Well, around two weeks ago I reached out to find a Cessna 170B project, and I am thrilled to say I've found one! Pictured below is N2693D, a 1952 170B. This particular 170 was owned in Louisiana by the same owner since 1973. Sadly, in his older age, the owner hasnt flown the plane in more than 30 years.

The plane has extensive corrosion to the exterior skins, however the inside of everything is remarkably clean. None of the corrosion had any deep pitting (that I could find anyways, Im sure I will find some...). The engine is toast I bet, but the frame itself has a lot of potential. I plan on replacing every nut, screw, bolt, washer, pully, cable, and turnbuckle. In addition to that, I will remove any skin that appears to have corrosion under a seam and treat it or replace it. (Yep, thats going to be most of them) She wont be complete any time soon, but if i take one bite at a time, itll eventually be complete. Included with the sale was 1/3 of another 170 worth of parts. Most, if not all, of the flight controls will need new skins or total replacement I think. In the event some of the skins are bad, they're almost all perfectly smooth and dent free, so at least I have good templates to make new ones. I have another aircraft I need to finish putting together, but this one is next! I certainly have my work cut out for me, but I think it will be worth it in the end...

Airplane looks straight, external corrosion doesn't seem so bad it can't be dealt with. Would love to see internal pictures. You know it will be a lot of work but you can have a great plane when you are done. I extend encouragement.

Looks like fun!

Not knowing your sheetmetal background the first thing I'd do after disassembly is get all the paint stripped off. So much easier to do a good job drilling out thousands of rivets without paint in the way.

Looking forward to following along.

See you in some years…

I applaud you for your courage and I ask that you please keep us informed in the progress! I am glad to be done with my project and able to simply watch yours from afar.

Man I Love it! little at a time goes a long way, even if its 15 minutes here and there. Im hoping you keep that panel as it is the best looking ever installed in cessnas!

Thanks for the kind words everyone. There will be a delay in updates for a few weeks since im currently at training for my new job. Once I finish up the new type rating, ill have plenty of months on reserve to get some work done. Planning on starting with removing the old paint, which shouldnt be too bad. There isnt all that much to remove in the first place, and the paint wasnt applied properly in the first place, so it should come off with minimal effort. I doubt I will keep it polished, so as I clean it up, itll get etched and primed. At least ill have a visual indicator of progress as it slowly turns zinc chromate green the time consuming part will be drilling hundreds of rivets to get access to the inside of parts to inspect, clean, treat, and prime the inside structures. Ill keep everyone posted on progress as I can.

I googled up the tail number, and the owner's name rang a bell.
Back when I owned a 170, Gary Hanson used to post regularly on the 170 Assn site as "flyguy".
Here's a thread from that forum, from about 15 years ago, featuring your new airplane.

https://forum.cessna170.org/forums/view ... f=5&t=5623

When I bought my m6 to rebuild, everyone knew it looked like shit but said “well as long as it has good bones” to which I’d reply “well it definitely doesn’t have good bones, but it’s got a good data plate.”

I give you permission to use that line.

That thread hot rod posted is pretty funny, owner seems like a character.

Do you have any specific plans? O360? IO370?

hotrod180 wrote:I googled up the tail number, and the owner's name rang a bell.
Back when I owned a 170, Gary Hanson used to post regularly on the 170 Assn site as "flyguy".
Here's a thread from that forum, from about 15 years ago, featuring your new airplane.

https://forum.cessna170.org/forums/view ... f=5&t=5623

Yeah Gary Hanson is the seller. He's a really great guy, but just has gotten to that age a while ago where owning and flying a plane just wasnt realistic as well as other projects got in the way. His property is covered end to end in dozens of projects (planes, cars, mobile homes, etc) in various stages of completion and it seems that life just got in the way of keeping the 170 flying.

asa wrote:When I bought my m6 to rebuild, everyone knew it looked like shit but said “well as long as it has good bones” to which I’d reply “well it definitely doesn’t have good bones, but it’s got a good data plate.”

I give you permission to use that line.

That thread hot rod posted is pretty funny, owner seems like a character.

Do you have any specific plans? O360? IO370?

Luckily I think I have a few more good bones than just the data plate. Im crossing my fingers and praying that most of this corrosion is surface level and wont require too much surgury. My plans for the forseeable future are to get the airframe items fixed and then see where my wallet is. Im assuming ill find a midtime O300 and bolt it on to get flying, and then start saving for either a fresh O-300 or some other larger engine option. The IO370 is tempting, but the price tag scares me

I put a Lycoming 0-360 with a fixed pitch seaplane prop into my 170. It was very cost effective when compared to overhauling a tired 0-300 and the performance is unbelievable.

Bit the bullet and put the O-360 in it and don’t look back

I’m over 4 years into my 170b rebuild. If you’re going as deep as you suggest, I wish you immeasurable patience, fortitude, resilience, focus, determination, courage, fearlessness, conviction, and every ounce of self serving behavior you can muster.
And a well of cash and foolishness.
And energy.
And humility.
Being introverted helps as well.
But you probably know all that already…..I had to learn it.
Good Luck!!

