"Hartzell would not sell him the STC to put it on his 170 "

This behavior is precisely why I bought an MT...

Same for me, I just love my 170. I flew a 180 and it was heavy and clunky. No doubt they are fabulous airplanes, just not for me.

I'm approaching retirement and want to zero time my motor before I do so. I am looking at a motor of about the same cost, so it is prop, STC and labour. I figure I can do the labour. This is not about rational accounting.

I love 170B's with bigger engines and older 180's with bigger engines. Not all 180's are clunky. A good early model will be pretty light on the controls. Same wing, couple hundred pounds difference in wt, maybe less depending on the planes.

After approximately 1.5 years of ownership I'm convinced of two things; first the 170B fits my needs nicely and secondly it does need either a bigger Conti or Lycoming up front swinging a climb paddle. I run on floats all Summer and wheel skis for the rest of the year, speed isn't in the mission profile.

Mapleflt

[quote="hotrod180"]I suggest you do some math--
figure what a bigger engine (O-360, IO-360, or the other IO-360) and suitable prop would cost.
Then add in the cost of the STC, misc parts, & the labor you might have to hire out.

Then figure out what a C180 in comparable condition would cost you--
minus however much you could sell your 170 for.
I think you will discover that its probably more cost-effective to.....
wait for it..... "just buy a 180".

I owned a ragwing C170 for many years, and thought many times about replacing it with a 180hp B model.
But with the price of a souped-up 170 being what it is, a 180 just made more sense to me.[/quote


You're not wrong, but you're not right in my personal opinion. A 180 is bada$$ plane no doubt. I fly one at work along with other aircraft. That being said, insurance costs more, burns more fuel, weighs more, more for engine overhaul and yada yada. The big thing on the cost is the initial for the conversion for the 170. End of the day you have an airplane that can go anywhere a 180 can basically, cruise a bit faster than stock, climb a heck of a lot better, burn not much more gas than the O-300 and just get more out of the aircraft. If trying to do the conversion and then plan on selling it, well that's just a huge loss. I don't see much in aviation necessarily being an "investment." It all costs lots of money and time and when you pencil it out most of the time it isn't an investment, but its a lot of fun!

I have rebuilt my 170 from ground up, custom panel to my needs/wants, and I know the plane inside and out. I have no desire to get rid of it any time soon. If I can breathe more life into on the front end I dont see really every wanting to sell it. Time will tell I guess.

kygreen229 wrote:….I have rebuilt my 170 from ground up, custom panel to my needs/wants, and I know the plane inside and out. I have no desire to get rid of it any time soon. If I can breathe more life into on the front end I dont see really every wanting to sell it....

Then it definitely makes sense for you to do this mod!

kygreen229 wrote:
You're not wrong, but you're not right in my personal opinion. A 180 is bada$$ plane no doubt.

Yep exactly, it's been debated a lot but seems to just boil down to different for different people. You're getting a deal on the engine, you like a project and the plane you have and can do the work so seems like a no brainer to me! Need to spend money on something right?

That was my ideal plane, I ended up with a 172 TD 0-360 project instead but the two things that are important for me are running on auto gas, and a decent, light, CS prop. If I were you I'd lay down the cash on a MT prop without a doubt first up and whatever engine floats your boat.

Can anyone speak to the variants of Lycoming O360s and/or IO360s that can be used (or that are easiest to use) in a 170B conversion? Keeping my eyes open for an engine and would like to be able to sort out which ones would be viable. Planning to use a fixed prop.
Thanks
Jim

I'm a huge Conti fan and an IO-360 was always my original plan but after much research for simplicity I went with a Lycoming 0-360 and a fixed pitch prop as well.

Mapleflt wrote:

I'm a huge Conti fan and an IO-360 was always my original plan but after much research for simplicity I went with a Lycoming 0-360 and a fixed pitch prop as well.

Yours will be lighter and less nose heavy, and less costly than those with 6 cylinders and constant speed props.

Pete

TCM IO-360KB, McCauley prop.

c170pete wrote:

Mapleflt wrote:

I'm a huge Conti fan and an IO-360 was always my original plan but after much research for simplicity I went with a Lycoming 0-360 and a fixed pitch prop as well.

Yours will be lighter and less nose heavy, and less costly than those with 6 cylinders and constant speed props.

Pete

TCM IO-360KB, McCauley prop.

I'd say an honest 50 lbs lighter forward of the firewall. My back of the envelop, eyeball W & B has me inside 1400 lbs empty weight at this point. I'm see my 170B as a poor man's 180 on half the fuel burn.

yidava25 wrote:Can anyone speak to the variants of Lycoming O360s and/or IO360s that can be used (or that are easiest to use) in a 170B conversion? Keeping my eyes open for an engine and would like to be able to sort out which ones would be viable. Planning to use a fixed prop.
Thanks
Jim

The Avcon STCs called for an O-360 A1A. That’s a very common variant of the 360.

MTV

mtv wrote:

yidava25 wrote:Can anyone speak to the variants of Lycoming O360s and/or IO360s that can be used (or that are easiest to use) in a 170B conversion? Keeping my eyes open for an engine and would like to be able to sort out which ones would be viable. Planning to use a fixed prop.
Thanks
Jim

The Avcon STCs called for an O-360 A1A. That’s a very common variant of the 360.

MTV

That's exactly what going into my 170B with a few "minor" alterations.

Mapleflt wrote:

mtv wrote:

yidava25 wrote:Can anyone speak to the variants of Lycoming O360s and/or IO360s that can be used (or that are easiest to use) in a 170B conversion? Keeping my eyes open for an engine and would like to be able to sort out which ones would be viable. Planning to use a fixed prop.
Thanks
Jim

The Avcon STCs called for an O-360 A1A. That’s a very common variant of the 360.

MTV

That's exactly what going into my 170B with a few "minor" alterations.

I’m weighing the options of this conversion for the 170B that I just bought - Mapleflt I’d love to come by and talk to you about it. My plane is at Edenvale, but will be based at Oshawa.

Mapleflt is using a fixed pitch prop to stay in the owner maintenance category. That’s a legit argument, in my opinion, but if you’re not so constrained, I’d definitely use a constant speed propeller on a 360 powered 170. Performance is much better.

And, you save weight…..your wallet gets lighter…..

MTV

CanucksUnlimited wrote:

Mapleflt wrote:

mtv wrote:

yidava25 wrote:Can anyone speak to the variants of Lycoming O360s and/or IO360s that can be used (or that are easiest to use) in a 170B conversion? Keeping my eyes open for an engine and would like to be able to sort out which ones would be viable. Planning to use a fixed prop.
Thanks
Jim

The Avcon STCs called for an O-360 A1A. That’s a very common variant of the 360.

MTV

That's exactly what going into my 170B with a few "minor" alterations.

I’m weighing the options of this conversion for the 170B that I just bought - Mapleflt I’d love to come by and talk to you about it. My plane is at Edenvale, but will be based at Oshawa.

Perfect another Round Tailed Lady in the hood, are you planning floats or skis at some point ?