thing.





Planes were dropped off 2 days ago and I leave for 6 weeks on the 19th. We shall see what I get done before then. So far I'm having fun. No need for perfection on this one... a usable, affordable, high performance airplane is the goal.

Before anyone asks, yes Avcon/Doyn/Williams agreed to transfer the STC to the B and we have the transferred STC in hand.

The black & red fuselage looks to be in quite nice condition, should make a great build

Niceeee!! Can't wait to see how this one comes along. Your Maule came out awesome!

Might be setting a dangerous precedent with folks dropping off broken airplanes at your house though....

This is going to be a great "mass up" of like minded pieces and parts.

Even if you stick with the "retro look" panel, I'd move that U style yoke over. Then, I'd install a larger (Garmin 760??) in the center area. A LOT more viewable/useful than a 660. Trust me, having looked at a 660 for several hundred hours, a bigger GPS would really be nice.

Those U style yokes offer lots of possibilities for future panel designs, even if you stick with the smaller 660., though, and with those planes at the stage they're in, I'd move that yoke over to do future owners a big favor.

Otherwise, that piece is worth some $$

I like the looks of this project, lots of good starting points.

MTV

SmokeyTheBear wrote:Might be setting a dangerous precedent with folks dropping off broken airplanes at your house though....

I tried to drop Asa off at my plane, but it didn't work

mtv wrote:Even if you stick with the "retro look" panel, I'd move that U style yoke over. Then, I'd install a larger (Garmin 760??) in the center area. A LOT more viewable/useful than a 660. Trust me, having looked at a 660 for several hundred hours, a bigger GPS would really be nice.

Those U style yokes offer lots of possibilities for future panel designs, even if you stick with the smaller 660., though, and with those planes at the stage they're in, I'd move that yoke over to do future owners a big favor.

Otherwise, that piece is worth some $$

I like the looks of this project, lots of good starting points.

MTV

MTV beat me to it, but I was going to offer up the same unsolicited opinion. Love my U-style yoke in my 170B, for all the reasons MTV covered. My center stack consists of a 795 mounted in an Airgizmo dock, above a GTR 225 and a GTX 335.

Regardless, good luck with the project, and thanks for sharing it with us.

-DP

I, too, would prefer to have a U style yoke if it were my plane. It would be a future-proof move, even with the legacy panel in place now. However now that I am a bonafide A&P and people are paying me by the hour, I must oblige by their wishes. He said don't bother with the yoke.

Question - where are people putting the firewall battery box (Atlee dodge for odyssey batt) on these conversions? I've seen some on the pilot side but thats where the heater vent it. Oil cooler is at the top of firewall. I guess that leaves the right side? It would be obvious if everything was mounted but with nothing on the firewall, hard to say what the restrictions will be. Thanks for the help!

Today I got a bunch of stuff off the firewall and started laying out the new one. Will be buying a new fuel pump and a steve's gascolator which seems like the best deal in aviation.

Donor firewall looking sparse..


Things starting to appear on the new firewall. Wet erase markers are the bees knees for this.


Took the nervous system out of the donor. I'm re-wiring everything but when I did my maule I found it was helpful to pull it out as complete as possible to see if there are any oddities or things to be aware of. Nothing really in that regard on this plane. It's also nice because I can pull the entire radio harness so when I list it on ebay it might be valuable to someone who isn't electrically handy. Personally I love making the harnesses from scratch. Terminating multi conductor shielded cable is my love language.


Since it's a panel project, here is the panel from EOD today. Minimal change.


Had a big rainstorm yesterday and my maule is outside currently so I took her out for a flight to dry the crevices. Added a guardian panel mount CO detector (right side under ipad) and a maxpulse wig wag system earlier this week. Very happy with both.

I like the new 170 panel.
Personally I think "center stack" panels are over-rated.
My old 180 has the com, nav, & intercom mounted down in the subpanel, by my knees,
and a surface-mounted tablet for navigation in the center of my panel
The old T-style control column works just fine for this configuration.

I'm curious about the firewall-mounted oil cooler,
seems like those are usually engine-mounted on Lycomings.
Got any pics?

hotrod180 wrote:
I'm curious about the firewall-mounted oil cooler,
seems like those are usually engine-mounted on Lycomings.
Got any pics?

You can see it here cleco'd in place. It's missing 1" steel standoffs that separate it from firewall for airflow - ordered new ones.



Took the piano keys to the Scotchbrite Center for Rehabilitation. Had to order a couple switches that were missing and all new grommets to tighten things up. I had seen these installed in airplanes but never considered how they worked. Definitely never expected that they are just on-off-on DPST switches with one pole blocked. Seems like more of a maule technique, surprised Cessna didn't have custom switches for this purpose. We are planning to get away with only these 6 switches - no separate avionics switch or anything. Master, Fuel Pump, Avionics, Nav, Strobe, Landing. Am I missing anything? No pitot heat on this old girl so there is one less.




