Myself and a friend own a Reims Build cessna 172H. It is based in the uk but registerd as an ‘N’ Reg. The 0-300 is nearling the end of its life and we are looking into upgrading to a 0-360 as have seen others do it to their cessnas, but we have no idea what the process is so looking for advice.
Firstly, Can it be done on this Reims aircraft?
Secondly, We have a limited budget and my friend is an A&P. If we buy a lightly used/overhaulled 360 can we fit it ourselves? We dont want to pay 40K for a company to do it. We are looking for closer to £10-15K
From that, Is there a specific model of 0-360 we need and what do we need to do to get it all approved (stc’s etc?)
Any Advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks!
Edit, for some reason i have accidently posted this thread twice. Please ignore this one and admin delete. I cannot see where to delete it myself.
Something like this ?
https://sky4buy.com/Cessna-172-STC-O360-Avcon-Lycoming-conversion192455467200/013558
If you find the stc number, search the faa database and you will know if your plane is eligible.
If your friend is an A&P he should be able to tell you. You could rebuild the existing engine and your A&P friend could sign for it. That would be a cheap option
PennYan, Avcon and AirPlains are the companies offering O-360 STCs for older 172s. But some of them are only for those Cessnas that came with an O-320 to start with.
I think your best bet is the AirPlains STC. With these, you can even continue to run mogas (although if based in the UK, then that is not much of an advantage).
See here. Yes, you can provide your own engine (see tab “Installation”), but you still need their STC and kit. But first of all, check if this STC also applies to Reims-built 172Hs.
Thanks for the information. boscomantico wrote:
but you still need their STC and kit.
Thanks for the info! Do you know how much these kits genrally cost?
146fixer wrote:
If your friend is an A&P he should be able to tell you. You could rebuild the existing engine and your A&P friend could sign for it. That would be a cheap option
Thanks for the comment, We already actually have a 1000 hrs engine ready to swap but based on a short strip and finding out of the possibilty of an upgrade has lead us down this path. We are just uncertain if we can do it on this aircraft and what we need.
boscomantico wrote:
But first of all, check if this STC also applies to Reims-built 172Hs.
This is what we are trying to find out, Any good places to look? This is a quote from the EASA website:
“STCs approved on US-built Cessnas and their applicability to Reims-Cessna models.
Reims-Cessna was a French company that manufactured US-designed Cessna aircraft under licence. These included the F150, F152, F172, F177, F182, F337, F406 and their variants. These aircraft were identical to the US-built aircraft but the French aircraft were given DGAC Type Certificates. For this reason, FAA STCs approved for US-built Cessna models do not formally apply to Reims-Cessna models; this also applies to validated STCs. However, because the Reims-Cessna aircraft are identical to the US-built aircraft, and because there is no technical investigation necessary to extend the applicability of STCs to the French-built aircraft, EASA can extend the grandfathered approval to Reims-built aircraft but the approval has to be legally recorded. The mechanism that is used is the minor change, even if the modification would normally be classified as STC (ie, a major change). The applicant should apply on an EASA Form 32 referring to the FAA STC and its EASA grandfathered approval in the application.
Note that all Reims-Cessna models are now covered under FAA Type Certificates, with the exception of the FTB337G and GA which are covered by EASA SAS and the F406, which is still the responsibility of Reims Aviation Industries (RAI)."
This gives hope however the uk is no longer in easa and it is a N reg aircraft.
This thread https://www.euroga.org/forums/maintenance-avionics/12008-stc-on-reims-cessna-easa-vs-faa had some good discussion about this. Although being a N reg aircarft do they just apply with no additional paperwork?
From here
I have seen tons of N-reg, originally 0-300 powered C172s that have been upgraded to O-360. If I am not mistaken, I have never seen a European registered one which had this upgrade.
The interior of something like a 172/182/210 is really quite basic and comes out with very little effort.
You can actually still fly safely with quite a lot of it missing.
So it’s quite cheap and low stress to incrementally ‘tidy her up’
Many of the interior plastics are extremely repairable ans easily painted to neaten them up or chane their colour.
