Put my S14 on the scales today...

[orion]

A little background:

Ever since I upgraded my suspension to Koni's / Ground Control, and then put stiffer springs on the car (went from 500/350 to 600/450) ...it's handled only "OK".

Braking at the last test-n-tune /short road course event was terrible, right-front (RF) lock-up at every braking zone.

I figured the corner weights had to be way off.

A friend of mine offered use of his level work area and Longacre scales...and I was able to get by there today.

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The basic stats: 1996 S14 SE. Turbo KA. Enkie RPF1's, 17x9.5 on all 4 corners. Z32 (Al) brakes. Half tank of gas. Trunk is gutted, aside from an ~11lb battery in the RR. Lightweight flywheel, aluminum driveshaft. Stock body, no aero.

Weights shown here are WITHOUT me in the drivers seat, swaybars disconnected.

When I installed the new suspension, the ride height was kept to within 1/16" of when I had the Tein coilovers (close, but obviously not close enough).

...

Put it on the scales, and it was as bad as I thought: 45% cross weight, with the RF having 130lbs less weight on it as compared to the LF.

No wonder the braking sucked. --->


...

I raised the RF and LR roughly 1/8" each, and lowered the LF and RR 1/16" each.

Surprisingly, that got me much closer...around 48.5% cross weight.

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A little more tweaking, and I got it at 50% cross -->


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With me in the drivers seat (240lbs..no making fun, I'm 6'4" tall...not obese), the cross was still at 50.5%. I was surprised that didn't redistribute unevenly...but David did say that was along the lines of what they've seen (i.e...driver or no driver, cross weight is still very similar).

The distribution with me in the car were approximately (I only have hand scribbled notes for this one, no pic):

824 ---- 764
-----------
-----------
-----------
705 ---- 642


A NOTE: I would have liked to set the weights with me or my weight in the car...but this was all that time allowed for today. A quick check, and setting it with no driver.
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Front-to-rear, is still at a stockish 55% (f) / 45% (r)...keep in mind, I have nothing in the trunk other than the battery...and a bunch of heavy turbo crap hanging over the nose of the car.

F-to-R was actually 1% more favorable with me in the car, as I sit so far rearward. My rollbar is on the rear seat shelf, so the seat (Evo 2) is fixed ALL the way back.

...

Anyway, I expect the handling demons have been EX-OR-CISED! Overall, I wasn't terribly disappointed with the feel of the car...but I'm hoping it will be a lot better - Apparently a 1-2% difference in cross weights is a big deal, so a 5% change should be quite noticeable.

Just wanted to share. Any input here is welcome.

- Brian

[Bubba]

That is awesome. (not the braking tragedy, but the fact that you are corner balanced now)

I'm aiming to have this done as soon as I can get an opening at the chassis shop. If anyone in the Florida panhandle/AL/MS/LA area has a hook-up I would love to know. Ha

[Matt93SE]

Your S14 weighs more empty than mine with me in it and 1/2 tank of gas...
Just FYI.

[Tower240sx]

^ ass ^

[Matt93SE]

And I'm "obese" at 240lbs and only 5'-9" :P

[240sxTTC]

....and my S13 w/o driver and with 1/4 tank weighs 2390lbs.

I get the little guy bonus of only an additional 160lbs.

I'm hoping to get my car down to 2500lbs with me and 1/4 tank. Right now it's at ~2550lbs.

[Def]

Good stuff. I really need to corner weight my car after the rebuild.

[240sxTTC]

Good stuff. I really need to corner weight my car after the rebuild.

It makes a HUGE difference. I even put in 0.5% of wedge for Mid-OH to help in the slow right handers and it felt great!

[Matt93SE]

Mine w/o driver is 2440lbs. I could be mid 23xx if I'd get rid of the heavy cheap aftermarket hood, stock trunklid, and go to lexan windows. that's the main weight I still have on the car, and it's all up high.

[edjuarez]

nice. I have the same problem with my right-front tire, I'll corner balance the car after building a rollcage.

my s13 weights 2,410 pounds with 1/4 tank of gas and a 200 pound driver. I'm not sure how much weight the 8 point rollcage will add up

[McCoy]

If I ever stop playing with the car I'll have to do this next year. Gotta get my alignment sorted out first... need more camber

[240sxTTC]

I still have things to remove to hopefully get down to 2340lbs.

My current weight includes the main HAVC box/ducting under the dash and all the BS wires, glass windshield, stock front crash bar, solid front sway bar, stock driveshaft.

These are things I'm going to change except the windshield to lose weight. I want to go to a lexan windshield for weight but I like the durability/ease of cleaning of glass.

Matt - you are in STU, correct?

[Matt93SE]

Yeah I'm still in STU.

S13s are a ton lighter than S14s it sounds..

My dash is already gutted. front crash bar has some weight taken out of it, but I don't know how much I want to gut it.

[240sxTTC]

Yeah S13's are lighter. My weight also includes 3qt Accusump and lines, 10# fire system and 2# handheld extinguisher.

I remember you have to use the stock crash bar. I'm going to make one similar to the one I made for the rear. It should weigh ~7lbs compared to 22lbs stock. I did gut a stock one and got it down to 15lbs but didn't have time before Nationals to put it on.

[Matt93SE]

Just the 10# fire system here. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have a 2# handheld as well. If I ever get to the point where I need ballast, I'll try to remember to add one.

I was at a DE the other day and watched an MR2 burn to the ground because the fire truck couldn't get there in time. I drove by the car while the driver was still bailling otu of it and the engine bay was only smoking. a 2# job might have saved that guys' car.

I think I got my front bar down to about 17lbs from the ~25or so stock, but since I'm attaching my splitter to it, not sure how much more beef I want to take out of it and risk weakening it to the point it can't hold a splitter up and/or take a hit. some of the guys in my run group have been getting a bit physical lately. grr.