Contact Lycoming at 570-323-6181 and ask for an installation drawing of the engine you're planning to use.  There will be a cost ($50.00 to $100.00) but it will be fairly well documented.   

Sounds good, thanks a lot Joanne! I going to wait a little, maybe someone here at the forum have the drawings... if not, I going to call to Lycoming to buy them.  Did you see the screenshots of my airplane? what do you think?

Thanks again!!

It looks like a nice fast little machine.  Almost like a Cassutt Racer.  Be careflu though of CG and control response.  You need to make sure that your tail control surfaces are effective and that my require a little longer body. 

I see you use CATIA!!!

I'm taking some ideas from Sonerai,  Mustang, Extra 300, Edge 540 and sbach 300... I want to have and airplane that is mix of a raceplane and unlimited acro... something middle fast and fully aerobatic. In fact at this point I try to define the aircraft configuration and shape, after that I plan to define the airfoils that meet what I'm looking for, define wing and tail areas and shapes, and control surface areas. When all are set, I plan, I don't know how yet, make some software simulations to optimize aerodinamics... When all these be ready, I plan to start with the structure calculations and design.... I really don't known if it is the right path to design a plane ... of course any advise will be highly appreciated!! In some days probably I will open a post to get help on what wing profiles should I use... 

I'm using CATIA V5, I had never drawn on these before and take me a lot of time to find tutorials and advance in the drawings... I had more practice on Inventor, but thinking in get a composite module to design, some capabilities to build parts on CNC, and maybe a better stress analysis I moved to CATIA....

What do you think? I'm right at least in some ideas? or I'm fully lost? Advices?

Thanks!!

PS: Sorry about my english, I usually write in spanish...

Your English is a lot better than my Spanish..

I think your plan is sound.  In many cases airplane design is very much an iterative process.  You start with a shape, do some aerodynamics to get some fundamental loads and ideas, layout the big bones, then repeat and refine.  About three or four trips though the cycle should get you pretty close.  Don't forget to build yourself a RC model to confirm your aero (Cheapest way actually).  It should be powered but even unpowered will get you some real ideas on your stability. 

Well, at least you can understand why I'm trying to say, ja ja!!!  Is great know that I'm walking in the right direction. I never talked with a person who knows what I'm talking about, even less someone who can give me a well based feedback. Fully agree with you, that's what I read from "Aircraft Design: A Conceptual approach"... is a very iterative process. To build a RC model was on my plans, but I really don't know how many aerodynamics will I loose when I scaled down the plane. I going to remember my teenager ages, when I design and build RC airplanes, ja ja!!! Attached are some photos of the biggest one that I design around 10 years ago, with a 50cc engine, taked from a old  Stihl chainsaw... Do you know a good book of wing design? or maybe two, one of aerodynamics and other of wings structures?

After a crash with another airplane on air, ja ja!!

Thanks a lot for your help!

Dear Esteve,

You should get a copy of X-Plane from http://www.x-plane.com/

You can download a trial copy.  The best part is that it lets you design your airplane using PlaneMaker and Airfoil Maker and then test fly it in the simulator.

It is very realistic.

Pura Vida!

Jim Spee

Redlands CA USA

I'd probably start with

http://www.amazon.com/Airfoil-Selection-Understanding-Choosing-Airfoils/dp/7770045258/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283481523&sr=1-1

Then I'd look at

Theory of Wing Sections: Including a Summary of Airfoil Data (Dover Books on Physics) [Paperback]

Ira H. Abbott (Author), A. E. von Doenhoff (Author)

http://www.amazon.com/Theory-Wing-Sections-Including-Summary/dp/0486605868/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1283481765&sr=1-1

These can be somewhat of a slog mathematically...

Hola Esteve,

"Now I'm looking for O-320 detailed dimensions, in order to draw the space required in the cowl for the engine."

Desgraciadamente, no hay mucho! A ver...

http://www.homebuiltairplanes.com/forums/firewall-forward-props-fuel-system/5734-io-540-o-320-installation-drawings.html

Por mi Stallion con IO-550, Continental hay dibujos muy buenos.

Aprendo Español desde dos años, solamente por Internet. Ojala, voy a visitar CR en el futuro. Mi hermano he construido una casa cerca de Jaco.

Amigablemente,

Tommy (desde Camarillo, California; entre Los Angeles y Santa Barbara) KCMA

That is a great idea Jim!!

I see the web page and seems to be a very nice way to test a design. I think that will be useful to compare my airplane design capabilities with another airplanes. And very useful to make changes and see what happen. I'm wondering if will be possible to load files with dwg or CATpart extension... Of course when I get my design into x-plane I going to send the model for you to test and see what you think and what can I improve.

Pura Vida Jim!! de verdad muchas gracias!!!

Thanks a lot Joanne for the bibliography!! I going to buy both of them and take a coffee at night to read for a long time. I know that will be useful and interesting, and maybe I will loose some hair of my head, je je!! When I have more advance in the plane probably I will contact you again to talk a little bit.

 Thank you so much!!

Que tal Tom!!

Que bueno que estas aprendiendo español, debe ser dificil si no tienes a alguien con quien practicar!! Hasta donde he escuchado, es mas facil para nosotros aprender Ingles que para ustedes aprender español.... Cuando quieras practicar español no dudes en contactarme!! Y si tienes razon, aunque parezca raro no existen dibujos con dimensiones detalladas de los motores Lycoming.... Joanne me sugirio llamar directamente a Lycoming y comprar los planos ahi, pero en algun foro tambien lei que existen muchas variantes en los modelos de los motores, y que los planos que ofrece Lycoming puede que sean muy viejos y no sean realmente lo que uno necesita... anteriormente habia visto el post que mencionas, y de ahi fue que tome las dimensiones basicas para el dibujo que estoy haciendo. Creo que por el momento con esas es suficiente para aproximar las dimensiones del avion.

Que bueno que vas a visitar nuestro pais, la zona de Jaco es muy bonita. He ido algunas veces a volar en parapente (paraglider) en las montañas que estan al frente de Jaco. Cuando vayas a venir me avisas y nos ponemos de acuerdo para volar en ultraligero y en parapente!! Si puedes vamos a San Carlos, ahi tenemos un Challenger II con el que nos podemos dar un bonito vuelo!

Y que tal el Stallion, lo construyo usted? que tal vuela? Nunca he visto uno en la realidad, pero me parece muy bonito!! tiene un muy buen rango, prodrias venir en el a Costa Rica sin muchas escalas!!

Un cordial saludo.

Esteve Castillo, desde Heredia, Costa Rica.

Esteve,

As well as the other recommendations above for texts - i would recommend trying to find a copy of "The design of the Aeroplane" by Darrol Stinton originally published by Collins Technical and professional books, London.Written by a Aero engineer who has been a test pilot,teacher and active engineer. It is a very practical coverage of design and particularly of light aircraft, using in many cases simple methods to get you quickly in the ball park.

I would also download a free copy of XFOIL - airfoil analysis by Mark Drela - very good.

http://web.mit.edu/drela/Public/web/xfoil/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/xfoil/

I drive XFOIL using Profili (airfoil plotting programme) as it is a easy to use interface

http://www.profili2.com/eng/lastversion.htm

Good luck.

Cheers

John Sydney