Had a chance to weigh the Car

[Canadian1968]

A guy I work with had access to a set of scales so I got to see what 68 weighs! Details are.

1968 Original R/T 
Original 440 / 727  with aluminum intake ,water pump, headers
Aluminum rad
Frame ties
16" steel wheels
less than 1/4 gas
No other weight savings/ mods

With me in the car 3770lbs I'm about 160.

I know the low fuel deffinently shed some weight but I was still really surprised !

[INTMD8]

Interesting! You're 400lbs lighter than my 69 with iron hemi and steel wheels.

[Kern Dog]

3610 lbs?
I always weigh my car with a full tank and a spare tire. At approx 6 lbs a gallon, a full tank adds 114 lbs. The spare and jack add around 50.
For you, add 30 lbs to account for the aluminum intake, 15 for the headers vs manifolds and 8 lbs for the water pump. Now you're around 3800. That is closer to the numbers that I am used to seeing.
My '70 318 Charger was 3660 with 4 wheel drum brakes.

[Mike DC]

A guy I work with had access to a set of scales so I got to see what 68 weighs! Details are.

1968 Original R/T
Original 440 / 727  with aluminum intake ,water pump, headers
Aluminum rad
Frame ties
16" steel wheels
less than 1/4 gas
No other weight savings/ mods

With me in the car 3770lbs I'm about 160.

I know the low fuel definitely shed some weight but I was still really surprised !

Interesting.  BTW if you weigh about 160 lbs on a scale then you probably added more like 170 to the car.  Shoes, clothes, wallet, keys, phone, etc.

What other options does the car have?  Steering, brakes, AC, etc?  


Interesting choice with the wheels.  IMO that is an underrated size for muscle cars.  

[Canadian1968]

The car is a factory disk brake car.

Power steering and brakes , No AC

No spare / Jack

[Mike DC]

        
Either way it's a pretty light car for a 440/727.

I swear old muscle cars grow magically heavier the more they get worked on.  The lightest cars aren't the ones with expensive weight-saving parts.  They are the unrestored stock originals.  


Remember Frieburger's General Mayhem when they first built it?  440/727, no rollcage, no huge rear axle/tires, mostly bare metal interior, no vent windows, no side glass/regulators, no front grille assembly, no chrome trim, no decent paint/filler, no jack/spare . . . IIRC it still weighed 3550 pounds in that condition.  Figure that out.

[ht4spd307]

Maybe scale calibration is incorrect on either 

[Kern Dog]

I have owned my car 21 years. The first 3 times that I weighed it, I used different places. The last three were at the same place.
Obviously, to get decent comparable numbers, you need to make things consistent.
Full tank is easy to determine. Anything less is a variable.
Spare tire and jack or none each time.
No extra junk in the car. Make note of any and all differences between times it is weighed.

[Canadian1968]

I do want to take it to another scale just for comparison sake.  ( A metal / Recycle drop off , will let me use their scales for sh!t and giggles)

Ohh its also has a mini starter on it..... Probably good for another 15lbs?

[ACUDANUT]

  Why even bother with this weight issue. ?  You married your car for it's looks. Not it's weight. My try a Neon if you want light car.

[Mike DC]

 

Why even bother with this weight issue. ?  You married your car for it's looks. Not it's weight. My try a Neon if you want light car.

Why bother with horsepower/torque?  

[cdr]

My 68 is right at 3900 with 1/2 tank fuel +me = 4100 & thats without a hood

[Canadian1968]

  Why even bother with this weight issue. ?  You married your car for it's looks. Not it's weight. My try a Neon if you want light car.

Ummm mm ok? It's not an issue.  It was more for information sake, than anything .

Don't think I can fit a big block in a neon either.......

Sorry but that was juat a dumb comment.....

[c00nhunterjoe]

Mine is alot heavier then that and is missing more oe parts and has more aluminum parts added.   i weigh at 3880 less driver, with 12 gallons of fuel in the cell.

[Mike DC]

  

Mine is alot heavier then that and is missing more oe parts and has more aluminum parts added.  scratchchin i weigh at 3880 less driver, with 12 gallons of fuel in the cell.

