Stieff upright piano question

[Andy&Chris Taylor]

Hi Group:

I have just acquired a Stieff upright piano that I bought to convert to a
pneumatic player piano, by building my own custom stack.

 This is an excellent piano, handles like a dream and a wonderful tone. but
as to be expected, the cabinet doesn't have quite enough room to accommodate
the stack.

I could disable the folding lid to install the stack, but I really don't
want to do that.
I noticed that the keys extend 1" behind the capstans. I could gain the room
I need by simply relocating the capstans at the very back of the key and
sliding the keybed & keyblocks forward, and  thinning the strip of wood on
the front.

Before I do that, does anyone foresee any regulation/touch problems by
relocating the capstans? This piano plays so nice, I really dont want to
alter the touch, or cause any problems. Another problem it will have, is
that the keys won't fall when the player is operated. each key has two round
lead weights in the keys, one of them probably could be removed, but then
again, what would that do to the touch?

Just wondering
Andy