The International Cessna 170 Association

Good morning!
I am new to the forum and the 170 community in general. I have had a 170 project in my living room since I picked it up 6 days ago. I got 2 fuselages and a bunch of parts. It looks mostly complete albeit generally corroded everywhere. I cannot fix the firewall or gear legs and am missing a handful of little parts. I am in contact with the Skywagon City folks up in Canada. They have a 170A firewall.. I know it is a different part number, but it is a totally different firewall? Instead of making one from scratch perhaps I could make one from a similar firewall such as a 170A firewall? I have found a ton of answers on this site before signing up. You guys are probably going to be hearing from me a fair bit.

Thank you!
Tyler Z

Firstly…WELCOME! …. and Secondly, there is no practical way to advise you on this firewall without pictures….and even then …only with a large probability of conjecture and imagination. (What any one of us might think do-able… versus what YOU consider practical… lots of room there….

But in-general, the firewalls have an overall resemblance to each other …but actually have different Part Numbers (which may or may not be significant)…the major differences being angles and stiffeners for/and penetrations of the firewall for the plumbing, electrical, and ventilation changes made between the original 170 and the 170A models….. On top of that will be the possibilities of Owner modifications to the OEM design/construct.

Here’s a couple pics from the IPC (Illustrated parts catalogs):

GAHorn wrote:Firstly…WELCOME! …. and Secondly, there is no practical way to advise you on this firewall without pictures….and even then …only with a large probability of conjecture and imagination. (What any one of us might think do-able… versus what YOU consider practical… lots of room there….

But in-general, the firewalls have an overall resemblance to each other …but actually have different Part Numbers (which may or may not be significant)…the major differences being angles and stiffeners for/and penetrations of the firewall for the plumbing, electrical, and ventilation changes made between the original 170 and the 170A models….. On top of that will be the possibilities of Owner modifications to the OEM design/construct.

Here’s a couple pics from the IPC (Illustrated parts catalogs):

2EBB891E-9989-4716-A935-5EA855D3EDC0.png

BCFB555C-F45E-4B9E-8F1D-D2B4DA69565F.png

CE41DBEE-CE1E-4D2E-9DEB-FED6D0191BDB.png

GAHorn, Thank you for the warm welcome and the information. I realize now looking at your pictures that the firewall I have that I cannot use is not even the correct one. I was thinking I could use it as a template but I am glad to know that is not a viable option.

Thank you!

Learn to post pics and shows us the endeavour, you might get an idea as to direction.

Be very wary on the part number of a fire wall for a 170. When I was doing my project rebuild some previous person had removed the fire wall and had discarded it. There was a nice shiny SS fire wall there for me in the pile of parts that were given to me when we purchased the project . It had the “right” number stamped on the box with the correct paper work. No way known this part was going to fit . Contacted Preferred Parts again [ tried to ask for an exchange ] ,and ordered and paid for another fire wall. The new fire wall didn’t fit . Right number etc . So I made a card board template and then made a ply wood fire wall. Then epoxied the edges of my “plywood” fire wall. [strength] . Then made a duplicate ply wood fire wall. Clamped these two together with a sheet of SS in between . I had rolled a number of curved ridges in the SS sheet before clamping the two ply wood “fire walls together . ITs not easy but finally formed a lip of about 1.5 in all round by hammering the the extra protruding SS. You must allow notches in the lip being hammered over as the SS will crack . When fitting to the airframe i used “Proseal“ 1422 to seal it in with the required rivets . ITs a bit messy using the Proseal but very happy with the end result. No exhaust gases or oil from the engine area.
PS. To return a part back to the USA from Australia is prohibitively expensive and it’s some times months to receive a part . I am no expert tin basher and I made many mistakes but this job is do able by most people . Found out later the 2 spare SS firewalls I had fit a late model 172 .

c170b53 wrote:Learn to post pics and shows us the endeavour, you might get an idea as to direction.

