• Hi Guest!
    You can help ensure that British Car Forum (BCF) continues to provide a great place to engage in the British car hobby! If you find BCF a beneficial community, please consider supporting our efforts with a subscription.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

MGC Weight of MGC

Share this page

glemon said:
How much did the scale thingy set you back?
Click to expand...

The scales are not mine....they beling to Pete Mantell of mantell Motorsport. ( https://www.mantellmotorsport.com ) Pete lives about 2 miles south of me. I believe he sourced them through Summit Racing.

They are designed for oval dirt trak racin' (hence the "bite" and left vs rear weights, etc)...but have been very informational with V8 conversions, etc.
 
The spring rate for the front torsion bars is (a ridiculously low) 100 lb/in measured at the outer end of the lower arm. The arm is 12" long, the adjuster is 3" long and the adjuster screw is 1/2" X 20 threaded. This means a 1/4 turn on the adjuster would change the tire loading by 5 lb. Just turning the adjuster one "flat" would get a 3 lb change in all four tire loadings to 689 LF, 685 RF, 535 LR and 534 RR. Really close.
Nornally cars are listed at "curb weight" which is with all normal fluids on board (oil, coolant, etc.) and half a tank of fuel. If the car did have 3 US gallons in it an additional 4 US gallons (tank capacity was 12 Imperial gallons or 14 US gallons) in the tank (about 32 lbs), which is about 16" behind the axle and offset to the right a bit with the wheelbase of 91" (7' 7") would get about this: 684 LF, 680 RF, 558 LR and 556 RR. Front 1364 (55.05%)and Rear 1114 (44.95%)totals.
I had always figured the MGC roadster at 55/45%. And the GT is a bit better. So for handling, say an autocross, the more weight you have in the boot the better. Leave the jack, the spare tire, all the tools and anything else you can in the boot. It's called ballasting! The car has enough power, it just needs to be balanced better.
Believe me, I once set my fastest time of the day on one autocross with a 225 lb (or bigger) passenger in my GT.
C Ya,
Mark
 
Back
Top