Some running gear trivia

[Wynand]

Most of us know the weight of our cars when completed. Ever wondered what individual component may weight?

I got the young lad to weight the complete running gear on my car on an electronic scale and was quite surprised by the weight of the parts. The front suspension is my own design and all WB's are made of 25 x 2mm steel tube.

The following were weight:
1. Sierra diff, two side-shafts, two rear hubs complete with brake shoes, drum etc.
2. Rear uprights (Rorty design = heavy), Upper & lower WB,s with bushes and inserts.
3. Front upper and lower WB's with all balljoints, camber adjusters, bushes etc.
4. Cortina Mk 5 uprights, complete hubs, discs with calipers.
5. Escort Mk2 steering rack.

Sum of the parts? 95kg (209lbs)

Now if I add 115 for the Zetec, about 35kg gearbox (unknown as I await a box) and for prop shaft, it does not leave a large margin to build the rest of the car if one, as in my case, one aims for 580kg (1170lbs) for completed car

[HandyAndy]

I think forum member "Alga" also weighed his running gear & got similar weights as you.
Most of the completed cars have come in weighing between around the 530 to 650kgs & thats with a full tank ( requirement for when its IVA tested).
It still gives a very good Power to weight ratio whatever engine is used & gives sprightly performance

I,m hoping my own car will be around 540kgs when tested , I weigh 71kgs so all in around 610kgs, not bad when you consider the donor vehicle weighed approx 1250kgs

cheers
andy

[monsterob]

lol !! parkers says my donor weighed 1539 kg mines going to fly !

[alga]

Yeah, I was amazed how the ~70 kg chassis grew to ~240 kg when the components for the rolling chassis stage were added. Still hard to believe, but that's the number I got when adding up the measured and calculated component weights.

[Wynand]

Albert, did the 240kg includes the wheels?

Since my chassis is the bigger version and a bit overdone in the rear department for the IRS (looks like a Chinese bamboo scaffolding) including extra reinforcing in the front to prevent twist and plating elsewhere to support, it's bare weights is now 92kg.
Add that to the running gear and Im at 187kg. That excludes the rims and tires.

I can live with the extra weight in favour for the extra strength and stiffness. Our road are well known for potholes etc and in my part of the woods pretty rough.

On the photos below it will be noticed that the scuttle has a 2mm dual pipe frame on which it will be attach - this also act as a secondary roll bar to the rear roll hoop should the car turn turtle.
The silly round bar on the frame on the front is just a jig to aligned the scuttle roll hoops radius to the nosecone curve. Where it sits it mimics the nosecone for me to take measurements.