Weight distribution on stock small block e-body

[priderocks]

Am I correct in assuming a stock e-body weighs in at around 3800 lbs? Does anyone know the weight distribution on a small block car (non a/c, auto). I have replaced my stock heads with Edelbrocks, and am thinking of moving the batterty to the trunk just for grins, and wonder what effect those changes would have.

[Moparal]

you know, unless your trying to milk your car for all it has, it isnt really worth doing all the things you're asking like battery in the trunk and stuff. It takes a whole bunch of small street rod tricks to really get anywhere.  Now if you commit, and start spending money that would be different. But to run low 12's or high 10's  I would keep your car looking good like it is.  A good weight ratio is 49 rear 51 front. you are gonna be like 60/40 or more.


your car should be around 3500 lbs or so with no cage. Maybe less like 3450

[priderocks]

I'm not going to race it. Just am not real impressed with stock handling. Here's what I've done/am doing; urethane strut rod bushings, bumped the torsion bars up to .960, stock rear sway bar, bumped front sway bar up to 1 inch, and welded stiffening plates unto lower control arms. I don't have much $ in the mods so far. I also have no idea what I'm doing, just a combo of things I've read from people on this forum. The engine was already built when I decided to toy with the other stuff, and moving the battery didn't seem like a big deal either. That got me to thinking about weight distribution. Just curious if that would have any effect on handling

[340Challman]

Are you looking at the distribution for better handling, or has Al got it and you want more weight traction? If you are looking to improve the handling just for street and not track, some minor alignment changes and stiffen up the rear (prevent body roll) and you will notice an improvement. My car has minimal weight up front, 340, no PS, no PB, no A/C and is very stiff in the rear. I can put it in a very controllable 4 wheel drift. I'm not talking "today's" drift either. I don't mean you are crossed up with oversteer. I mean the rear track is slightly outside the front track. The manual steering really helps feel the front end. Be careful with moving too much weight to the rear because the closer you get to a neutral balance the faster the rear will step out on you in a corner. Most people are not very good with an oversteering car, unless that is what you are after.

Hope this helped.

You posted just before me. You are probably trying to cut back on the amount of understeer (push) the car has. As strange as it may seem you want the rear to be more stiff than the front. Yes, you do need to reduce front body roll, but if you stiffen the front and not the back you will still push. I would not worry about the large dollars you can spend on improved steering geometry unless you are going to the track to push it hard. If you are just on the street and need more than you can get without the suspension swap then no offense but you are pushing to hard on the streets.

[HP2]

I'm not going to race it. Just am not real impressed with stock handling.

First, lets qualify unimpressed. Is it better or worse than a new Honda? It is not difficult to get an E body to pull .85 lateral acceleration which is where most modern cars will do. You can get them up to .95-1 g, but it takes a lot more work than bolting on a bunch of parts.

Do you know what your alignment is? Way too many cars are built then taken to a shop where they pull up the 35 year old specs for skinny bias ply tires and bring it into "spec." First thing I'd suggest  is to drop the nose an inch or two. Then take it to a reputable local shop who can put -.5 to -1 degree camber with as much caster as possible. Set the toe at 1/16 in. The difference should be dramatic.

Here's what I've done/am doing; urethane strut rod bushings, bumped the torsion bars up to .960, stock rear sway bar, bumped front sway bar up to 1 inch, and welded stiffening plates unto lower control arms. I don't have much $ in the mods so far. I also have no idea what I'm doing, just a combo of things I've read from people on this forum. The engine was already built when I decided to toy with the other stuff, and moving the battery didn't seem like a big deal either. That got me to thinking about weight distribution. Just curious if that would have any effect on handling

Weight distribution is certainly a part of, by wheel rates are a bigger part in a street car.

Weight wise, it tough to guess. I've seen some pretty portly E bodies in my time, but I've also seen some that are reasonably light. 3800 is probably a bit high. My 74 with a/c and lots of other junk a 70 doesn't have came in around 3600 before I starting digging in to it. Couldn't quote the front to rear bias though.

[heminut]

My Cuda weighed 3800 with me (250 lbs.) in it when the 392 hemi was in it, and that 392 weighs a good 200 lbs more than a small block. That was on a certified truck scale. It was also no A/C, and manual brakes and steering. I also weighed the front and rear seperately and it figured out to 57/43 weight bias with the battery in the trunk.

[torredcuda]

I doubt you will notice any differnce in handling  moving the battery to the trunk as it doesn`t wiegh that much and you will actually be adding wieght to the car as the 1ga wire you need to use is fairly heavy.If you also change to fiberglass bumper,hood,fenders etc. you might change the frt/rr distribution enough to affect the handling.What are you running for tires as a low profile stickier compound will make a big difference without much effort?

[Katfish]

   That was my first thought.  Change to some low profile tires and you'll see the biggest improvement.  I went to 17s up front and 18s in the rear, the difference was as dramatic as when I completely rebuilt the entire front end.

There's a lot of flex in the 15" combos.

[drewcrane]

HP 2 has the correct specs for alignment, that is what i have and it handles very well
,also i had mine weighed when i started 383/auto ps,pb no a/c 3850lbs , then i put a ton of money in it and with a 440 it weighs 3650 lbs, now with the battery in the trunk my rear weighs 1500 lbs so these cars are obviously front end heavy so imo put as much in the trunk as you can,maybe even the kitchen sink

[Chryco Psycho]

it depends a lot on the year , for example my 70 weighs 3540 with the big block , my 74 weighed 3800 with a 340 & the bumper braces removed already , obviously the nose will be lighter with the small block or an alum big block

[72hemi]

Why did the small block car weigh more?

[Chryco Psycho]

obviously they had to add more weight to meet safety requirements imposed by the government