Stock weight distribution for various body styles - can you improve balance w/out drastic mods?

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Has the driver of the vehicle though of a weight reduction too? Easy to shed 75 pounds.
 
I haven't corner weighted my A body, but I have been around plenty of vehicles with 50/50 weight balance.From looking at my scamp I would say its probally 60/40 or worse.Everything that is heavy is up front with the exception of the rear axle.While its easy to lose weight its difficult/expensive to lose it off the front.Most free/cheap weight reduction just makes the weight distribution worse, because the only things that can be outright removed are from the middle/rear of the car.Removing weight off the front end is much harder though.Aluminum intake,aluminum heads,headers,aluminum radiator,fiberglass hood,lightweight starter,and moving the engine toward the firewall are the only things that help.Relocating the battery back to the passenger side rear of the trunk is said to be equivalent to moving the engine back 4-6".Behind the driver there are a lot of things that dont make the car faster,safer,or more reliable that could be removed.Without adding ballasts to the rear I don't see how an A body could achieve 50/50 with weight reduction alone,but adding weight is counter productive to making a car faster or handle better.
 
MRGTX said:
Has anyone ever put their A-Body on corner weight scales? How did it come out?
How do the various incarnations of the A-Body stack up?

I have always heard that the coupe version of the A-body platform (Duster, Demon, Sport) had relatively good weight distribution and that all of the versions were decent for their era. Is that correct?

So most guys who aren't here for just repair/restore info are probably interested in improving chassis/suspension. What are the first things you'd recommend to make a significant difference in balance/weight distribution? What have you tried? What isn't worth the trouble?

The height of the center of gravity is a critical factor as well. Aside from lowering the car down, is there anything that can be done to affect that point?
Click to expand...
Sorry, what is your specific year & model car?
 
Some info from another member/thread with all the corner weights for a '71 Duster. Weights in the "notes" were after a torsion bar adjustment on the original weights. Not my car, original thread is here weighed my duster. here's the results

Lotsa tricks, lotsa aluminum parts, still 52/48
weight-jpg.jpg


Info on the car

  • sparco milano 2 seats
  • 4pt roll bar
  • rmd dash
  • 4 pt harnesses
  • battery moved to trunk on passenger side
  • aluminum heads
  • tti headers
  • x pipe with hooker aerochambers
  • mini starter
  • air gap intake
  • holley 4160 carb
  • magnum air filter and valve covers
  • stock water pump
  • summit damper
  • clutch fan
  • aluminum radiator
  • aluminum trans cooler
  • 727 trans
  • no heater box or a/c.
  • wilwood disc brakes
  • light weight master
  • 26x6.4x15 bfg silvertown tires/29x12.5x15 m/t sportsman tires
  • slant 6 torsion bars
  • 8 3/4 with 3.91 sure grip, 11" drums
  • ss leafs
  • cragar wheels
  • stock fuel tank
  • holley gerotor pump
  • ss braided lines with an fittings
 
Has anyone done most of the weight reduction in the front and noticed the car appears to be mid lauch when sitting still?

I swapped to manual steering, ditched the a/c including the condenser, aluminum radiator, aluminum heads, aluminum intake, battery relocate to the trunk, and ditched the 74 front end in favor of a 67. Also running aluminum wheels instead of steel.

Noticed on the test drive, while filling it up, the front looks way high.

IMG_20181222_112518.jpg
 
Oh yea! Time to readjust the fronts height. Twist the T bar adjusting bolt to get it back to where it was.
 
I'd say lower it about 2" all-around. Maybe more. Especially with the modern wheel size and low-profile tires.
 
Intercomp digital scales....accurate

My 68 Barracuda coupe:

without driver, spare tire, trunk mat 3/4 tank of gas.

