Actual Weight Differences SS cars

[Cobra-R]

Originally Posted by wjones14

Brian, did you try the car on a road course track when it was stock? Just wondering what your impressions were off the showroom floor, and if the car needed any adjustments or mods before hitting the track for HPDE events and the like...


Thanks!

Yes. I took the car to Mid America Motorplex in Council Bluffs Iowa a week ago last Saturday totally stock other than better brake pads and adding aprox 5 PSI of air to the tires.

I really was very impressed with the car as is. The balance was alot better then I expected since typically a stock car like this is setup to have tons of understeer from the factory.

During the second session on the track, I totally lost brakes heading into turn 1 at aprox 115 mph.........pedal to the floor pumping for all I was worth. Since it was the original fluid (car was a week old so I did expect it to be better than that), we totally flushed the system with new fluid and tried it again. This time I ran three sessions and lost the brakes again, so I called it a day.

The car is heavy!!!!!!!!!!

My rented transponder only registered one session, the second session out, when the brakes let go. The lap times were in the 1:51's. In comparison, I have the NASA AI record at that track in my Mustang Cobra racecar at 1:41.0. I was impressed to say the least.

Hope that helps.

[FNKNSTN]

Originally Posted by WILWAXU

Curious what the actual weight difference are between 1SS strippers and full loaded 6sp manual cars and automatics.

I've already seen a loaded 6spd car tip the scales at over 4000 lbs raceweight. I'm guessing a loaded Auto would be heavier.

Anyone gathered that type of info yet?

Full tank? Half tank? Quarter tank? Just enough to get 1/4 mile down the strip?

A midget? Or a giant driving?

[rayhawk]

Originally Posted by Cobra-R

Yes. I took the car to Mid America Motorplex in Council Bluffs Iowa a week ago last Saturday totally stock other than better brake pads and adding aprox 5 PSI of air to the tires.

I really was very impressed with the car as is. The balance was alot better then I expected since typically a stock car like this is setup to have tons of understeer from the factory.

During the second session on the track, I totally lost brakes heading into turn 1 at aprox 115 mph.........pedal to the floor pumping for all I was worth. Since it was the original fluid (car was a week old so I did expect it to be better than that), we totally flushed the system with new fluid and tried it again. This time I ran three sessions and lost the brakes again, so I called it a day.

The car is heavy!!!!!!!!!!

My rented transponder only registered one session, the second session out, when the brakes let go. The lap times were in the 1:51's. In comparison, I have the NASA AI record at that track in my Mustang Cobra racecar at 1:41.0. I was impressed to say the least.

Hope that helps.

WTF happened to the brakes? I guess you don't know for sure yet. I would have thought that would have been the least of your problems with the factory setup. Reminds me of the last time I put pads on my truck, they were some fancy material, first time I drove and used them a bit, they faded away to nothing! Needless to say I was surprised. I think it was outgassing that resulted in excessive pressure to stop and heat. After they broke in I never had a problem again. Nice review of the track performance though.

[wjones14]

Originally Posted by rayhawk

WTF happened to the brakes? I guess you don't know for sure yet. I would have thought that would have been the least of your problems with the factory setup. Reminds me of the last time I put pads on my truck, they were some fancy material, first time I drove and used them a bit, they faded away to nothing! Needless to say I was surprised. I think it was outgassing that resulted in excessive pressure to stop and heat. After they broke in I never had a problem again. Nice review of the track performance though.

I'm guessing it was the fluid boiling, but we'll see if Brian has any other theories. If the fix is simply to use ATE Super Blue or similar high-temp brake fluid, then that's not too bad.

http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/ate/a...blue_fluid.jsp

[Cobra-R]

Originally Posted by wjones14

I'm guessing it was the fluid boiling, but we'll see if Brian has any other theories. If the fix is simply to use ATE Super Blue or similar high-temp brake fluid, then that's not too bad.

http://www.tirerack.com/brakes/ate/a...blue_fluid.jsp

Yes your right, it was deffinately boiling fluid. My guess is the heavy weight of the car and the lack of cooling ducts was the cause.

For any of you tracking these cars, you start getting a soft pedal and within a few corners, the brakes are totally gone. If you suspect the brakes are getting weak, scale it back a bit and be sure.........and safe.

Rayhawk,

The brakes do feel awesome and we don't plan on upgrading them other than stainless steel brakelines. Get cooling to the brakes and I believe they will be no problem.


Brian

PS: the website has been updated with some more teardown pictires and well as some exploded view layouts of the rear suspension. (link in my signature)

[Doc]

Originally Posted by Cobra-R

Yes your right, it was deffinately boiling fluid. My guess is the heavy weight of the car and the lack of cooling ducts was the cause.

For any of you tracking these cars, you start getting a soft pedal and within a few corners, the brakes are totally gone. If you suspect the brakes are getting weak, scale it back a bit and be sure.........and safe.

Rayhawk,

The brakes do feel awesome and we don't plan on upgrading them other than stainless steel brakelines. Get cooling to the brakes and I believe they will be no problem.


Brian

PS: the website has been updated with some more teardown pictires and well as some exploded view layouts of the rear suspension. (link in my signature)

Those are some incredible photos... what a project! Thank you so much for posting all this great info!