The International Cessna^® 170 Association

If I did not already have a '54 170B and you were to pass on that 53 170 project...I'd be hooking up my trailer ready to roll up to the door and save her! Timing is everything I guess. Sounds like you have a really good 170 foundation there that you can rebuild to your tastes a bit at a time. I like these project because I can rebuild to my personal specifications incorporating many new mods and I can spread the costs out over a couple of years vs. coming up with financing for a $34K ready to fly bird....and then here I am reworking all the avionics already! BUT....I could sell my '54 and be ready for that project! Hmmmm? Nope, I have already bonded with my '54.

David
My 1955 has doors on both sides of the cowling.The 1x1 kind but I Think the 1956 170 had just one on the pilots side just like the early 172's.
The split nose bowl is the same as 172's.

Since I'm needing a post 53 cowling, how far into the 172's can I go?
I could live without that 2nd door in the cowling, but I'd sure hate too!
Actually my top half is in good shape, maybe I could just replace the lower half and maybe nose bowl with 172? I like this cowling. Pilot side door stays latched (on mine anyway), the other door has two screws in it, I change the oil (quick drain) & clean screen easily without pulling off cowl, also just changed the generator twice through the two doors - no problem, of course the oil cooling and other improvements I appreciate as well. Can I expand my cowling search from 53 up in to the early 172's. Maybe the 172 cowling's housing the 0-300's will fit 170's?

Certainly thru '58 will work, as I've known of several airplanes that used those cowls. I can't swear to the accuracy of this, but I believe thru the '60 model will fit. I think in '61 the fuselage width changed and the slope of the cowl changed.

Yes the 1960 model cowling that I looked at the other day, looked exactly like my 55, but without the 2nd cowl door. Why would they take that door away? There must be some reason. I would think that Cessna would continously try to improve their product.

Dave
(Wanted 53-60 Cowling)

, MY 55 doesn't have a split nose bowl. But do others? I have a belt driven vac pump. Someone just helped me to wonder if the nose bowl is a replacement to accomodate the belt/pump

Most likely. The belt driven vacuum pump sits in the same plane (no pun intended ) as the front of the cowling, so an unmodified cowling would prohibit the installation of the pump. I've seen several where they have replaced the nose bowl with a '60's (I think) C172 nose bowl - the one with the single large oval opening that extends to either side of the prop. I even saw one on an "A" model where they just cut a hole in the front of the cowl to accomodate it, but it wasn't too attractive.

The '53-'56 cowling has an opening on either side of the prop shaped like an elongated "D" with a horizontal bar through the center where the upright part of the "D" is closest to the prop and the rounded part is nearest the outboard part of the cowl. The split occured along the same line (but just below) as the horizontal bar that divided the "D" shaped openings.

Well suprise, suprise! Guess I'll look back and see when it was changed. I like the way it looks! So that's why it looked exactly like the 60 -172, I compared it too.

David Laseter wrote:Yes the 1960 model cowling that I looked at the other day, looked exactly like my 55, but without the 2nd cowl door. Why would they take that door away? There must be some reason. I would think that Cessna would continously try to improve their product.

Dave
(Wanted 53-60 Cowling)

When the battery was on the right side and the oil filler on the the left (as always) there was a need for two doors. When the battery was relocated to the left side then the need for a door on the right was deleted.

My battery is on the left like the oil filler, yet I still have the 2nd door on the other side. George, is this the way your's is and do you have the 2nd door. I could be approaching this from the wrong end! Maybe I have a 180 or some other plane and only a 170 round rudder?

It's possible that upper cowls from various years have been intermingled. The best method to determine which was original to your serial number is to check the IPC.