Hector, the airport manager at GWS (you can look him up on the Glenwood springs airport website https://cogs.us/341/Airport), had multiple sets of 170 wings. Some he had installed sportsman cuffs on - He has sever complete 170's and project planes, as well. Would be a good resource for you.

Hope it helps.

Jim

asa wrote:When I bought my m6 to rebuild, everyone knew it looked like shit but said “well as long as it has good bones” to which I’d reply “well it definitely doesn’t have good bones, but it’s got a good data plate.” ...

"You can't keep a good data plate down."

seatothepants wrote:I’m over 4 years into my 170b rebuild. If you’re going as deep as you suggest, I wish you immeasurable patience, fortitude, resilience, focus, determination, courage, fearlessness, conviction, and every ounce of self serving behavior you can muster.
And a well of cash and foolishness.
And energy.
And humility.
Being introverted helps as well.
But you probably know all that already…..I had to learn it.
Good Luck!!

Thanks! The plan is to go pretty deep with it, while not getting bogged down in every single little rivet. I want to swap all hardware and address the issues for sure, but a good saying I heard recently is "Perfection is the enemy of delivery". So, while yes I want to produce and turn out an impressive product, I also want to fly the damn thing so, expect a mostly great airplane, but I wouldn't expect perfection.

jaudette wrote:Hector, the airport manager at GWS (you can look him up on the Glenwood springs airport website https://cogs.us/341/Airport), had multiple sets of 170 wings. Some he had installed sportsman cuffs on - He has sever complete 170's and project planes, as well. Would be a good resource for you.

Hope it helps.

Jim

Thanks for the tip! Im sure as the project progresses, ill be on the hunt for parts.

Ok everybody, I need the collective hive mind of BCP to tell me why I cant do something (and please be realistic and as harsh as you feel necessary). My plans to bring the 170 back to life are unchanged. However, how unrealistic is it to bring this 170 back to a state of basic airworthiness in time to fly it to Oshkosh for the 75th anniversary of the 170? For starters, let me list the known issues that MUST be addressed before I would ever consider such a crazy thing...

-Rudder completely reskinned
-IRAN on the engine (i have a handful of servicable spare cylinders laying around to replace whichever ones had the valves open all these years)
-New accessories, carburetor, and spark plugs on the engine (assuming the inside looks ok)
-Brand new hardware all around
-Brand new pullies, cables, and turnbuckles for EVERY control system
-Landing gear cleaned, inspected, and primed (or simply replaced if not feasable)
-ALL CORROSION addressed, etched, and primed.
-Replace the flaps (It comes with servicable spares)
-Replace every single rubber hose, tire, tube, and engine mount
-All ADs complied with (new seat tracks should be all that is needed)

Im not looking to win any beauty contests. I simply want a safe, flyable, and airworthy airplane to fly to Oshkosh. These are the BARE MINIMUM items I can think of. And yes I understand the engine could very easily be a boat anchor and useless needing replacement all together. Hell, if anyone has a mid to high time O-300 or C145 they want to sell, i may just go that route,

I promise I do not want to cut a single safety corner, just trying to feel out how crazy I am and find out what im missing on my basic list. I will obviously also consult the cessna 100 series maintenance manual, AC43-13 appendix D, and my IA who will inevitably need to sign this all off.

So, now the fun, tell me why its not possible so I can plan accordingly and get a dose of reality

Thanks everyone!

All that in 4 months is a pretty tall order. If you can find a shop that has nothing going on and leave a signed check with them you might pull it off.

You might have to accept an exchange engine instead of an IRAN, any condemned part in your existing engine might have a huge lead time on replacement. If you're serious I'd suggest looking for an exchange engine the moment you're done reading this post.

You doing all the work yourself or do you have a dedicated A&P or shop ready to start tomorrow? Experienced with projects of this type?

skyward II wrote:You doing all the work yourself or do you have a dedicated A&P or shop ready to start tomorrow? Experienced with projects of this type?

I am an A&P, with an airline pilot schedule (so half the month off to work on the project). However, as it currently sits, I think money will be the limiting factor.

After a little more thinking, I think im going to focus my efforts on my 140 project which actually has a light at the end of the tunnel. I dont want to feel rushed on the 170, and feel that I can produce a much better product if I slow that one down and take it one piece at a time. In hindsight, even if I somehow got the 170 flyable by OSH (virtually impossible anyways) I would just end up having to take it apart again to address some other stuff, and I dont see that as making any sense. So, stand by for 170 updates. The 140 is gonna come first. All that needs is fabric on the wings and the engine re-assembled. Probably wont have that done by OSH either, but probably by the end of the summer. Once thats done, its full steam ahead on the 170! Going to tackle the corrosion one skin at a time (repair or replace, depending on condition. Eventually itll be fully repaired.