I'm still working on the empennage, so this question is totally premature, but I'm curious about how engine positioning works. This occurs to me because I'm trying to sort out what all would be involved in putting a non-standard engine in my plane.
Suppose I wanted to use a nonstandard engine that would fit under Vans stock cowel (e.g. a Mazda Renesis). The cowel is shaped to surround the engine, and has an opening at the front for the propellor (right?). So the point at which the propellor attaches to the crankshaft must be at some specific position (i.e. specific horizontal distance from the firewall, and the vertical position so the propellor ends up where it should).
1) Is this correct positioning achieved by designing a custom engine mount with dimensions specifically to accomodate the cowel?
2) Can such a mount be designed without physically having the cowel constructed (i.e. do the plans show you the measurements of the exact position of things like where the propellor attach point should sit?)
3) Is designing an engine mount around an existing cowel a backwards way of doing things?
Forgive me if these are very naive or uninformed questions
Suppose I wanted to use a nonstandard engine that would fit under Vans stock cowel (e.g. a Mazda Renesis). The cowel is shaped to surround the engine, and has an opening at the front for the propellor (right?). So the point at which the propellor attaches to the crankshaft must be at some specific position (i.e. specific horizontal distance from the firewall, and the vertical position so the propellor ends up where it should).
1) Is this correct positioning achieved by designing a custom engine mount with dimensions specifically to accomodate the cowel?
2) Can such a mount be designed without physically having the cowel constructed (i.e. do the plans show you the measurements of the exact position of things like where the propellor attach point should sit?)
3) Is designing an engine mount around an existing cowel a backwards way of doing things?
Forgive me if these are very naive or uninformed questions