Big 7 engine weight.

[Paul N-M]

I have fitted a big 7 front axle on my Nippy chassis.  I need to put weights on the front of the chassis to load the front spring to normal running position so I can check where the radius arm mount will come so that I can fix it to the cross member then measure the castor using 5/8" rods through the king pin eyes.  This will be to see if a wedge is needed between spring and chassis.  
Does anyone know what the weight of a big 7 engine and gearbox is?  I will probably use sacks of coal on planks as the main weight to start with.
The actual engine being used is a BMC A+ with Toyota T50 5 speed box.
OK you are going to ask why not just mount the A+ engine and take it from there?  Yup I think that is what I must do then add a bit of weight for the body/rad etc.

There that is age for you, talk to yourself and the answer eventually pops up.


Dennis

Hi Dennis,
I built a racing special using a Big Seven front axle and a 1956 Austin 948 A series engine/gear box. Goes rather well but there are many mods to the chassis/brakes/steering/dampers to achieve this. The engine weight depends on what you are keeping. My engine weighs arround 170lbs but has no generator, has a very lightweight starter and an aluminium rear block/gearbox plate as well as a very light flywheel. the heavy cast iron inlet/exhaust manifold has been replaced with tubular headers and aluminium. The box weighs 45lbs.
Some others have put A Series engines in A7 chassis, of course Ford 1172's were popular. I think there was a thread on this forum some time ago re this. The main problem with fitting an A Series is the existing cross member. I have seen engines sitting way too high to avoid it as there is little room to place the sump between the chassis rails unless you move the engine back which has knock on implications one of which is the location of the tourque arms.
You have obviously decided originality is not important to you but doing this conversion to an existing car IMO needs to be carefully considdered. What is your objective? There may be alternatives depending on the outcome you are looking for.
I did all of this on a scrap chassis as a bit of an engineering exescise so could design in all the mods required to build a sprint/hill climb car for local events so wasnt 'harming' an original car.

Paul