In article ,
Harry Gordon wrote:
172M (75/76 model). He is looking for a partner that will pick up the tab
for all maintenance - that is buying repair parts - he will do the labor.
While I haven't seen the 172, I suspect that it has not been taken good care
of. He said it needed painting and a lot of interior work. I have no idea
what condition the engine is in.

Well, figure a factory overhauled O-320 would be about $12,000 and misc
parts that go with it would be another few thousand, and once you paid
to have it installed the total bill might be $18k or so. So maybe $3k
in labor and $15k in parts.

An engine may be the worst case, but even extremely labor intensive jobs
favor the equipment. Avionics West just told me that it would take about
60 hours (@ $100/hr) to install a $7500 S-Tec 30 autopilot. More labor
for the S-Tec 50 (same features, separate control head). You'd almost
break even there, assuming your friend's labor is worth that much.

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/