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Old 03-01-2012, 12:16 PM
elmariachi elmariachi is offline
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Cobra Make, Engine: Contemporary Cobra, 427 side oiler
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Quote:
Originally Posted by D-CEL View Post
With regards to your handling issue, I will be curious how the “corner weight gang” responds to this. I would doubt that CW is the cause. If the car doesn’t go straight under acceleration. Im not sure what you have for rear susp. But I would be looking at the rear axel first. Alignment, position, and pre-load. Jason
If the corner weights are not balanced properly and you have more weight of the car on one side versus the other, it will not go straight under hard acceleration. I would suspect its MORE likely the rear end setup as offered above, but go ask the drag racers why the worry about left and right weight distribution. Its because it affects straight-line launch.

EDIT>>

I just pulled my measurements. Before doing the corners my car didn't handle very well. It responded much differently in right turns than left, especially if accelerating. I actually thought it was the Billboards at first. We had already checked alignment and rear end setup and thought we were good there. Hurricanes have had some bump steer anomalies so we measured that as well and it wasn't too pronounced (once we got the right camber specs.) Then a buddy said "Hey come use my scales and let's set up your corner weights." Huh? So we put it on the scales and here were the initial measurements:

LF: 677 RF: 683 Total front: 1360 lbs Total left: 1367

LR: 690 RR: 650 Total rear: 1340 lbs Total right: 1333

This is almost a 50/50 front to rear ratio, and more weight on the driver's side (even before counting me). Quite a shock given the big FE up front. And clearly the axis from RF to LR was bearing more weight, 34 lbs more. Oddly though the wheel lip to floor measurements suggested the car was level left to right. So by adjusting the coils we got to this:

LF: 710 RF: 725 Total front: 1435 Total left: 1335

LR: 625 RR: 640 Total rear: 1265 Total right: 1405

This moved 75 pounds from rear to front, which yielded a 53/47 ratio. Much more towards what you would expect with the FE. But the diagonal values are perfect (1350/1350). We chose not to make adjustments with me in the car because the left was already 70 lbs lighter than the right, probably would be about equal with me in the car. This made a noticeable difference in how the car handles and steers. And amazingly, the car sits almost level (RR is 1/8" higher than LR) and has more of the a$$-low stance I wanted.

I didn't know squat about this beforehand but there is no denying the numbers and the resulting handling.

Last edited by elmariachi; 03-01-2012 at 01:08 PM.. Reason: Added more info
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