Engine and Tranny weight?

[Graham]

I'm not sure where to post this... So I'll put it here. If I'm wrong, apologies Ron...

Does anyone know the rough weight of an engine and tranny combo, say for arguments sake, a 302 and an Audi 016 tranny. I don't have the engine yet, but I want to start aligning the body, so I want to get my ride height /castor, camber wheel alignment set and positioned before I start.

I plan to load weight onto the back end to approximate these parts.

Does this make sense, or amI being daft???

Cheers,

Graham.:thumbsup:

 

[Mike Pass]

Hi Graham,
You don't need the weight of the drivetrain to set the suspension ride height etc. You should set these by refence to the suspension geometry. There will be an ideal psoition for these which is governed by the pickup points , uprights and wishbones etc. The idea is to establish thess and then adjust the spring rate and the coilover platform to set the car when loaded with all the parts, driver and fuel etc. so that it then rests at the correct ride height. The actual weight of the drive train will simply mean that the spring platforms will be at a certain level. If the chassis maker cannot give you this info then a good suspension geometry book or a "string and card" mock up will help you. Somewhere around 4" at the front and 4.5" at the rear would be a good starting point for ride height. Normally the lower arms are angled very slightly down and the upper arms are angled up more steeply - refer to the actual pivot points, not the wishbone tubes. The negative camber should increase as the suspension is in bump and less negative in droop. Your chassis maker should be able to tell you the king pin inclination, castor and static camber settings. Most GT40 replicas have a small amount of negative camber eg 0.5 degree front and a bit less on the rear but the best setting can only be found by testing.
Cheers
Mike

 

[Graham]

Thanks Mike,

I pretty much understand what you are saying - basically, get the geometry sorted for castor / camber / toe in, make sure all wheels measure off against each other front to back and side to side. Then test fit teh wheels within the wheel wells for correct centering, then use the loading within the coilover to set the optimum ride height (4 - 5 inches front to back).

If I'm wrong here then please let me know!

Eglitom has a great demo of this on his build log which I think will help me as he has an RCR aswell.

Thanks for your advice once again - it's much appreciated.

Cheers,

Graham.

 

[EGLITOM]

Graham

As mentioned in the other post. Put two wooden blocks 5,25 " high below the chassis´s rear end ( just the most rearwards corners) and put put wooden blocks 4,25" high below the most forward corners. This will give you a good enough starting point for body alignement. As already recommanded remove the springs and reinstall the shocks without them. This will make the basic settings easier with no weight loading the suspension.
If you need further help, just give me a call

TOM