oxrabidus

im gonna build a hybrid 3.4l with a 3500 top end etc etc...
but i read somewhere on here that v6 camaros have almost perfect 50/50 weight distribution...
the aluminium heads take weight off... im not running ac, i dont plan on running power steering (i dunno i just like it...) and i was also considering a tubular k member with a-arms and the whole bit... would that make it unbalanced towards the rear? i imagine that wont be good for performance...i am unsure...
thanks for the help.

chevyracingrox

more weight on the rear than the front is better than more front compared to rear. think of it this way. the tires push the weight in front of them. that weight acts as a resistance force making it easier to lose traction. more weight on the front means more weight near the drive wheels for traction and less resistance from the front. 50/50 is ideal, but rear biased is still better than front biased.

oxrabidus

so it wont have a negative effect on the cars cornering ability? i figured it would have understeer, but i dont know too much about susensions and wieght and stuff... i could see how it would help in a drag race though...

chevyracingrox

it may have a tendency to understeer, but not as bad as a FWD car. a lot of fast cars have more weight in the rear than the front. Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, its the lesser of the two evils of unbalanced weight. besides, you shouldn't talk yourself out of power because you think it'll change how the car feels. isn't that the point anyway?
EDIT: don't forget that less weight is a good thing. weight slows you down, its better to have a light somewhat unbalanced car, than a heavy balanced car.

grimmcs

iTrader: (1)

The front of your car will probably be raised up a good bit. The tubular K-member is about 31lbs lighter and the aluminum heads are 40lbs lighter...so that's 71lbs+/- just with those 2 things. Although, if you are taking on such a large project I assume you'll probably look into drop springs.

oxrabidus

very very good point... now about weight...
some have told me that these cars weigh around 3700 pounds... but everywhere i read it says the curb weight for an unoptioned 87 camaro with a 305 and t5 is ~3250 lbs... so that tells me that the same unoptioned v6 camaro should be around 3000 pounds...am i right or wrong? im just curious... plus with the stuff i listed it should bring my car down like 200 pounds...

oxrabidus

yeah... drop springs and drop spindles... i was thinking v8 springs and the drop spindles to combat the added spring rates but i dont know if it will actuall lower the car, i am afraid it will still raise it up...

granted the k member or a-arms wont raise the front up because they hold the springs... so i think the k member is actually unsprung weight... but im also the ac and all its components, heater core, power steering, smog, and im also looking into rack and pinion steerigng (deepending on difficulty, but ive seen k members for it...), so ,aybe 200 lbs is optimistic, but it will be a noticeable amount off the front...

bl85c

iTrader: (2)

Take a look at my vb garage for a list of what I stripped off my car to get it to ~3000lbs. I haven't weighed it, but I weighed everything I took off and subtracted it from the car's rated weight which got me pretty close to 3000lbs. The front jacked up quite a bit after stripping it, about an inch. I'm getting drop springs and 1" spacers for the rear if I need them (which I probably will) when I drop in my 3.4 hybrid.

oxrabidus

where is your vb garage? i dont see a link or anything?

bl85c

iTrader: (2)

It's the little garage icon at the bottom of my sig.

oxrabidus

ah... so its heavier than i thought it was...