1600cc engine on XL

[Mrbill]

I saw some posts on the 4-cylinder making the XL too heavy, but seeing how long a wait for a 2- cylinder engine to be built by Casler had me wondering.  Assuming someone didn't mind going the LSA way and looking at the max weight of 575#'s, if you added a 4-cylinder, the gas tank (8 gal) was positioned behind the pilot, and the pilot weighed 210 or under, wouldn't that keep the weight or CG from going over? I'm just not seeing the difference if the pilot is of average size.
Thanks,

[Dan_]

I saw some posts on the 4-cylinder making the XL too heavy, but seeing how long a wait for a 2- cylinder engine to be built by Casler had me wondering.  Assuming someone didn't mind going the LSA way and looking at the max weight of 575#'s, if you added a 4-cylinder, the gas tank (8 gal) was positioned behind the pilot, and the pilot weighed 210 or under, wouldn't that keep the weight or CG from going over? I'm just not seeing the difference if the pilot is of average size.
Thanks,

If I were going to do this...  

I'd put Double Eagle wings, tail, and landing gear on it.   Get the DE plans and build it as a single seat.

The 4 cylinder is way too heavy for what you want to do, and keep a good safety margin regarding the wings, landing gear, and tail feathers.  

Best to keep the fuel on the CG so that you don't have a large swing in balance when the fuel burns off, requiring a big trim input.

I uploaded a CG program I wrote in Visual Basic several years ago you could use for what ifs.  It is in the downloads section...

You could disregard the names above the inputs, they only fit the one airplane I made the program for.  

Be sure to include your negative number signs if your input is south of the chosen datum.

Take care to positively lock down that distributor,  bad things happen when the timing changes on you.

[Mrbill]

Thanks Dan, I'm sure I'll just build with a half vw.  I just wanted to an experts opinion.

[Dan_]

Thanks Dan, I'm sure I'll just build with a half vw.  I just wanted to an experts opinion.

I'm not what I'd call an expert...  Maybe some more folks will chime in on this.  One of them may be an expert.

Matter of fact,  I don't think the program is working anymore...  I have windows 7 installed and the program loads, but does not give the cg or total weight...   The back ground stays black on those fields.

Visual basic 5 was on my Hard Drive 3 computers ago...  I don't even know if I can locate the disc.

I will get a spread sheet uploaded.

http://www.eaglersnest.com/forum/index.php?action=downloads;cat=12

[Dan_]

The spreadsheet is available live at the bottom of the home page...

http://www,eaglersnest.com/forum/index.php?

This means you should be able to use it on your cell phone...

Edit:  No way to make an input on my cell...  Also not mobile friendly responsiveness.

The spreadsheet is still in the downloads section at the link below:

http://www.eaglersnest.com/forum/index.php?action=downloads;cat=12