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weight distribution for drag?

Posted: April 8th, 2004, 6:04 pm
by Shady469
here we go: what i'm looking for is some kind of logistics or theories that you guys are employing. to lighten up the back and transfer the weight over the front tires i have:
almost no interior front the back of the front seats back, cut spare tire well w/ single sheet of sheet metal covering the hole, exhaust stops right before the first bend(i.e. about 4' of STRAIT pipe (w/ 2.5"cat/res/muffler all strait through)). i also removed some of the sheet metal out of the back.
the only weight in the back is the bottle and thats just a 5 lb one.
ill try and get some pics up but let me know what you guys think...

Re: weight distribution for drag?

Posted: April 8th, 2004, 7:36 pm
by curtklze
use a hole saw drill atachemenr to drill holes into the rear hatch frame, switch to a plexi-glass rear hatch glass.

Re: weight distribution for drag?

Posted: April 8th, 2004, 8:39 pm
by Shady469
the plexiglass hatch although easy attainable is not streetable. i drive this car on the street...
i know your probably wondering how but the exhaust is relatively quiet. for the subframe: do you mean literally just taking chunks out? thanx for the input

Re: weight distribution for drag?

Posted: April 9th, 2004, 12:26 am
by aaronthehic
if you do a good job on the LEXAN hatch and tint it know one will know

take the rear wiper out, light rims and tirs on the back, hole saw holes in the interior body panels,

drop the power steering with a smaller belt

drop the alternater belt at the track

drop the tow bars in the front

take all the tar off the floors and repaint with undercoat

rear washer tank??

tuck your side mirrors in(for drag)

cross drill your own rotors

oil you rear brakes at the strip for the brake drag (cause mine sucked)

<img src="http://images.cardomain.com/member_imag ... 4847_4.jpg" alt=" - " />
you should build a ram air box for that k&n filter to cut down on the heat soak

<small>[ April 08, 2004, 11:30 PM: Message edited by: aaron the hic ]</small>

Re: weight distribution for drag?

Posted: April 9th, 2004, 9:50 am
by Shady469
is that how you got by with your hatch(tint it)? since i started with the rs i didnt have any rear wiper/fluid. i took out the a/c and p/s all together. i also got rid of the front washer fluid(i/c piping). at what point should one think about a roll cage? some times i really do get the feeling i'm just in a tin can. maybe this week i'll have the car weighed...
thanks for the input though guys, it is greatly appretiated.

Re: weight distribution for drag?

Posted: April 9th, 2004, 1:16 pm
by torpedan
Last time i weighed my car it was 2030lbs That is with some extreme weight reduction, This is also with a BP motor/tranny which both are heaiver than the stock items.


A lot of it depends on how much work you wanna do. If you REALLY wanna keep the weight on the front tires get some new springs and change the rates...

Re: weight distribution for drag?

Posted: April 9th, 2004, 2:55 pm
by aaronthehic
half the roll cages people have are for show anyway

if the track says you need one when you run 11's then you should run an 11 first

the most danger is a drivers door impact by some drunk farmer in a deully :D

Re: weight distribution for drag?

Posted: April 9th, 2004, 4:42 pm
by marshmallow15
remove ALL seatbelt brackets, bolts, motor, tracks, belts, etc. and replace with a lighter 3-pt or 4-pt. i put in some rjs 5-pt. with a y-belt in the back, but they're pretty heavy.

you can also get your bumper reinforcements, and remove the entire center part, and bolt back the side parts that support the bumpers so the bumpers don't sag. those center parts i cut off were about 7-10 lbs. each.

you can lexan or plexiglass your side window glass, remove spare tire/jack and the brackets in the trunk for seatbelts/accessories.

ill try to get some pics of my latest weight reduction makeover.

Re: weight distribution for drag?

Posted: April 9th, 2004, 7:57 pm
by Gro Harlem
if your only goal is to keep traction on the front, stiffening the rear springs is the best way to go. No weight transfer to the back means no loss of traction in the front.

NHRA Cars use solid strut assemblies which are just solid rods with no travel at all. I doubt you'd want to do that, but you could buy some spring spacers and shove a bunch of them in the spring coils to keep the springs from compressing. My buddy did this with his neon and it helped him quite a bit.

Also, for rear weight reduction, you can remove the swaybar if you don't drive the car daily. It'll make the car have mad understeer, but for drag, who cares. It is about 7-9 lbs alone.

Also, i'm sure you already konw this, but always drive to the drag track with 1/4 tank or less. Gas weighs like 9 lbs a gallon or something crazy like that (not sure if that is true, i've never weighed it, only read it somewhere). So you can save a crapload of weight by having like 3-4 gallons in your tank instead of 13

Re: weight distribution for drag?

Posted: April 9th, 2004, 10:15 pm
by MX3-Freak
Pint of water is about equal to 1lb...I would assume gas is somewhere in that range...

Re: weight distribution for drag?

Posted: April 10th, 2004, 10:15 am
by Sam Baker
nice car bro, but do you have a CF hood? coz thats like 38lbs to 11lbs ;) that would help you a bit, just kinda pricey
~ sam