And now, the wiring saga begins. When/if I ever build a hangar, I will have a full workbench area dedicated to this because I enjoy it, but for now.. my kitchen table. At least one harness is done, the easy transponder/encoder one which is only power ground and an RS232 line. Waiting on some 22ga jumper wire, solder sleeves, and Dsub contacts to arrive before I can move to the intercom harness, then when the new radio arrives I can start on it as well.

asa wrote:I, too, would prefer to have a U style yoke if it were my plane. It would be a future-proof move, even with the legacy panel in place now. However now that I am a bonafide A&P and people are paying me by the hour, I must oblige by their wishes. He said don't bother with the yoke.

Question - where are people putting the firewall battery box (Atlee dodge for odyssey batt) on these conversions? I've seen some on the pilot side but thats where the heater vent it. Oil cooler is at the top of firewall. I guess that leaves the right side? It would be obvious if everything was mounted but with nothing on the firewall, hard to say what the restrictions will be. Thanks for the help!

Today I got a bunch of stuff off the firewall and started laying out the new one. Will be buying a new fuel pump and a steve's gascolator which seems like the best deal in aviation.

Donor firewall looking sparse..


Things starting to appear on the new firewall. Wet erase markers are the bees knees for this.


Took the nervous system out of the donor. I'm re-wiring everything but when I did my maule I found it was helpful to pull it out as complete as possible to see if there are any oddities or things to be aware of. Nothing really in that regard on this plane. It's also nice because I can pull the entire radio harness so when I list it on ebay it might be valuable to someone who isn't electrically handy. Personally I love making the harnesses from scratch. Terminating multi conductor shielded cable is my love language.


Since it's a panel project, here is the panel from EOD today. Minimal change.


Had a big rainstorm yesterday and my maule is outside currently so I took her out for a flight to dry the crevices. Added a guardian panel mount CO detector (right side under ipad) and a maxpulse wig wag system earlier this week. Very happy with both.

Curious

Why put a basic portable GPS as center focus vs the beautiful digital AI/PFD?

Also why multiple portable GPSs on the panel?

I’d imagine a ball mount or pivot case for a GPS enabled iPad would be much better with a more traditional six pack on the panel, or glass MFD, center focus for control of the aircraft with a diminished visual horizon or IMC ops

An instrument panel is in many ways an expression of identity, both the airplane and it's guardian. It's an "opinion" so therefore it is never wrong, it is unique in it's intentions. I admire them for their creativity, express of character and the mission statement they make.

I'm still trying to figure out what was going through my brain the day I mapped mine out.

Mapleflt wrote:An instrument panel is in many ways an expression of identity, both the airplane and it's guardian. It's an "opinion" so therefore it is never wrong, it is unique in it's intentions. I admire them for their creativity, express of character and the mission statement they make.

I'm still trying to figure out what was going through my brain the day I mapped mine out.

I agree, just think the closer you get to the six pack layout the better as it’s a design that’s been followed a lot, so if you go back and forth it makes things a little easier, but that’s mostly picking nits especially if you have a nice PFD/AI like yours or a GI275 or something


But more importantly who makes the altimeter, asi and VSI you got there? Those things looks wicked!

The ASI, VSI and ALT are full digital generating an "traditional" display with the ASI displays both KTS and MPH to the user.

I like that panel layout- makes perfect sense to me.

hotrod180 wrote:



I like that panel layout- makes perfect sense to me.

For what its worth I agree. The iPad is place in exactly the same location in my panel, its for mapping purposes only.

Asa,

My 52 170 had an original battery box mounted high on the right side of the firewall. I replaced the stock battery with an Odyssey in the stock box, with some balsa spacers. The 52s have the big cowl doors, which makes this location easily accessed.

As to switches, I would ABSOLUTELY add an avionics master. Some avionics are still a bit touchy towards surges. Better safe.

I'd also keep the fuel pump switch isolated with a std switch. Most folks don't use it except emergency. And, frankly, even if the engine driven pump took a dump, gravity feed would get it done. A friend got field approvals to remove both fuel pumps on 170 and 172 Avcon conversions by simply increasing the diameter of the fuel line between the fuel selector and the firewall. Easy on a plane at this stage, and worth doing even if you keep the pumps.

MTV

A friend got field approvals to remove both fuel pumps on 170 and 172 Avcon conversions by simply increasing the diameter of the fuel line between the fuel selector and the firewall. Easy on a plane at this stage, and worth doing even if you keep the pumps.

I did exactly the same thing with my 0-360 conversion MTV, it works perfectly.

Mapleflt wrote:The ASI, VSI and ALT are full digital generating an "traditional" display with the ASI displays both KTS and MPH to the user.

They are impressive, who makes them?

Full digital as in with no power the analog also doesn’t work?

Ether way very cool





To OP
I agree with MTV on the avionics switch, I’d also have a split master switch where half goes to the batt relay and the other half goes to the alternator, in abnormals it’s handy, I also am old school and prefer to start with alternator off and turn alternator off before MCO

The other one that works well is arranging the CBs to match with switches and systems, ideally on the etched backlit panels

The "analog" is simply an image, no power no image. What you can't see in the photo is the mechanical oil pressure and tach on the far left for redundancy. All the other required information I can get by looking out the window.

The instruments are manufactured by Kanardia.