I am eager to share my experience thru photos but learnt the hard way I must be a paying member of the tribe to post. I intend to but I am bouncing off the skids now so it might take me a couple paychecks to show you guys my living room shop

ghostflyer wrote:Be very wary on the part number of a fire wall for a 170. When I was doing my project rebuild some previous person had removed the fire wall and had discarded it. There was a nice shiny SS fire wall there for me in the pile of parts that were given to me when we purchased the project . It had the “right” number stamped on the box with the correct paper work. No way known this part was going to fit . Contacted Preferred Parts again [ tried to ask for an exchange ] ,and ordered and paid for another fire wall. The new fire wall didn’t fit . Right number etc . So I made a card board template and then made a ply wood fire wall. Then epoxied the edges of my “plywood” fire wall. [strength] . Then made a duplicate ply wood fire wall. Clamped these two together with a sheet of SS in between . I had rolled a number of curved ridges in the SS sheet before clamping the two ply wood “fire walls together . ITs not easy but finally formed a lip of about 1.5 in all round by hammering the the extra protruding SS. You must allow notches in the lip being hammered over as the SS will crack . When fitting to the airframe i used “Proseal“ 1422 to seal it in with the required rivets . ITs a bit messy using the Proseal but very happy with the end result. No exhaust gases or oil from the engine area.
PS. To return a part back to the USA from Australia is prohibitively expensive and it’s some times months to receive a part . I am no expert tin basher and I made many mistakes but this job is do able by most people . Found out later the 2 spare SS firewalls I had fit a late model 172 .

I am going to make this firewall IAW 'ghostflier data'... The fine folks in at the Sky wagon place in Canada have a 170A firewall they are happy to sell me, but as a highly poor and highly motivated individual I think I will reserve buying things for the impossible to make parts I need like gear legs and a fuel selector valve. I appreciate this detailed response because I am seriously going to be doing something quite similar. Thank you for the help!

Tyler Z

I have a set of gear legs not damaged. These are the original from my bird , installed lady legs now. If you want them all it will cost you is shipping. I want to see your bird in the air.

John Perry
907-394-3579
Kenai ,Alaska 99611
eskflyer@yahoo.com

eskflyer wrote:I have a set of gear legs not damaged. These are the original from my bird , installed lady legs now. If you want them all it will cost you is shipping. I want to see your bird in the air.

John Perry
907-394-3579
Kenai ,Alaska 99611
eskflyer@yahoo.com

John, you might also wish to place this generous offer in The TradeMart.

The A model and 48 170 firewalls are different. Mainly the heat valves and their locations are not the same. I have a good firewall from a 48 model 170. pm me or email me. nick

Is the overall shape different? My new stainless firewall came without penetrations.

Gentlemen,
I cannot thank you enough for the support I have already received in a short duration. I have paid my dues and joined the club. Here is my headquarters... I have a parts fuselage in the garage and the main fuselage is still hanging in a hangar an hour away. Once I get the main fuselage here I will pop out a screen from the patio and remove the sliding doors to put the fuselage next to the rest of this stuff so I can work on it in comfort.

For now its all corrosion removal, but progress is still strong.

Thank you!!!

Tyler Z

Looks like the lower cowl has the newer air scoop inlet. I did the same to my 48, my old inlet was pretty much destroyed after years of vibrations. Looks like a fun project.

Poncho73 wrote:Looks like the lower cowl has the newer air scoop inlet. I did the same to my 48, my old inlet was pretty much destroyed after years of vibrations. Looks like a fun project.

I was looking into this and I found your old post about it. I was under the impression my project hasn't flown in over 40 years so I guess someone did that mod to it even when parts for the 170 and 170A were still available (assuming they were 40 years ago). I never thought I would learn so much about 170's and I've only just begun.

Thank you!

Personally i can’t not think of any reason why you cant overhaul or repair your fuselarge or wings in your house . It’s warm,dry and secure . BUT the wives for some unexplainable reason do not have any sense of adventure ,progress etc. A good friend [Ben] asked for help in overhauling [pulling it down] his IO-540 engine . It fitted his dining room table perfectly with room for a heap.of beer cans [empty]. His wife was away on some trip with a some of her friends . She was supposed to be away a week . I was washing some parts in the kitchen sink[stainless steel] using some avgas . They’re about 5 of us all having a good time ,having a few beers and listening to the football,and pulling down this engine . ALL good .
Ben’s wife then walked in .Her trip was terminated due to her friends getting Covid . OMG she went ballistic . She was yelling and screaming at Ben. Then she turned on me .
ME, What have I done . It was all my fault, she screamed Hey, lady … It’s not my engine , i was invited here. i will clean the sink for you . Then she spied the card board shoe box’s of hers from the bedroom that Ben had brought down to store some of the parts in in. What she didn’t know at that time ,I had used the dish washer to clean the baffles and other parts . The dish washer does a great job.
We have to finish the job in my hot hangar . Ben’s place was air conditioned . There isn’t any divorce and they are on speaking terms but the rest of us aren’t allowed around there . We were all having a great time too.