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After fitting the new wider track wishbones, rear axle and completing the body mods I roughly set the ride heights and then put it on the scales. The results were quite alarming as you imagine the corner weights shouldn`t be too far out if all the ride height measurements are set equal on each axle respectively.

Initial corner weights in kgs, there was some fuel in it and the bonnet was not fitted, as it made it easier to make adjustments without it;

N/S/F 219 O/S/F 169

N/S/R 164 O/S/R 214

total weight 766kgs

Clearly from the results the N/S/F and O/S/R corners were carrying most of the weight. I didn`t expect it to be so far out as the ride heights were set up accurately and I would expect a slight bias to the N/S/R due to the battery location.

After many hours, as I rolled the car around between adjustments to let the suspenion settle before weighing it every time.

N/S/F 194 O/S/F 193

N/S/R 190 O/S/R 189

total weight 766kgs and that was near enough for me!

After this I removed all the fuel and added an equivelent weight to the front of the car to compensate for the bonnet, this would give me it`s new weight. I had weighed it on a public weighbridge after finishing the initial rebuild but they are not always that acurate and was told it would be within 20kgs though! I guess that it was near enough as I new roughly what it was going to be as I had weighed everything that I removed and fitted to the car.

Once I had established the cars weight I then went through the whole process again with some ballast equivelent to my bodyweight on the drivers seat.

With the bonnet and with 15kgs of fuel the car has a perfect 50/50 weight distribution and when I`m sat in it`s nearer 47.5/52.5. The more fuel I have in it gives it a greater weight bias to the rear which helps with traction.

The really good news is that after all the work carried out over the last 3 years the weight of the car is actually less than it was due to the thinner panels and other weight saving measures

After doing the sums I can get another 25 - 30kgs out of the car, but at a cost. The wheels are the easiest weight saving by going to magnesium or billet 3 piece items 12kgs - 13kgs to be saved there. The radiator and fans are very heavy at present, a custom built alloy unit would save me between 5 - 6kgs easily. The rest I can get by changing the rear brake calipers to alloy items and thinner panelling on parts of the bodyshell.

I would be struggling to get anymore torque out of the engine and to get another 30 - 40bhp will cost a fortune. The quest for less weight will continue over the winter along with a search for a moderate and economic power gain.

MarcosMantula wrote:

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I had my Mantula weighed and with a bit less than 1/2 tank of fuel came in at 1010kg and with me in it 1120kg. I have now lost quite a bit of weight