Weighed my C4
08-11-2008, 04:05 PM
#1
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Weighed my C4
Spark Notes on Bottom.
As some of you know I have a 87 C4 Corvette Coupe that I did some work to. Anyway I decided to gut every thing I didn't need in it last winter. I added a Lexan rear window, lightweight "race only" fiberglass hood, cut the insides of the doors out...basically anything that doesn't make the car go faster, turn better, or stop faster is gone. We did however custom make duct work from the heater core to a blower motor we put in so that we would have heat and a defroster for the Cannonball if it rains. We also removed the headlights and added Pontiac Grand Prix headlights that look like fog lights but are DOT rated headlights. My dad and I made mounts for them where the fog lights were. We then added motorcycle front turn signals and a tow strap on the front and rear that is SCCA legal. It now has 2 ultrashield aluminum seats in it and for the track I have 2 sets of 18X12 CCW classics with 335 Hoosiers I run on all 4 corners. Anyway today my Dad ran into a guy that he's known for about a year that lives near me and is pretty active racing Porsche's. He chatted with him in his very very nice well equipped garage and then spotted a set of scales. He asked if he could weigh my car and the Porsche guy said, "sure, bring it over." So yesterday my Dad brought it over to the guy.
With almost 3/4 tank of fuel it weighed in at 2861 lbs. Figure 10 gallons of fuel at 7lbs/per. That puts the car at about 2790. Not bad, huh? And, that's with my street tires/and black chrome wheels that are a lot heavier than the CCW's. My dad is going to weigh my wheels seperate and figure out what the car weighs with the CCW's on. The corner weighting is pretty good too. Left front=758, r/f = 708, l/r = 671, r/r = 718. A bit of adjusting could even it out I think. We're not going to mess with that since it's just a daily driver for my dad now since I'm on my way to Iraq. I am having John Boos from Boos Performance put a roll cage in it and also an 427ci LS-7 that should be about 650hp and 620tq N/A with a 7,000+rpm rev limiter. With all that the car should weigh in around 26XXlbs. Mathematically that's around 4 lbs per horsepower and about 4 1/4 pounds per ft lbs. of torque. Should be fun. Can't wait to get home in a year.
I am building it to road race and do the Cannonball Run:One Lap of America in but I will probably do some autoxing in it every once in a while.
Here's what a 205/50/R15 looks like next to a 335 Hoosier:
Spark notes: My Vette weighed 2861 with about 10 gallons of fuel and my heavy street rims. In race trim and no fuel it would be in the 27XX lb. range. Not bad for a cast iron engine V8 heavy American car.
As some of you know I have a 87 C4 Corvette Coupe that I did some work to. Anyway I decided to gut every thing I didn't need in it last winter. I added a Lexan rear window, lightweight "race only" fiberglass hood, cut the insides of the doors out...basically anything that doesn't make the car go faster, turn better, or stop faster is gone. We did however custom make duct work from the heater core to a blower motor we put in so that we would have heat and a defroster for the Cannonball if it rains. We also removed the headlights and added Pontiac Grand Prix headlights that look like fog lights but are DOT rated headlights. My dad and I made mounts for them where the fog lights were. We then added motorcycle front turn signals and a tow strap on the front and rear that is SCCA legal. It now has 2 ultrashield aluminum seats in it and for the track I have 2 sets of 18X12 CCW classics with 335 Hoosiers I run on all 4 corners. Anyway today my Dad ran into a guy that he's known for about a year that lives near me and is pretty active racing Porsche's. He chatted with him in his very very nice well equipped garage and then spotted a set of scales. He asked if he could weigh my car and the Porsche guy said, "sure, bring it over." So yesterday my Dad brought it over to the guy.
With almost 3/4 tank of fuel it weighed in at 2861 lbs. Figure 10 gallons of fuel at 7lbs/per. That puts the car at about 2790. Not bad, huh? And, that's with my street tires/and black chrome wheels that are a lot heavier than the CCW's. My dad is going to weigh my wheels seperate and figure out what the car weighs with the CCW's on. The corner weighting is pretty good too. Left front=758, r/f = 708, l/r = 671, r/r = 718. A bit of adjusting could even it out I think. We're not going to mess with that since it's just a daily driver for my dad now since I'm on my way to Iraq. I am having John Boos from Boos Performance put a roll cage in it and also an 427ci LS-7 that should be about 650hp and 620tq N/A with a 7,000+rpm rev limiter. With all that the car should weigh in around 26XXlbs. Mathematically that's around 4 lbs per horsepower and about 4 1/4 pounds per ft lbs. of torque. Should be fun. Can't wait to get home in a year.
I am building it to road race and do the Cannonball Run:One Lap of America in but I will probably do some autoxing in it every once in a while.
Here's what a 205/50/R15 looks like next to a 335 Hoosier:
Spark notes: My Vette weighed 2861 with about 10 gallons of fuel and my heavy street rims. In race trim and no fuel it would be in the 27XX lb. range. Not bad for a cast iron engine V8 heavy American car.
08-11-2008, 07:33 PM
#6
Instructor
Member Since: Jul 2002
Location: jax fl
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Looks like it should fit in very nicely in the ssgt2 big bore class for OLOA. My suggestion for the one lap is put in at least a comfy seat that reclines a bit on the passenger side. Personally I would trade the weight of the ac versus the weight for the 5000miles you run. Maybe I am just getting older!
