I'm building a Lotus 7a replica (locost 7) and I was planning to use a MG Midget 1275 engine. Someone had suggested a Nissan 1200 / a12a too, as an alternative. You guys as Datsun guys - what is your opinion of the best engine to use. I don't want to go over 1300cc to keep it light.

Please advise, thank you
Dog

do a mazda rotary engine. 12a if your on a tight budget, but a 13b would still be relatively inexpensive

Go with an A15 -- it is practically the same weight as the A12A, but the block is 3/4 inch taller.

A12____ - 192 lbs
A14____ - 205 lbs
CG13___ - 176 lbs

If you are a fabricator, get an all-alloy Nissan CG13 engine and fabricate a bellhousing for it.

The nice thing about the A-engines are very light yet strong 5-speeds are available. Or even lighter 4-speeds.

Go with the A12. Those Pommy things are from the dark ages.
There was an A13, but they are a bit thin on the ground. If you bore an A12 from 73mm to 76mm & use A14 pistons, you will also need to bore the rod for the slightly larger wrist pin. It comes out very close to 1300. The block will bore this far with ease & Nissan once supplied 76.8mm forged pistons for racing for use in the A12
My own early A12 engine is currently 76.5mm & has done a full service life at that size. I will be taking it out to 77mm soon & there is one of these A12's at this bore size in a 1200 coupe currently terrorising Hyundi XL's around here.
If you want to do a sneaky 1434cc conversion in an A12 block, contact me. We have already built one with ALL stock Datsun parts. Mine will be next & it's going in a 1000 coupe.

Thanks for the info. and the vote of support on the a12a.

The New Old Stock engine for US$ 300 sounds a lot better than paying $400 for a 30 year old used engine.
What type of head are you using on your 1300cc+ engine/ and what about Carbs.

I still get a thrill thinking about corresponding with someone on the other side of the world!
(What does Pommy mean?)
Thanks again
dog

Quote:
from the Down Under-to-American Word Conversion article

Is that pronounced
PO-me or Pom-me

Quote:
pom-me