3209 lbs. 57.28% front / 42.72% rear

Aluminum heads/intake, no A/C, aluminum water pump, aluminum rims, aluminum radiator, denso starter, mini alternator, aftermarket steering wheel, aluminum master cyl, aftermarket Scat Pro front seats,console, heater, rear defroster, full interior, 1.14" torsion bars, TTI headers and full exhaust w/tips, Hotchkis TVS with subframe connectors. Battery in front.

With driver and 15x8 steel rallye spare:

3445 lbs. 55.62% front / 44.38% rear

All done on very accurate Intercomp one year old digital race scales.

Note: the front scales were able to slide on the surface so there was not any suspension bind holding the front end up.

cudascale1_17_15sm02-jpg.jpg


copy-of-cudascale1_17_15sm09-jpg.jpg

 
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That's about where my '67 notch has scaled as well - maybe a little more % on the nose.
I've weighed it on the return road scales, as well as on race scales like Steve shows above.
Not quite as much aluminum as Steve's car; copper radiator, iron heads, brake master.
And my wheels and tires are probably smaller and lighter.

The fastback designs including the Duster put more weight on the back. You can look at the Car Life and other magazine reports from the time to see the range of weights and distribution. Sometimes they printed test weights, especially later in the 60s.

Later models will be a little heavier due to the side impact protection built into the doors.
 
Great thread I've always wanted some concrete info on this. It seems like the Duster/Demon/Dart Sport body generally has better weight distribution than the A-body Barracudas? Visually the Duster body seems to have quite a bit more rear overhang than the 'Cuda.

Also I thought the "square-roof" cars were heavier overall than comparable fastback models, like 2-door Valiant vs. Duster
 
MOPEkidD-3 said:
Great thread I've always wanted some concrete info on this. It seems like the Duster/Demon/Dart Sport body generally has better weight distribution than the A-body Barracudas? Visually the Duster body seems to have quite a bit more rear overhang than the 'Cuda.

Also I thought the "square-roof" cars were heavier overall than comparable fastback models, like 2-door Valiant vs. Duster
Click to expand...

I see scale numbers from two cars in his thread. The Duster is a drag car with significant interior removal.

I think you’ll find 67-69 Barracuda fastback similar to 70-72 Duster/Demon. The Barracuda will weigh a little more with the fold down seat hardware and larger back window.

I’ve put about 15-20 old Mopars on my digital scales. Light to heavy modifications. I’ll try to post some pics.
 
Mattax said:
That's about where my '67 notch has scaled as well - maybe a little more % on the nose.
I've weighed it on the return road scales, as well as on race scales like Steve shows above.
Not quite as much aluminum as Steve's car; copper radiator, iron heads, brake master.
And my wheels and tires are probably smaller and lighter.
Click to expand...
3702 on the scales in Feb. 2002 w/ no driver, about 1/2 tank, with spare tire.
57.5% on nose in that config.

That and bunch of the factory weights and magazine tests are I have posted here:
mgcudah
magazine info is near the bottom of the page.
 
Here is the weight of a 66 Cuda, lots of lightweight stuff and additional lightened parts and pieces. As you can see pretty nose heavy even with the big back window.
IMG_7125.JPG
IMG_7121.JPG
 
My 72 Scamp was around 57% on the front... I think you would have to move the engine back to get 50/50...
When I put the engine back in my 69 Valiant I’ll scale it and post the results, it’s likely as bad.

5839B351-1CB3-47AF-AAC9-695251360DEF.jpeg
 
This is Ed Wogulius's 71 Challenger. 340, 4 spd, t/a hood, aluminum heads, cast iron ex manifolds, full interior, no a/c, power steering car..

Last scale reading pic (#3) is with Ed in the car.

That is F/R 56.4%/43.6% weight split w/o driver. (scale is just reading rear percentage)

F/R 55.6%/44.4% weight split w/driver

upload_2018-12-26_17-17-49.png


upload_2018-12-26_17-18-6.jpeg
 
The “Red Brick” built by Tim Werner:

upload_2018-12-26_21-8-2.jpeg


Without driver

upload_2018-12-26_21-8-42.jpeg


With driver
 
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