Had my car weighed and corner balance checked today - excellent news!

[450knotOffice]

I drove over to Hergesheimers today and they let me put the Porsche on their alignment rack / scale.

I was extremely pleased with what I saw, to say the least.

I've got an '84 Cab, which according to just about every source I've seen, should weigh about 2860 pounds. Cabs carry an extra 110 pounds over the standard coupes, which weighed 2750 pounds in'84.

Anyway, the car ended up weighing only 2644 pounds - and that was with a half tank (roughly 60 pounds) of gas in the tank. So it's empty weight ended up being only 2585 pounds - a full 275 pounds less than standard. Sweet!

The other good news - better actually, was that my car's corner balance basically could not have been better, according to the guys at Hergesheimers. They said that my numbers were what they would be trying to shoot for in one of their race cars (I know, I know, if I wanted the car to be absolutely perfect, it would be corner balanced with me sitting in it.).

http://vintagebus.com/cgi-bin/balance.cgi?name=&car=1984+Carrera+Cabriolet&notes=&LF=484&RF=478&LR=841&RR=841

The numbers:
LF - 484 lbs RF - 478 lbs
LR - 841 lbs RR - 841 lbs

Ratios:
LF/LR = .576
RF/RR = .568

Side to side:
Left = 1325 lbs (50.11%)
Right = 1319 lbs (49.89%)

Diagonal Weight:
LF + RR = 1325 lbs
RF + LR = 1319 lbs

I guess that explains why my car seems so perfectly balanced in the twisties!

OK. I'm happy now.

[Jeff Alton]

Very nice numbers.

Jeff

[450knotOffice]

Thank you. I could not be more pleased.

[Jack Olsen]

What's been done to lighten the car?

[450knotOffice]

To be honest, Jack, I had no idea that it would be so light for a '84 Cab. This car has a working AC, power windows, stereo, etc. It seems to have had the cruise control deleted. It has the RS style door panels. The spare tire, jack and tool kit were awol when I got the car. I removed a huge steel girder from the right side of the front bumper a few months back that probably weighed 15 to 20 pounds.

I honestly have no idea how the car lost 275 pounds from it's listed stock weight. Even the guys at Hergesheimers were a little surprised that the car was so light (for a cab ). I'm pretty sure the rig that I pulled the car up onto is properly calibrated; and they personally guided me into the proper position on the rig so I don't think there was any position error.

I'll take it though. Lighter is good.

[SC-targa]

I would think a Cab should weigh almost exactly the same as a coupe. The cab is based on a Targa platform with the roll bar cut off and the heavy rear window removed. A Targa ought to weigh about 50 pounds more than an equivalent coupe. There is no additional reinforcement on a cab, compared to a Targa, and the folding top is lighter than the steel top and glass windows in the coupe. That should offset the additional stiffeners added to the Targa based chassis.

Considering that the spare tire and jack are removed and there was only a half a tank of fuel, that doesn't sound too far off to me.

Regards,

Jerry Kroeger

[widebody911]

Originally posted by SC-targa
There is no additional reinforcement on a cab, compared to a Targa

Targas and cabs have the same reinforcements, and later cabs got an extra piece across the back that targas didn't get.