Thread: Roadster pickup is a heavy little son of a gun

Tweet

I am currently in the middle of a design contract for a company that weighs all incoming and outgoing trucks, and the scales are corrected and certified every 2 weeks. The other morning I had to go down for a meeting, and I said to the kid on the security gate/scale house, "How about weighing my car for me?" The kid said "Sure. its early and nobody's around, drive on." The roadster pickup (with my weight subtracted) weighs 2900 pounds!!! That is heavier than I expected.

Good grief - is that what I have to expect with my '31 roadster??

It must be that new light bar and forged fender braces you installed!!!

It's been my experience that big scales are somewhat inaccurate on the low end . . . certified or not.

A better way to weigh the car is to put one corner of it on one of the 1000# platform scales with balance beam.

Make yourself three wood blocks the height of the scale platform, set the car up on the wood blocks and the scale, weigh each corner of the car and add it up.

Kinda interesting the differing weights at each corner.

You can find these old scales for not much money sometimes.
I got one for $60. USD.
It cleaned up fine, I just have to make a small counterweight that's part of the permanent counterweight so that it balances at zero when not loaded.

Fwiw, my highboy 32 weighed 2400# on the NHRA scales at March Meet a few years back.
Most highboy 32s - steel or glass - running SBC, T-350 and a nine inch come in at 2300#.

My roadster has a 462" Buick - which weighs 15# more than an SBC, T-400 which weighs probably 60# more than a T-350, a top which is about 45# and a 2 1/2" OD with .120 wall four point roll bar which is maybe 60#.

That's pretty surprising Brian, I would have thought more like 2400-2500. They list the weight of a regular Model A as being 2265. You must have really put some extra reinforcements into yours when you built it.

I wonder what Dan's is going to weigh? His frame is waaaaaay overbuilt and he has the 455 sitting up there and a heavy 9 incher on the other end.

Don

Don---I think that when you look at the diference in the weight of a smalblock chev V8 compared to a 4 cylinder model A ford engine, plus the weight of a turbo 350, plus the boxing plates, plus the extra crossmembers, that 600 pounds more than the weight of a stock model A is not unreasonable.

I just had my Crown Vic on the scales when I hauled some junk to the scrapyard. 3780 empty, which surprised me, I figured more.

Yeah Brian, I guess all those extra steel plates and all add up. I know Dan's frame is to the point where the two of us can't flip it any more.

Don

Denny--That is a good price.

Originally Posted by DennyW

This is what I'm dealing with, and you guys think you got a lot of weight...

And that's before I added the Merc engine, and C6 trans...

The half-ton trucks' wheelbase was stretched to 112-inches. Its frame was entirely new, heavier and stronger than the passenger car frames of the past. Subsequently, its GVW rating increased to 4400 pounds from 4100 pounds.

Hey Brian, look what I just found, up your way...
http://www.americandreamcars.com/193...pkup101002.htm

Denny they are even asking for US currency, which for the first time in my life is less than the Loonie!

Originally Posted by C9x

Kinda interesting the differing weights at each corner.

yeah you should see how the weights differ in one of these modified stock-cars holy moly !!

I'm very surprised that your rpu is 2900 lbs, I would have guess no more than 2500. My 34 Plymouth 2 door sedan is 3240 lbs. That's only 340 lbs more and I have a heavier roof (steel) and all steel fenders and running boards. Of course the Vette rear is probably lighter than your rear. But still.........

....yeah Brian, that sounds like a lot. My '32 3 window, glass body, turbo 400, 400 small block, 9" rear was 2450 on truck scales.... Hard to imagine your roadster p/u weighing 450 pounds MORE! Bill

I looked at the pics in your gallery and it looks as tho you might have a tendancy to over build things and the weight doesn't surprise me

Jerry

Geez Brian!!! The '67 Comet we drag race complete with BBF and an NHRA legal cage with 6 gals. of fuel and a "wide bodied" driver only comes out at 2750!!!!! The Thunderbird is a tad heavier, 2890, but has a full interior!!!!

Maybe I'd better elaberate a little---not commenting on whether the scale was accurate in the lower ranges----but rather that I think your construction methods are running unnecessarily toward the heavy side ---It takes an effort to build something at the minimun weight and choices about whether to use the material for minium weight or what ever you have laying around usually is the deciding factor as how the total is arrived at--

I see a lot of heavy wall retangle and square tubing, long heavy flat flanges--no evidence of trying to build lite---sorry if I seem harsh----

Jerry