Thanks everyone for the replies and insight, I have some questions I hope the community can elaborate on:
Turn the gearbox up the other way so the engine is lowered then rebuild the front of the fuselage as per the normal lowered engine scheme for 447s.
I have a set of printed plans that came with the plane but it does not show how the 447 engine mount attaches into the fuselage. I have the plans that show the rotax 447 engine 'shelf' of sorts and on the first few pages of the plans it shows that that should be installed forward of bulkhead #1 but there is no mention on what actually holds that all together. A friend has a overbuilt 1100 and the engine mount on his is extended back to bulkhead #2 but the plans I have dont call for that the shelf just looks glued right to the firewall. I cant believe that the engine is just attached via a ~1" tall piece of wood.
Where are the "normal lowered engine scheme for 447s" plans?
Step back and look at what a MiniMax actually is. The engine sits very happily UPRIGHT on a 3/8" plywood plank. Vibration is less and there is far less chance of plug fouling.
I did some googling around and there is not too much info on the 447s although many aircraft have them installed "inverted" any more info around the plug fouling? My main concern is keeping the engine low enough that the cowl can just go straight forward without the engine sticking up.
Fitting a 9x9x1/4" plate that does nothing but hang a 3/8" aluminIum plate from and add weight is not good engineering.
I agree it is not elegant, the LORD engine mounts require 4 1/4 inch holes around each engine mount isolator. I did not want to introduce the complexities of welding 4130 to a dissimilar metal especially given the vibration and ability for stress risers to cause fractures around the weld.
How are you going to feed your loads into the firewall?
What stops it from falling off the front?
Sorry I misspoke above I have a 1550V front end. Meaning the aluminum channel is on either side mounted vertically on a doubled up bulkhead #0 as seen here:
My thought was to use the same mounting points as defined by the plans for the 1550V like so:
That may sound harsh but this looks like a classic case of something that is going to be a bad solution to a simple non problem just because you have some metal and not some wood.
The answer to your exact problem (how do I fit a lowered 447 to the front of a MiniMax fuselage,) calculation and numerous flying examples are out there, mine amongst them. It flies very nicely (and fast as well.) There is absolutely no need to do what you are attempting.
No worries, I dont have either supplies right now and 4130 thanks to the trade war is difficult to source right now at least in my area. Are there plans somewhere for this lowered 447 design?
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Karl,
I also used the Z-Max flat firewall where there is an aluminum channel across the top and an aluminum angle piece across the bottom. At a later date when I changed from a Kawasaki engine to the Hirth engine I added angle's on each side like the V-Max just so I had hard points for mounting options in the future. (The side angles are not used for my current Hirth engine)
Sorry for the confusion I actually have a V-MAX 1550 front end the rest is following the 1600 plans with the exception of bulkhead 0. So I have angle plate on either side (see pictures above). That engine mount looks very clean and wood is easier to manipulate than steel.
Any thoughts on the possible fouling issues described from tomshep?
Is there a reason you ended up mounting your engine inverted given the possible complications?
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Rebuilding the front of the aircraft is doable, but from the plans I have I am not 100% sure how the "normal" or "lowered" engine mount bracket attaches to the fuselage regardless of that confusion to my understanding it would require:
1. Removing the plywood sheeting back to a place where I can but join it with a backing plate somewhere between bulkhead 0 and bulkhead 1
2. Removing the bulkhead 0 and aluminum channel
3. cutting the longerons to make a scarf joint? between bulkhead 0 and 1 at least 6x the thickness of the material
4. building bulkhead #0 in on a bench
5. Unsure how I would align said bulkhead with the rest of the airplane as the buildup had these parts laying flat to ensure they are built on the same datum plane. I will have lost all of these references as 90% of the fuselage is built.
6. Cut and glue longerons to the scarf joints and hold bulkhead 0 in place
7. Wrap and bend the wood back over the front of the fuselage, Unsure how I would hold the complex shape while bending and getting good glue up from the plywood.
My major concerns with this are: I will have a significant weak point where I have lobbed the front off as right now the wood longerons go from bulkhead 0 back without interruption. Aligning the front since this will effect the vector of thrust even a couple degrees off here will possibly cause problems. I also do not have a solid plan on how to attach the wood plywood in my experience with boat building a but joint like this is best done in places that have the least amount of angle but I dont have that option here and I have no way to get clamps on either side. Staples I do not believe would have the holding power required.