Posted by Lars BendOr e12z on April 08, 2002 at 21:36:58 from 66.62.152.11
In Reply to: You mean John Burns BMW Nerd page...Here posted by Lars BendOr e12z on April 08, 2002 at 18:52:21:
I find the burns pages fairly correct for the most part, and there is a disclosure at the bottom of the page that the weight include no accessories.
In addition, in the 60's and 70's I was primarily involved with restoring British cars such as you mention. It should be noted that manufacturers in the UK were very creative on altering engines from tractors and stationary power plants for use in their "sports cars". Weight savings was rarely a major consideration. I am not saying the British never did any design work on their engines, but very little creative, weight saving engineering ever went into marques like Austin Healey, MG, or Triumph. BMW on the other hand, benefitted by the engineering that went into aircraft engine design, while England pulled their Spitfires and other aircraft off the ground with the sheer brute horsepower of the Rolls Royce and Merlin engines of the day.
I am not surprise that BMW engines are lighter than most, but I too find the numbers a bit lower than I would have thought possible.