Does anyone know the specific weight numbers for the weight ratio on the thirdgen.....

Just wondering because i have saved quite a bit of weight from the front and was wondering how much farther i had to do, or even what they are because i have never seen them before....


Well here is what i've done to save weight from the front...

• Aluminum Radiator
• Fiberglass Hood
• Plastic Headlights
• Removed Smog Equipment

 

@ 3100 pounds

edit: F i just realized you wanted weight ratios nevermind

 

I've seen figures of 55/45 and 58/42. There seems to be mixed opinions/figures out there. I've even heard that verts are 50/50, but I doubt that's true. I think that the 85 up thirdgens are fairly close to 50/50 with that heavy hatch in the back. Maybe you could weigh your front and back at a truck scale.

 

Just curious, whats the difference between the 82-84 hatches and 85-92 hatches? If it's that big of a difference, maybe I should find an earlier one before I paint my car

 

58/42 in a magazine article on this site.

 

hmm.. as the owner of a vert... id have to say thats the first time i ever heard of verts having 50/50...... but i suppose it could be true... *shrug*

 

Well actually I kinda worded it wrong. What I meant to say was a lot of the earlier thirdgens had fiberglass hoods which would make a difference in the front/rear weight.

 

as far as stock weight goes, i think the V6 cars have all of us V8 cars beat..

the motor is the same as ours with the front 2 cyls lopped off.... so the entire weight of the motor is further back..

they probly are 50/50 stock....

 

I very much doubt that convertibles are anywhere near 50/50. At least they don't handle like they are.

 

handleing and weight distrib arnt the exact same thing.

my logic for the 50/50 remark

we lose the hatch glass... but make up for it with the tonnu cover, vert bracing, and the weight of the folding top.

however, the vert bracing, tonnu cover, and top (when up) would shove that weight alot farther foward then the hatch glass..

there by making it closer.


thats my therory of course.. i havent proven it or anything..

 

I'm saying it handles like a nose heavy car, The diffrences you point out would make it even more nose heavy. I didn't say they handle bad, just nose heavy ,understeer etc.

 

every stock GM car has massive understeer...

its there "for our saftey"....... regular (non car) people can deal with understeer... they expect that.. its the snap oversteer that scares the crap outta them..



in anycase, thats not just a matter of weight.. thats also a suspension issue....



my vert had MASSIVE understeer when i bought it... new struts, shocks, and swaybar bushings helped it alot.... the struts made the biggest diff though.. my car still had the orignal 91 GM struts on there...

 

umm re reading my other post... thats my logic on why the vert 50/50 WOULD NOT be true... athough i kinda worded it wierd.. heh.

 

That makes more sense then, I thought maybe they put more impact resistance in the metal piece on the hatch or something. I already picked up a stock glass hood though. Any idea how much lighter is it compared to the metal one?

Matt

 

I still have the cast iron heads and block in the car.

...........Front.....rear....Total
stock...2020....1420....3440
New....1760....1485....3245
Diff.......-260.....+65.....-195

The front to rear split has gone from 600 down to 275

Morrison coilover kit
No front sway bar
9" Yank SS3600 converter
Global west torque arm
Global west bearing type Lca
Willwood brakes with alum hubs
P.A. tube K-member 4130
Tube A-arms 4130
S-10 manual steering box
Remove a/c system install aluminum no heat box
Relocate batt to trunk
Fiberglass hood 25lbs
Aluminum water pump
Dana 44 rear end
Total weight reduction is over 200 lbs all off the front end.


Still far from 50 / 50 front - rear

Jerry

 

they sure don't handle like they're anywhere near 58/42, nevermind 50/50! Definitely nose heavy cars.

 

It's very very hard to get a car to 50/50 bias. When we auto crossed vettes back in the day, they were still no where close to 50/50 and they have engines setback a lot farther than a camaro. We built one using a light glass front end, aluminum head, headers, small starter, everything we could afford to do, even moved the radiator to the rear of the car and used an electric water pump. We still didn't hit a 50/50 bias. Oh, I forgot, fiberglass springs out of a later vette too. In my opinion, doing the best to get a 50/50 bias makes for a good starting point. Do whatever you can to get close. then, unless you want to re-engineer the car, try a larger rear sway bar with stiffer shocks. This should help you "unstick" the rear of the car. You could tighten up the front of the car, but that's going in the wrong direction, since it's already too tight due to the weight bias problem.
Remember:
1. loose is fast
2. slow car always handle