ACTUAL engine weights (302 evidence) **UPATED WITH NUMBERS**

[jalopi]

So there's been a lot of talk online about how heavy (or unrealistically not heavy) certain engines are. When I tore my 302 apart I figured I'd bust out a few scales and weigh some parts so we'd know the facts about at least one engine.

It's a cheapie bathroom scale, but it reads me as being the same weight as the scale from my recent doctor visit, so I'd say it's fairly accurate (at least accurate enough for this application)

Lets start with the block - 105lbs




Then there's the rest of the shit I'm weighing


Crankshaft - 35lbs



Flywheel/PP/clutch - 38lbs



Harmonic balancer - 8lbs



Main caps - 7lbs



Starter - 6lbs



Water pump - 6lbs



Power steering pump + bracket - 5lbs



Timing cover - 2lbs



Alternator - 11lbs



Carburetor - 5lbs



Oil Pump - 2lbs



Distributor - 3lbs



Camshaft - 8lbs



Intake manifold - 17lbs



Exhaust manifold - 2 x 4lbs



Oil Pan - 5lbs



90* oil filter adapter - 1lb 3oz



Timing chain + big gear (plus small gear exceeded weight limit of scale) - 2lbs 6oz



Small timing chain gear - 9oz



Crankshaft pulley - 2lbs 3oz



Alternator bracket - 2lbs 3oz



Rod + piston + rings + rod bolts - 8 x 2lbs 7oz



Fully assembled aluminum heads - 2 x 32lbs



Valve covers - 2lbs



Spark plug wires - 1lb 13oz



Just finished crunching the numbers and came up with 369lbs, which at first does seem a bit low, but I double checked my answer and it came out the same way both times. The only things I can think of that I didn't weigh were the head bolts, lifters, pushrods, mounts, other fasteners and fluids... lets call those a very generous 31lbs, bringing us to a total of 400lbs. Regardless of the transmission you use (t5 or TKO) you'd still be under 500lbs, which is interesting, because



which would mean the 302 practically doesn't have a weight penalty when swapped into a m20 car. Wish I knew this when I still had my car

[e30_302]

Nice work! Sell me a passenger side (normal direction) header.

[jalopi]

lol, if i actually end up doing a LS for the e36 they're both yours :)

take it you heard from jim then? engine on its way?

[garretvs]

Awful lot of work to go thru, but good job. We weighed our LS1-T56 with engine mounts, intake manifold, A/C, PS pump, water pump, alternator and wire harness on 3 bathroom scales. Weights came out at about 260lbs at each engine mount and 84lbs at the transmission mount. Total was 604lbs.

[jalopi]

Garret I'm assuming you used an aluminum LS block? If so, that's interesting... t56s weigh about 120lbs so that makes the LS about 480lbs? Wonder where the extra 80lbs comes from? Everything I could find online says that the aluminum block is about 110lbs so it's not the block

[Letsgetdelicious]

Great write up dude!

[e30_302]

lol, if i actually end up doing a LS for the e36 they're both yours :)

take it you heard from jim then? engine on its way?

Per Nicole, engine is scheduled for assembly the week of the 15-19th, so I should have it by the end of the following week.

[whitebulat22]

Thanks op for making the internet a better place for actual real thorough info. Had no idea crank was that feathery on this thing. That's a good 15 lbs off of an inline 6 or ls just there.

[jalopi]

gotta remember this is a factory cast iron crank, it's gonna be a good 10ish pounds lighter than an equivalent forged steel unit

[e30_302]

Well now I gotta find some place to lose 10#...

[jalopi]

you're already carb'd, yeah? that's a 20lb weight reduction vs an EFI setup with a traditional EFI manifold. someone mentioned this on FB yesterday so i did some sleuthing

edelbrock lists their OE style EFI manifold as being about 43lbs and their RPM carb manifold at 18lbs. i measured my knockoff manifold at 17lbs so i'd say their figures are probably accurate. the carb measured at 5lbs, say an extra 1 for the air cleaner and boom 20lb difference right there

but really it's just nitpicking at that point. really the point of this post is to inform the general assembly that LS guys might be *slightly* exaggerating how "light" their engines are, especially the iron block LS guys (about 100lbs over the aluminum version)

[e30_302]

All I know is me and a friend carried my fully dressed engine sans carburetor for about 10' and didn't have hernias.