Good luck and stay safe!
Good luck and stay safe!
08-12-2008, 10:40 AM
#8
Safety Car
Good work, that's ridiculously light. My car comes in just under 3000 lbs and has NOTHING in it. I'd estimate the cage weighs 100 lbs, so it's still about 20 lbs heavier than yours without...
Impressive.
Impressive.
08-12-2008, 05:22 PM
#9
Racer
Member Since: Jan 2005
Location: Lenexa Kansas
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Fun at MAM
Hi Git,
Glad to see that you are moving along with your plans. I met you at MAM last spring with the Minnesota F-body group. I took you along for a few laps. (mwvettec5 was also there and had the fast & fancy red c-4 )
For those who never met Git, he's a great kid. I watched him practice the turns at MAM until he got them right. Once he got past the kink at 10, and pointed the right direction, he was hard to beat. His dad was with him and was very much involved in the work and activities with his son. He's the kind of kid you wouldn't mind dating your daughter.
Hang in there, Git, and slow down for once. Be careful and think! Can't wait to be chasing you around MAM.
BTW, I was there yesterday and it was 85 and dry. But I couldn't reach 130 by turn 1, as I could with you breathing down my back last spring.
Glad to see that you are moving along with your plans. I met you at MAM last spring with the Minnesota F-body group. I took you along for a few laps. (mwvettec5 was also there and had the fast & fancy red c-4 )
For those who never met Git, he's a great kid. I watched him practice the turns at MAM until he got them right. Once he got past the kink at 10, and pointed the right direction, he was hard to beat. His dad was with him and was very much involved in the work and activities with his son. He's the kind of kid you wouldn't mind dating your daughter.
Hang in there, Git, and slow down for once. Be careful and think! Can't wait to be chasing you around MAM.
BTW, I was there yesterday and it was 85 and dry. But I couldn't reach 130 by turn 1, as I could with you breathing down my back last spring.
08-13-2008, 12:31 AM
#11
Burning Brakes
We're not going to mess with that since it's just a daily driver for my dad now since I'm on my way to Iraq. I am having John Boos from Boos Performance put a roll cage in it and also an 427ci LS-7 that should be about 650hp and 620tq N/A with a 7,000+rpm rev limiter. With all that the car should weigh in around 26XXlbs. Mathematically that's around 4 lbs per horsepower and about 4 1/4 pounds per ft lbs. of torque. Should be fun. Can't wait to get home in a year.
Stay safe, keep your head down and THANKS for your service.
08-13-2008, 07:03 AM
#12
Burning Brakes
Thread Starter
Hi Git,
Glad to see that you are moving along with your plans. I met you at MAM last spring with the Minnesota F-body group. I took you along for a few laps. (mwvettec5 was also there and had the fast & fancy red c-4 )
For those who never met Git, he's a great kid. I watched him practice the turns at MAM until he got them right. Once he got past the kink at 10, and pointed the right direction, he was hard to beat. His dad was with him and was very much involved in the work and activities with his son. He's the kind of kid you wouldn't mind dating your daughter.
Hang in there, Git, and slow down for once. Be careful and think! Can't wait to be chasing you around MAM.
BTW, I was there yesterday and it was 85 and dry. But I couldn't reach 130 by turn 1, as I could with you breathing down my back last spring.
Glad to see that you are moving along with your plans. I met you at MAM last spring with the Minnesota F-body group. I took you along for a few laps. (mwvettec5 was also there and had the fast & fancy red c-4 )
For those who never met Git, he's a great kid. I watched him practice the turns at MAM until he got them right. Once he got past the kink at 10, and pointed the right direction, he was hard to beat. His dad was with him and was very much involved in the work and activities with his son. He's the kind of kid you wouldn't mind dating your daughter.
Hang in there, Git, and slow down for once. Be careful and think! Can't wait to be chasing you around MAM.
BTW, I was there yesterday and it was 85 and dry. But I couldn't reach 130 by turn 1, as I could with you breathing down my back last spring.
Thanks for the kind words. Yeah that was a TON of fun last spring and you guys have a great track down there. I will try to make it down there a couple times when I get back home. It was pretty cool to have your guy's race prepped C4's there also. BTW in the picture with my Dad in it that's the trailer we just picked up for the car. The Boos Performance trailer was a trail run to MAM and we realized how nice it was to be able to trailer the race car to the track so we picked up that 30ft all aluminum trailer and that's been working great. Well anyway have a great year and I hope to see you guys at the track again sometime. -Eric
08-23-2008, 03:00 PM
#13
Race Director
Very nice work! Do you have a list of things you removed as extra weight? I really want to remove more but am running out of ideas. More pictures of your car would be awesome! A couple things I notice in your pictures, you may want to tape around the back side of the headlight doors. Less air will get away affecting your aero. Put clear lens covers over the parking light holes, Ecklers sells these, to help aero. Lower the car, the front looks high.
Recognize this car? It was at the recent NCM RA event. There were not many of us C4 drivers there!
Recognize this car? It was at the recent NCM RA event. There were not many of us C4 drivers there!
