Hi all-
I just installed the engine in my new Stinger 60 ARF.I had to install it exactly 1/2 inch lower than what they call for to get the muffler to clear the bottom of the fuselage.It is exactly centered,but 1/2 inch low.Please someone tell me that this will be OK!Thanks so much,
Mike
PS:If it's not OK tell me too!

Your thrust line will be off from design. You will probably need to fly with some down elevator as the engine will try to pull the aircraft up. Maybe some down thrust set into the engine mount will counteract, just a thought.

I'm afraid it probably won't be OK to make such a large change to the thrust line.

You don't give details, but it's very likely there's an extension available for your muffler for this very problem, which is a much better solution. I would strongly suggest you look into this, and avoid making such a significant change to the design of the model.

You could probably trim out the effects of this change in the designed thrust line, when flying in a straight line, but it's almost bound to make a difference in some unpredictable part of the flight.

David C.

Relax..a 60 size is too small to make such a difference at 1/2". Trim a little down elevator and it will be fine. It may fly a bit slower but not noticible.

George

Thanks guys-
Lanier does give you an option for right angle thrust by moving the engine over 1/8 inch and shimming under the left side of it,so I thought that I should be ok since I AM in the exact center.I can buy a muffler extension or a pitts to put it in its exact placement if I have to,but the firewall and fuselage on this thing is huge-it looks like you could move it around an inch before you would know it was not centered by looking at it.Hope I'm ok enough to get a flight out of it without it doing something totally unpredictable!Think so?Thanks again,
Mike

Greygoose, go ahead and fly it, it will be fine. You are not the first to do this and won't be the last. There are designs that are VERY sensitive to engine placement, but this isn't one of them and I'm speaking from first hand experience.

Thanks Dave-
We went to the LHS last night and looked for a muffler extension to fit the Tower .75-nobody makes one to fit.I have 3 alternatives-
Put a Pitts style muffler on it and risk losing some performance,make my own 1/2 " extension out of some aluminum stock on my milling machine,or just run it "as is".I already know what Lanier is going to say before I waste the call-I am a little disturbed at them anyway.I bought my son a Lanier Traveller .20 plane for christmas and it crashed because of a paper-thin servo mounting tray that came loose after about 60 seconds of flight.It was glued in with Elmers glue or something in 2 tiny spots underneath that was so weak that I think the weight of the servos alone would have pulled it loose if you flipped the plane over.There was no way to tell this until it was too late,and it was done at the factory-not by us.I patched it up but we still need a new wing.I am also missing some hardware and found the cowling has a 3 inch crack in it on this Stinger .60 ARF kit.I have E-mailed them and still get no response.I planned on trying a couple more Lanier kits but things like this make me think in the Sig or Super Chipmunk direction.
Mike