31 replies to this topic

[Jon937]

Has anyone lightened the a series block at all? I can Polish the inside and outside but that wouldn't lighten it very much.

Has anyone managed to drill or remove parts of the block to lighten it?

[nicklouse]

Not worth it.

But knock yourself out if you want to.

[Carlos W]

A little birdy told me aluminium heads may be available soon.

 

But I'm probably 15kg overweight. It'd be cheaper for me to lose that before worrying about lightening the car

[Jon937]

Why is it not worth it?

I know there is so many engine transplants that can be done but for those who want/need to keep the a series.

[Dusky]

BMC experimented with alloy engine blocks. Maybe you could do too and start selling them

 

Alloy heads are for sale for a while now in australia, and I think the UK minispares just announced them too

[Alex_B]

You won't manage to take out enough material to make your time worth it. But you also risk weakening the block and breaking into waterways or oilways. 

It's a cast iron block, you're never going to make it a lot lighter and also there are better things to lighten before an engine block, loosing as much unsprung weight will have a much more noticeable effect on vehicle dynamics. 

I read somewhere about a possible aluminium block a-series in development but I cannot remember where, that would be a better bet but far from cheap.

[nicklouse]

I read somewhere about a possible aluminium block a-series in development but I cannot remember where, that would be a better bet but far from cheap.

I don't see that happening as the market would be only for replacement road car engines.

Most Motorsport classes state original block. And some state original gearbox casing.

[Jon937]

I had thought about an aluminium block and I too saw an article or something somewhere about someone producing one. I don't know if anyone had managed to make one?

I also read that ford's new 1l ecoboost was a cast iron block instead of aluminium because it held the heat better and made it more economical.

If anyone knows of someone producing an aluminium block please add a link.

[Alex_B]

 

I read somewhere about a possible aluminium block a-series in development but I cannot remember where, that would be a better bet but far from cheap.

I don't see that happening as the market would be only for replacement road car engines.

Most Motorsport classes state original block. And some state original gearbox casing.

 

I think you can get an ally block Ford engine (BDA?) but is uber expensive, and I think I read there was an ally a-series for the same reason. But I would agree that I can't see it being put into full production as the market of actual buyers would be pretty small. Pretty sure I did read it somewhere a while back though... who knows !

[Jon937]

I understand that loosing unsprung weight is more important than sprung weight. I have a list of parts both sprung and unsprung to reduce the overall weight as much as possible.

[Alex_B]

I understand that loosing unsprung weight is more important than sprung weight. I have a list of parts both sprung and unsprung to reduce the overall weight as much as possible.

What is the purpose of the build? if its not for any motorsport regs why not convert to a different engine entirely and loose a lot of weight in that dept? a motorbike unit would be a lot lighter than the boat anchor that is the a-series. 

[Jon937]

A road car but I want to keep the a series engine instead of doing an engine conversion

[Jon937]

Found this image of the aluminium a series, would I be able to lighten the iron block like this or is this design only due to it being alum?

Edited by Jon937, 02 September 2016 - 09:10 PM.

[Jon937]

Can't seem to upload the image but it's on this link

http://mk1-performan...mental_dept.htm

[Alex_B]

Thats how the engine has been cast rather than machined out, if you remove that material from a iron block you will be very likely to completely ruin the block by breaking into the oil and coolant ways. Plus why do you think they introduced the external webbing on the A+ engine, they deemed the standard a-series block to have weak points. In my opinion BMC would have made the engine as light as is possible whilst still keeping it strong enough to be reliable, after all it weighs a lot so they would want to make it as light as they could, as such I don't believe you could actually make it lighter safely or reliably. But as said by all means try if you want but do so after accepting you will likely need a few blocks to try on and fail before successfully achieving a lighter block.