Weight help

[SkipCarson]

I have been doing some work to the Mustang and have a question about the weight of the car. I know the car’s minimum weight is to be 3000 lbs plus 100 lbs for running 17-inch wheels. I am confused as to how the weight is calculated per the rulebook Is it figured wet or dry and with or without driver. Today with between ¼ and ½ tank of fuel and ballasted for my weight the car weighs in at 3240 lbs and fairly well balanced 53.46 percent front and 50.62 percent left side. A few pounds under weight if the driver’s weight is not included. It also gives me a way to work on the cross weights if I have to add 20 pounds.
Any help and ideas are welcome. Thanks

[administerturbo]

Withholding information until i find out where the scales are at ;-| I will pay $$ heh

[SkipCarson]

Scales are in my shop and we can set up a time some Saturday to play. I have been amazed by the effect of changes to the car.

[gtfour77]

Ahhhh, I was just getting ready to organize a scale group buy...Skip, would you be willing to rent the scales for a few interested folks possibly? We'll pay $$$..

[administerturbo]

very interested... thanks for being open to some sort of deal : )

martin, we're going to have to research his weight stuff now. :-O

[SkipCarson]

I will be happy to work something out to let members use the scales. I am working on a design of a platform/ramp to work from instead of using a floor jack to place the car on the scales. I will have it worked out next week and can host some people in the next few weekends.

[gtfour77]

This is great news! Let me know if you need a hand, I would be more than happy to come up and help you with the setup.

[Jason V]

Skip to answer your question most solo classes scale without the driver (f125 being the exception)... at a tour they scale the car as it comes off course on the last run.

[SkipCarson]

Thanks I do want to be legal so I will work with the idea of 3100 pounds at the current fuel load plus 2 gallons and adjust weights and placement.

Because of the decisions I made when building the car, it can not be competitive at a national level, but I will not change it. The car has turned out very much as I wanted and I always have fun with it. The compromises I made allow it to be fun on the road, drag strip, autoX or at car shows. I am not sure the first rate CP cars would be much fun to drive/ride in on the way to those other uses.

I changed must areas of the car, except I have kept the suspension basic design and tried to use new ideas, materials and adjustments. As many of you will understand weight jacking is complex when working with rear leaf springs and front coils which were not meant to be adjustable for ride height. My research of 1960’s race set-ups has been very interesting to say the least. What the teams did with the “rules”, parts and technology of the time is truly amazing. Perhaps I should picked-up the phone and order one of the available coil over setups for the car. But I would miss out on the fun of working on it.

[RobbieNelson]

Skip,

I was going to be purchasing a set of Intercomp scales in the next few weeks. The $1049 set from Summit Racing. However, renting them might be friendlier to my wallet. I planned to rent out the set I purchased as well. What do you have, what's the rental price/plan and how soon could I get my hands on them?

Others,

I've been thinking about this rental thing. How much is a reasonable rental rate? I (and likely Skip) wouldn't be looking to make a load of cash, but there needs to be some price for wear and tare(pun intended), the original outlay of over a grand and the fact that you can't use the scales while someone else has them.

This has been driving me nuts since I put the coilovers on. I have NO idea what my corner weights are.

Maybe we should split this OT subject to a separate post.

[SkipCarson]

The scales I have are a simple platform/rocker onto a bathroom type scale with a 4 to 1 ratio. I then use a couple of web sites which calculate the ratios front and rear left and right. More complex to use but much cheaper than electronic. Once I get the system worked out a little better, I will work out a way to let others , in the Club, use it.

[SkipCarson]

My ramp system seems to work well. How about Saturday if anyone is interested in working on a few cars? Let me know and we can set a time.

[MJ86GT]

Been out of it for awhile and away from here for quite awhile also. What I found out when I was cutting weight was I only had to weigh 2800lbs with my motor being under 310 cubes (306) but add 100 lbs for the 17" wheels. With the way mine set it was 3015 with half tank of fuel and without my 200lbs. It was to the point where if I wanted to loose more weight I was doing away with streetable fun. It became a race/street car instead of street/race car. Which is why its gone now. The current owner has it at 2800lbs, 16" wheels with huge tires (the fenders are cut and massaged heavily) to allow 11.5 wide tires all around.

I talked alot to Mike Maier at Maier Racing (Maierracing.com) with suspension setups. He won CP nationals in 2006 with his foxbody and I believe now is developing a trick setup for older mustangs like yours. He is a very nice guy and is very infomative. Google Mike Maier or go to his website and watch some of his videos.