Questions On Weight And Weight Reduction

[2000xp8]

Some fiberglass hoods are lighter (and weaker) while some are still heavy.

The good ones from company's like cervini are still heavy and have the safety catch still on them.
My 1.5 cowl hood from cervini's (which i put on) saved very little if any weight.
Others from different company's i helped friends put on, literally weighed almost nothing, downside was no safety catch.

The thin ones also float around under speed, kind of unsettling if you ask me. Like they are begging to come unhooked.

 

[91TwighlightGT]

I can' t understand why you'd want to take weight out of the hatch anyway. These cars are tough enough to get out of the hole without removing weight from the rear wheels. I'd concentrate my reduction in the front end if it were me.

Weight is weight, fiberglass doesn't rust, and at the very least you can always add ballast down low in the chassis rather than up high. There are better ways to get the car to hook than to add weight, though.

 

[Gearbanger 101]

Weight is weight, fiberglass doesn't rust, and at the very least you can always add ballast down low in the chassis rather than up high. There are better ways to get the car to hook than to add weight, though.

Who's suggesting adding weight? I'm just saying to remove it from the right places. The statement "weight is weight" couldn't be more wrong. As stated prior. Weight distribution is more important that weight loss, as is balance for all sorts of racing. Nose heavy cars, simply do not hook, ore handle as well as balanced ones. Mustang already distribute the weight poorly. Increasing this ratio only compounds the issue.

 

[Sharad]

there are some nice lexan windows out there now... but yeah, you don't want the back end to be light.

 

[91TwighlightGT]

Who's suggesting adding weight? I'm just saying to remove it from the right places. The statement "weight is weight" couldn't be more wrong. As stated prior. Weight distribution is more important that weight loss, as is balance for all sorts of racing. Nose heavy cars, simply do not hook, ore handle as well as balanced ones. Mustang already distribute the weight poorly. Increasing this ratio only compounds the issue.

You are mis-reading my post. This is what I said...

Weight is weight, fiberglass doesn't rust, and at the very least you can always add ballast down low in the chassis rather than up high. There are better ways to get the car to hook than to add weight, though.

My statement about adding weight is simply that while you could offset the weight difference by going to a fiberglass hatch (all 20 lbs. of it) with ballast, there are better ways to get the car to hook (through suspension tuning) than going that route. I didn't say that you said to add weight - although you are suggesting not to remove it, which I disagree with.

Like I stated, if your concern is weight distribution then you can offset the weight removed from replacing the steel hatch by adding ballast back in a better spot lower in the chassis. If we are talking about racing, then there is probably a minimum weight for the class and therefore any weight that you can remove can then be added back in a better spot in the form of ballast.

A similar discussion took place on corral 10 years ago...

http://forums.corral.net/forums/gen...ck-less-aerodynamic-than-gt-lx-hatchback.html

(regarding coupe vs. hatch and rear weight) and MFE pretty much summed it up here.

ALL mustangs are tire spinners.

Look...we're talking about the difference between 1230 lbs over the rear tires (coupe) and 1288 lbs over the rear tires (hatch equipped exactly the same). It is just not going to be enough to change the traction enough to be enough of an advantage to overcome the DISadvantage of carrying the extra weight around in the first place. That's because tire traction vs loading is non-linear...you don't get 58 lbs more forward thrust capability from adding 58 lbs of weight over the tires, you get a ****load less forward thrust capability than the weight you're adding, but meanwhile you still have to carry the weight around. The right way to put weight over the rear tires is to move it from some place else (e.g. relocate battery), but you don't ADD to the total weight of the car and call it good.

There's a reason we don't all drive around with spare engine blocks in our trunk even though tt's weight over the rear tires. It's because weight is the enemy no matter WHERE it's placed. Take a fixed weight and distribute it best you can, but adding weight to change the distribution is just wrong. And so is claiming that hatches are the better launchers because they're heavier in the back.