I first saw this talk about ballasting the car to get a perfect 50-50 weight distribution on Grannys web site a few years ago, maybe that is where all this nonsense originated. Grant is a smart guy, but I think he is wrong about this. It just is not very important. Lots of rear engined race cars are heavily biased to the rear, and the Porsche 911s can be made to handle pretty well. There is a lot more to handling and cornering than that.

Wheel sizes, tire sizes, tire pressures, and sway bars are all adjustable to make the oversteer/understeer whatever you want it to be. Much better you should add the weight of better wheels and brakes than add ballast. Likewise, the time and money you spend removing pieces or buying exotic lightweight parts is better spent on upgrading the things that really matter. I am no racing expert, but I was quite successful in my autocrossing years ago, and I think I understand what makes a car handle properly. If you want to really get educated on this subject, read Carroll Smith's books.

I have two 1984 GSLs. I have not weighed the rotary powered one, but the Ford powered car has a very heavy (180 pounds) automatic tranny, electric windows, sunroof, no AC, no power steering, stock rear end, aluminum radiator, water pump, heads and intake, 3 inch exhaust with cat and single muffler. Without fuel, it weighs 2550. The suspension is completely stock except for Tokiko Blue shocks. The 2nd gen big brake discs front and rear add a few pounds. It is slightly front heavy, but I cannot recall the numbers. With so much torque, I can make as much oversteer as I want with a touch of throttle!

www.cardomain.com/ride/646433

 

I weighed mine about a month ago at a state weigh station:

83 LE 49/51 weight distribution 2200lbs w/o me in it (2390 w/ me). Still have some stuff to remove, and yes I am working to keep her balanced. And yes I too am workign out to loose a little, I figure between me and the car I can drop another 40+ pounds.

 

i agree with u for the most part but wanted to tell u about my buddies vw. he took everything out stereo carpets door panels speakers ac basicaly anything that does make the car go even the back seats. and it still handled good and was much much faster then before. but i also think he needs to set up the suspension better it doesnt handle the same. but it def is faster

 

also your car in a vert, so dont you need extra bracing under the car? ussually verts are heavier than hard tops.

 

I watch my tuning shop work on suspension set-ups for track cars, and the only worth-while way to weigh a car is to put it on independant scales WITH the amount of gas you are going to use at a race and WITH sand bags placed properly to represent the weight of the driver.

Weight distribution between front and rear is something you can argue either way, since a lot of it is driver preference. What is more important is right and left side balance. Without individual scales you cannot properly balance the car and you will have adverse handling effects.

Don't forget that if you strip your car you have to adjust ride height, spring rates, etc. for each wheel according to weight distribution to make full use of the weight you removed. Due to the design of the 1st gen suspension it is very difficult to adjust for the right/left weight inbalance in a stripped FB, and virtually impossible if you aren't using proper scales and equipment.

 

This is exactly what I was getting at.

 

The front-left is a very heavy corner on our cars, especially with a driver. Remember, the FB was designed to be right hand drive. Relocating the battery to the passenger side storage bin will make a nice difference. If you happen to have an open diff this is really a nice mod because the passenger side tire unloads and loses traction because of the power being transmitted by the driveshaft and the resulting moment being applied to the rear end. It helps with a limited slip as well. The rear right corner is also the lightest corner. Also remember that the battery is located relatively high in the stock location and it is outside of the wheelbase which increases the car's moment of inertia.

The general rule of thumb is to place weight low, inside the wheels, and close to the corner that is lightest whenever possible.

As far as the doors go, I have an extra set so I may look into practical ways to decrease weight on them. I know they are heavy, I dropped one on my foot when I was wearing socks.

I personally would like to see a nice stainless steel lightweight exhaust system. I know ISC makes a nice header but I'm not sure how much it weighs. I may look into making a center section similar to Racing Beat's but out of stainless in the near future. I would probably use Magnaflow round stainless packed mufflers as presilencers and possibly make a rear section using another Magnaflow muffler. Racing Beat makes nice stuff (I have the street port system now) but it is as heavy as stock if not heavier. At least it distributes the weight a bit better.