weighed in today

[itzdapig]

Hey guys, I am about a week away from being street legal, just waiting for my VIN plate to come back.
I was able to weigh the car today on the clubs scales, here are the numbers:

no driver and 1/8th tank fuel #2271
w/driver and same fuel load #2475

front 1193 48.2%
rear 1282 51.8%

left side 1275 51.3%
right side 1199 48.6%

left frt 593 23.9%
right frt 598 24.1%

left rear 677 27.2%
right rear 606 24.4%

cross weights
LR to RF 1270 51.3%
RR to LF 1208 48.7%

Now I just need a little help on how to adjust to balance it out.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

ride height was 4 inch up front,4 5/8 out back. 500/350 springs. Mk3.1

[kenm4187]

Originally Posted by itzdapig

Hey guys, I am about a week away from being street legal, just waiting for my VIN plate to come back.
I was able to weigh the car today on the clubs scales, here are the numbers:

no driver and 1/8th tank fuel #2271
w/driver and same fuel load #2475

front 1193 48.2%
rear 1282 51.8%

left side 1275 51.3%
right side 1199 48.6%

left frt 593 23.9%
right frt 598 24.1%

left rear 677 27.2%
right rear 606 24.4%

cross weights
LR to RF 1270 51.3%
RR to LF 1208 48.7%

Now I just need a little help on how to adjust to balance it out.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

ride height was 4 inch up front,4 5/8 out back. 500/350 springs. Mk3.1

Not sure which you are trying balance out. Start on a level surface and make sure the frame to ground distance is the same at each corner (you don't want to start out twisted or jacked up in one corner). They adjust both the front or back spring heights the same amount (left and right) until you get the rake you want on the car (if you have not already done this). Raising the end of the car will place more weight on that end. Once you get that you need to look at the corner weights. When you make a change you need to make a small change on each shock instead of a large change at one corner. Based on your cross weight numbers, I would raise the RR and LF one turn on the adjustment ring and lower the LR and RF one turn on the adjustment ring. As you lengthen the RR and LF you will put more weight on them. You want to try and get a 50/50 split.

Once there you can transfer a little weight by raising or lowering the front, back, left or right side. As long as you make the same change on both the front or back or left or right at the same time, the cross weight % will not change.

Make sure your sway bars are disconnect and when you reconnect them make sure there is no pre-load on them with you in the car.

Can't help on the spring rates, my cobra in not a FFR and has different motion ratios.

Hope this helps.

Ken

[Wade Chamberlain]

Originally Posted by kenm4187

Once there you can transfer a little weight by raising or lowering the front, back, left or right side.

I agree w/ Ken's comments on what to do to get your crossweights closer. I don't agree w/ the above though. You can't change the left to right or front to rear balance w/ the coilovers. The only way to do that is by actually moving weight around on the car.

[itzdapig]

After hours of adjusting here is what i ended up with

front 1188 47.9 %
rear 1291 52%

LF 609 24.5 % RF 576 23.3 %
LR 667 26.9 % RR 624 25.2 %

L side 1276 51.4 R side 1202 48.5

cross weights
LR -RF 1243 50.2 RR-LF 1232 49.7

Front ride height 4 1/4"
rear ride height 4 9/16"

So with the cross weights close and the ride height equal, do I need to go farther and if so where do I go from here?

[mmarshall]

11 lbs off on cross weights is awfully close. Now you can help me nail mine down. Can you do Tuesday night?

[itzdapig]

Tuesday willwork for me.Give me a call.

[Riverdaves50]

The weights are right on the money IF you have a 302. Anything bigger and you are to light. Example is I have a 347 stroker and my minimum weight is 2360 pds and I weigh in at 2380 with 1/4 tank of fuel. If you have turbo or blower it is more.

Dave

[itzdapig]

It is a 302 and I'm glad they are correct #s.

[mmarshall]

Dave I am not sure how you can be too light. Do you mean for XP? I wish I was as light as Keith. My Coupe was 118 lbs heavier than Keith's Roadster on the same scales with a little more fuel.

At one point we had my cross weights at exactly 50/50. Then we re-connected the swaybars and were off by 30#'s. We finally figured out that everytime we moved anything the scales read something different. We tried several positions on the scales and rolled the car off and back on a few times and the error, while different, was the same direction. We made another move and got them to within 8 lbs with the swaybars connected. Close enough!

[Riverdaves50]

No mine is not light, I am right on the money with my 347. And I have 20pds to spare.

[Ken Stroh]

Originally Posted by mmarshall

Dave I am not sure how you can be too light. Do you mean for XP? I wish I was as light as Keith. My Coupe was 118 lbs heavier than Keith's Roadster on the same scales with a little more fuel.

At one point we had my cross weights at exactly 50/50. Then we re-connected the swaybars and were off by 30#'s. We finally figured out that everytime we moved anything the scales read something different. We tried several positions on the scales and rolled the car off and back on a few times and the error, while different, was the same direction. We made another move and got them to within 8 lbs with the swaybars connected. Close enough!

Mike, what were your weights? I'm building an all-aluminum big-bore dry-sump 363 for XP...

Ken

[mmarshall]

Ken:

My Coupe weighed 2427 with 1/4 tank of gas and 315x17 tires on all 4 corners.

With 275x17 race rubber it weighs 2381.

I am currently installing an all aluminum LS1 5.7, went from hydroboost to CNC manual MC, and have changed over to a lightweight Deka battery. These changes should put me around 2300 lbs. My goal is to get into the 2250 range on race tires.

[bstuke]

Finished up on mine yesterday. This is how close I got it: