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Old November 16th 08, 04:32 AM posted to rec.aviation.homebuilt
guynoir
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Posts: 6
Default effect of changed thrust line.

On Nov 13, 7:20*pm, wrote:
How does a person determine what the proper height of an engine should
be when building an airplane? If a particular engine design mandates
the prop is 4 inches, say, lower than where it would be with the
engine originally installed, what effect will it have on handling, and
what changes in downthrust might be advised?

We are building a Pegazair, and my Corvair engine would need to have
the cowl higher than ideal to keep the crank centerline at the same
hight as say, an O200. Weight wize, the engines are just about
identical as equipped Have not determined the center of gravity of the
engine yet, to determine the overall length of the mount.

For those unfamiliar with the plane it is a highwing STOL 2 placer
roughly the same size as a Cessna 150 *(150 sq ft wing,33 ft wingspan,
)


I've posted a spreadsheet to calculate a new thrust angle based on
changing the waterline location of an engine. The data needed is
horizontal distance from center of propeller to CG, original vertical
distance from center of propeller to CG, original thrust angle, and
new vertical distance from propeller center to CG. The formula is not
sensitive to vertical CG location, an estimate will do. What matters
is the change in the engine location.

http://www.spiretech.com/~guynoir/sl...downthrust.xls