If I was building a modern engined car I don't think I would start with an Austin 7 Chassis !

But that is just me !

Cheers, Tony.

Location: Melbourne. Victoria, Australia.

Nor me! Particularly if you only have the chassis!

Rob, you are unlikely to get a simple answer to this conundrum as your engine isn't standard. It might be a good idea to start by joining the Suffolk chapter of the Essex Austin 7 club, then you might sneak a look at some of the cars in the club...

As an aside, if you are putting a modern engine into an austin 7 chassis, are you planning on trying to register it for use on the road? Judging from recent forum discussions it may be almost impossible if you don't already have a V5 and may be equally difficult to get DVLA approval for the heart transplant even if you do.

Sounds like an interesting project though!

Good luck!
Nick

Location: Rumbled

Rob, from your comments it sounds as if you only have a chassis at the moment, to fit and locate the engine and gearbox you will have to have the front axle, radius arms and steering gear fitted first, your engine may well fit between the chassis rails, but the radius arms will more than likely foul the on the sump. I am currently building a LWB special using a Reliant 850cc engine and box, to fit it and have the radiator and cowl in the traditional position I had to raise the engine mounts to give clearance on the chassis rails and radius arms, move the steering box back three inches to clear the starter solenoid, lenghthen the steering link, the handbrake mechanism also had to be relocated, and the propshaft will have to be shortened. The alternative to this would have been mounting the engine further forward and much higher up on the chassis to clear the front casting and chassis rails resulting in a much higher bonnet line. I would suggest that you build up a rolling or even a driving chassis first then you can work out were the bodywork goes.

Location: Pembrokeshire

Rob,
What engine and gearbox are you planning to install?
J

Location: As far east in Kent as you can get

Cheers for your input, guys. As far as reregistering it is concerned I'm planning to send everything apart from the chassis back to NZ to hopefully set up as a scratch-build.

I've got the engine and box in place but surprisingly have about 4 inches room forward and back. I was initially concerned by the radius arms but the engine has a front bowled sump and seems to avoid them easily. Steering column brackets appears to have a country mile of room too. The biggest problem seems to be trying the motor far forward as possible from an ergonomics perspective without fouling the steering linkage and allowing room to route radiator hosing.

Maybe I'll have to get myself some front suspension (perhaps independent) first?

The steering track rod can be placed in front of the axle if the sump gets in the way, if you go for an independent front suspension set up like a speedex or similar, make sure you get the track rod and arms with it as these need to have ball joints and are often missing.

Location: Pembrokeshire