Re: The Restoration of AYW709
Posted: Sat Jun 10, 2023 11:31 pm
So, this is how you fit a A-Series motor in . I posted a few weeks ago that the motor was in and it fit...well it didn't exactly fit.
You have to cut out about 2" of the A-Series motor front plate in order for it to fit almost centered in the chassis and to give the carburetors clearance from the side of the hood. Different carbs may not have this issue but my twin-SU's did, maybe a single carb would not. Then after placing the motor, I found I still had a clearance problem, the hose on the carb fuel intake would not fit as-is So that was a easy fix, take the top off a float bowl from a AUD173F carb and replace the top on the AUD136F carb with that part, now I have clearance...barely but clearance and this likely would have worked by itself. But I have my son-in-law's Mini here and noticed his manifold is much shorter and the carb spacers are only 1/4" thick so I got a 12G 299 manifold for a Mini and saved over inch, then with the new spacers, I really have room now. Don't pay attention to the wrong carb in this pic, I was experimenting. And here you can see the difference in the 2 manifolds and spacers. Now of course, you knew this was not going to be that easy, the Mini exhaust hugs the motor to clear the firewall, but a Sprite/Midget does not, so the intake manifold is almost sitting on the exhaust manifold, I can slide a piece of paper, so not touching but too close. I will fix that when I bend up the headers since I will make them hug the motor like on a mini, I will likely take Mini headers and cut the the base off and reweld it as I have no interest in making headers from scratch, I tried the Mini's header and I have plenty of clearance but since the Mini is transverse mounted of course the bottom faces the. wrong way, easy cut/weld fix. Pretty sure a original manifold would work, just a slight bend in the downpipes to fit but headers will be a better fit Since I have to take it off again, I didnt bother with the heat shield but plenty of clearance now. Even room for pancake air filters. And now I have about 3/8" to 1/2" clearance for the distributor cap and before it was rubbing on the steering column. you will notice I went with a side exhaust distributor cap also, to give me even a little more room. I think its all done now, but never one to leave well enough alone, I am going to make a new steering bracket and move the steering gear about 3/8" toward the frame menber, I don't want to drill new holes in the frame crosmember and not enough room in the existing bracket for new holes, so a new bracket will be made. I verified that there is plenty of room for the steering crossmember to be moved 3/8" and also for the SLC/2 switch if I use mine at all. That will give me even more playroom. Of course the steering wheel will be moved over by that much OR if kept at the same location it will now be crooked in the car and not parallel to the dashboard...of course I have a solution for that. I will keep the wheel parallel by moving it a little bit AND go with a 16" wheel instead of the original 17" wheel, that will keep the wheel at the same location to the cowl so now one should notice. Going with 16" to get some knee room inside the car and also because well, I can't buy 17 inchers but they make 16"'s
And voila all the design work is DONE, engine is in, nearly centered with plenty of clearance all around. No new holes, no anything cut on the original chassis, I can go back to original pretty easily.
Now to work on the clutch part, since the clutch pedal on the LM is mounted to the gearbox but not on the Sprite/Midget, I have to weld up some parts to make that happen, I have the drawings and measurements from the UK club so that should be easy but I might try to figure out to put in the Spridget hydraulic clutch in instead of converting to mechanical. Either way, I can follow the drawings quickly so that might be the best route, but hydraulic would be nice, I assume the Spridget clutch is pretty stiff in mechanical mode.
You have to cut out about 2" of the A-Series motor front plate in order for it to fit almost centered in the chassis and to give the carburetors clearance from the side of the hood. Different carbs may not have this issue but my twin-SU's did, maybe a single carb would not. Then after placing the motor, I found I still had a clearance problem, the hose on the carb fuel intake would not fit as-is So that was a easy fix, take the top off a float bowl from a AUD173F carb and replace the top on the AUD136F carb with that part, now I have clearance...barely but clearance and this likely would have worked by itself. But I have my son-in-law's Mini here and noticed his manifold is much shorter and the carb spacers are only 1/4" thick so I got a 12G 299 manifold for a Mini and saved over inch, then with the new spacers, I really have room now. Don't pay attention to the wrong carb in this pic, I was experimenting. And here you can see the difference in the 2 manifolds and spacers. Now of course, you knew this was not going to be that easy, the Mini exhaust hugs the motor to clear the firewall, but a Sprite/Midget does not, so the intake manifold is almost sitting on the exhaust manifold, I can slide a piece of paper, so not touching but too close. I will fix that when I bend up the headers since I will make them hug the motor like on a mini, I will likely take Mini headers and cut the the base off and reweld it as I have no interest in making headers from scratch, I tried the Mini's header and I have plenty of clearance but since the Mini is transverse mounted of course the bottom faces the. wrong way, easy cut/weld fix. Pretty sure a original manifold would work, just a slight bend in the downpipes to fit but headers will be a better fit Since I have to take it off again, I didnt bother with the heat shield but plenty of clearance now. Even room for pancake air filters. And now I have about 3/8" to 1/2" clearance for the distributor cap and before it was rubbing on the steering column. you will notice I went with a side exhaust distributor cap also, to give me even a little more room. I think its all done now, but never one to leave well enough alone, I am going to make a new steering bracket and move the steering gear about 3/8" toward the frame menber, I don't want to drill new holes in the frame crosmember and not enough room in the existing bracket for new holes, so a new bracket will be made. I verified that there is plenty of room for the steering crossmember to be moved 3/8" and also for the SLC/2 switch if I use mine at all. That will give me even more playroom. Of course the steering wheel will be moved over by that much OR if kept at the same location it will now be crooked in the car and not parallel to the dashboard...of course I have a solution for that. I will keep the wheel parallel by moving it a little bit AND go with a 16" wheel instead of the original 17" wheel, that will keep the wheel at the same location to the cowl so now one should notice. Going with 16" to get some knee room inside the car and also because well, I can't buy 17 inchers but they make 16"'s
And voila all the design work is DONE, engine is in, nearly centered with plenty of clearance all around. No new holes, no anything cut on the original chassis, I can go back to original pretty easily.
Now to work on the clutch part, since the clutch pedal on the LM is mounted to the gearbox but not on the Sprite/Midget, I have to weld up some parts to make that happen, I have the drawings and measurements from the UK club so that should be easy but I might try to figure out to put in the Spridget hydraulic clutch in instead of converting to mechanical. Either way, I can follow the drawings quickly so that might be the best route, but hydraulic would be nice, I assume the Spridget clutch is pretty stiff in mechanical mode.