The International Cessna^® 170 Association

Anyone have thoughts on what a 170B minus the powerplant and prop might fetch on the market, assuming everything else was in nice condition? All speculation welcome!

Since you've seen the plane figure out what you think it's worth with a run out engine. Then subtract about $6000 for a core and another $1000 for the prop.

I've seen core engines for less, much less if you shop around and wait. I'm pretty sure I could get a core if not a usable engine for $6000 tomorrow. There are too many variables with the installation to figure. Can one do it themselves at no cash outlay or do you need to pay someone for every minute?

Are you talking about Cleo's 10 year disassembled project? Or Steve Jacobsen's restoration, minus engine? Big difference.

When calculating used plane values, we don't always start with the same premises....
Used planes are valued in most "blue book" examples with a 6-mo. old annual, all AD's complied, all records, and a mid-time engine.
A project with no engine/prop cannot meet those criteria, so you must re-establish a base-line.
Rough estimate: An estimate of a mid-time, airworthy airplane is worth about $40K-$50K. But that doesn't mean that when split into two major parts that a mid-time engine/prop is worth about $20K-$25K, and the airframe (with a good interior and good avionics) be worth another $20K-$25K. A project requiring $5K-$10K of labor to obtain an engine/prop and get it all put together, inspected, and flying makes the airframe worth considerably less, in my opinion, than a complete, airworthy, flying example.
Don't think I'd pay over $5K-$7K for the airframe-only portion of the projects I've seen. (And a disproportionate number of projects do not have their complete interiors or avionics, and the records are an entirely 'nother story.)
Kind of a shocker, when you look at it that way, huh? (Gives a whole new perspective to those who think they have a valuable airplane stored out there behind the shed. And it may explain why so many "projects" never fly again and end up in the scrap heap when the estate is settled.)