Converting a 180HP 172S to a 160HP?

[mrivc211]

Is this possible? I am looking at a 172S thats motor is timed out and want to know if you can downgrade to the smaller engine? I have seen lots of people upgrading to the 180HP engine but never the other way around.

Thanks

 

[Mountain Man]

 

[Cptnchia]

What would be the advantages of depowering? Is a 160 motor that much cheaper than a 180?

 

[BigZ]

Is this possible? I am looking at a 172S thats motor is timed out and want to know if you can downgrade to the smaller engine? I have seen lots of people upgrading to the 180HP engine but never the other way around.

Thanks

Yeah, some flight schools do it
Don't know if it's a STC or just S/R respec, but it's been done.
It is a blasphemy and crime against aviation though

 

[milleR]

Jeremy Clarkson would not approve

 

[deadstick]

New gauges, tach, prop, AFM content....I believe the 160->180 I believe is a service letter, but I’m not certain.

 

[Cessnaflyer]

Is there that much cost savings in it?

 

[deadstick]

About 1gph...maybe...but you lose some useful load too. It depends on what they’re going to do. It’ll take awhile to recoup the cost of the new parts and labor.

 

[ppragman]

I just threw up in my mouth.

 

[trafficinsight]

Is there that much cost savings in it?

When you factor in buying a new propeller and instruments and the time lost... I'm gonna guess no.

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[bimmerphile]

Why? Unless there's a ridiculous cost savings that makes a difference in your fuel consumption, I can't imagine it would help your resale at all. People would just by an R model instead

 

[deadstick]

Why? Unless there's a ridiculous cost savings that makes a difference in your fuel consumption, I can't imagine it would help your resale at all. People would just by an R model instead

There just aren’t that many. I believe the S out-sold the R 10:1. Many R models were converted to S, too. Regardless, I’d spend money on ADS-B and getting rid of some of the King gear.

 

[ppragman]

Until I can accept the clearance “climb and maintain orbit” no airplane will have enough thrust.

 

[bimmerphile]

There just aren’t that many. I believe the S out-sold the R 10:1. Many R models were converted to S, too. Regardless, I’d spend money on ADS-B and getting rid of some of the King gear.

Wonder why no one bought them...
As an aside, do flight school airplanes need engines to be replaced at TBO? I can't remember but thought that was a 135 thing.

 

[deadstick]

Wonder why no one bought them...
As an aside, do flight school airplanes need engines to be replaced at TBO? I can't remember but thought that was a 135 thing.

People wanted the (IIRC) 100 extra lbs.

It’s usually an insurance deal, but no, it doesn’t have to be overhauled based on the calendar or flight hours.

 

[trafficinsight]

Wonder why no one bought them...
As an aside, do flight school airplanes need engines to be replaced at TBO? I can't remember but thought that was a 135 thing.

No, but we obeyed it as a soft limit and set a hard limit of 10% over to cover scheduling circumstances. If an engine had any cylinder issues or anything like that within about 300 hours of TBO we just went ahead and overhauled it.



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[mrivc211]

View attachment 44741

Not everyone is flying for a hobby. Different objectives to be accomplished.

 

[mrivc211]

Found out today can't be done. You can go up, but theres no way to go down.

 

[mrivc211]

What would be the advantages of depowering? Is a 160 motor that much cheaper than a 180?

The 160HP burns 7.9 per hour. The 180 burns 12/hr. If your plane flies 80 hours a month thats roughly $20k per year in savings.

 

[mrivc211]

Why? Unless there's a ridiculous cost savings that makes a difference in your fuel consumption, I can't imagine it would help your resale at all. People would just by an R model instead

20k/year savings. Thats a lot after 10-15 years of operation.