Your opinions - What will Happen if...

[theman440]

This may sound like a stupid question to you pros but here it goes - An ex racer friend of mine suggested I put the car on scales, add weight to the trunk till I get 51/49 or 50/50 F-R bias. He claims that even with the extra weight the car will go quicker. I have never had the car on scales - I'm sure it's quite front heavy - no idea how much weight would added. The car 60fts in high 140's to low 150's and it pulls the wheels 4-5 inches now.

1. Will it stand right up on the bumper?
2. Will it go quicker?
3. Will it slow down?

I think I can here laughter already...

[Dragsinger]

Jeff,

some thoughts;

*if your car is consistent, most likely the weight will not help
*it would be easy to add weight in small amounts and note the results. Try 50 pounds in the right rear. If results are positive, try more.
*to attain a 50/50 balance might require 200 - 300 pounds, I can not see that helping the car be faster.

Also, most door cars are not 50/50, most are 3% - 4% or more nose heavy yet can be dead on consistent.

[DeasonR212]

I agree with Dragsinger. My Coronet is 3708lbs. 50.3F/49.7R as she sits today. I went from one battery in the rear to two, and found nor lost ET. On a leaf car, it can help, but if you have CalTracs, you can simply tune the hit to get nearly the same effect as moving weight within reason.

With that said, anything you can do to make the front end react quicker will help on short times in general. Before working to move weight, ensure you have a good, free moving front end setup with 5'-5.5" of travel. When I replaced the stock hood with the glass hood, I did pickup about .03-.04 in 60' times, with a near 50lb weight reduction off the nose. I have about 15-20 lbs of undercoating that can come off the front fenderwells and areas before the firewall. I suspect taking that off the front is worth more than adding 50lbs to behind the rear axle.

Adding weight is far easier than removing weight, however, if you choose to add, ensure you comply with all your retention requirements.

[theman440]

Thanks for the input guys - the car 60fts very consistent and I do use a complete CalTracs set up, front end has 5 inches of drop and I use 6-cyl bars.. Removing the undercoating is an idea I never thought of - I think I might try that. I want to get some upper tubular a-arms that use heim joints - I figure the heim joints will be freer than bushings. Does anybody make aluminum or bronze lower control arm bushings to replace the rubber?

BTW - I won Street Muscle @ the PSCA Las Vegas Nationals this weekend. The car 60ft 1.50-1.51 all weekend.