That's what I'm talking about.  It's hard to make sense of the curb weights of different 2nd-gens.  They seem to disobey logic.

[c00nhunterjoe]

I have a 440 with aluminum intake and heads, headers with no exhaust or mufflers. Aluminum radiator. 727, dana. Lightweight seats, no heater box or radio. Gutted dash, no spare or any trunk items. Plastic fuel cell. Aluminum wheels and shes scales at 3880.

[Kern Dog]

That is heavy for being so stripped out. The Dana is heavy but I would expect that car to be closer to 3650-3700 lbs.

[Mike DC]

            
The Dana 60 weight penalty is overblown.  

I remember an old magazine article (maybe 20 years ago) where they weighed a Dana 60 versus an 8.75.  They were about 240 and 190 lbs.  

The 50 lbs is mainly a problem because it's unsprung.  

[metallicareload99]

 

Mine is alot heavier then that and is missing more oe parts and has more aluminum parts added.  scratchchin i weigh at 3880 less driver, with 12 gallons of fuel in the cell.

That's what I'm talking about.  It's hard to make sense of the curb weights of different 2nd-gens.  They seem to disobey logic.

I don't know why my car is so heavy, last time I weighed it at the waste transfer station, no driver:

3815 pounds.

XP 318 car, full tank of gas, subframe connectors, torque boxes, aluminum radiator, 440 with aluminum heads, intake, water pump and housing, headers, iron bellhousing, A-833, Dana 60, 1"+ torsion bars, R/T rear springs, rear sway bar added. No A/C, manual steering, no power brakes, has working heater

[Mike DC]

I don't know why my car is so heavy, last time I weighed it at the waste transfer station, no driver:

3815 pounds.

XP 318 car, full tank of gas, subframe connectors, torque boxes, aluminum radiator, 440 with aluminum heads, intake, water pump and housing, headers, iron bellhousing, A-833, Dana 60, 1"+ torsion bars, R/T rear springs, rear sway bar added. No A/C, manual steering, no power brakes, has working heater
Posted on: Yesterday at 10:47:42 PMPosted by: Mike DC (formerly miked)

Yep, that's another surprisingly heavy result.  

         
A full 2nd-gen tank holds about 123 lbs of gasoline (19.5 gallon capacity x 6.3 lbs per gallon).  So your dry empty weight is 3692.  That still sounds pretty heavy for your option list.  

If you've got big aftermarket wheels, those are probably heavier than you expect (even alloy).  Same with front disc brake conversions that use later 1970s Mopar rotors & cast-iron calipers.

Non-stock front buckets tend to be heavy too.  Along with aftermarket sound-deadening.  
             

[c00nhunterjoe]

That is heavy for being so stripped out. The Dana is heavy but I would expect that car to be closer to 3650-3700 lbs.

It has a filled block, factory undercoating and a fair amount of bondo in the 1/4s but still. It is heavy. Its been weighed on 2 sets of scales.

[Mike DC]

It has a filled block, factory undercoating and a fair amount of bondo in the 1/4s but still. It is heavy. Its been weighed on 2 sets of scales.

12 gallons of fuel is about 76 lbs.  So you're closer to 3800 on an empty tank.  

The filled block adds weight, but it sounds like you also removed 100+ lbs of weight from that engine & exhaust.  
I dunno what your fuel cell weighs, but the stock gas tank (empty) weighs about 18 lbs.  

The stock 68/69 front buckets are 50 lbs each (with the brackets & headrests).  The rear seat is another 50 lbs (both pieces total).  

I can't remember what the heater-only dashboard box weighs.  But the AC version weighs about 50 lbs (just the dash box, not the whole AC system).  
           

[c00nhunterjoe]

It has a filled block, factory undercoating and a fair amount of bondo in the 1/4s but still. It is heavy. Its been weighed on 2 sets of scales.

12 gallons of fuel is about 76 lbs.  So you're closer to 3800 on an empty tank.  

The filled block adds weight, but it sounds like you also removed 100+ lbs of weight from that engine & exhaust.  
I dunno what your fuel cell weighs, but the stock gas tank (empty) weighs about 18 lbs.  

The stock 68/69 front buckets are 50 lbs each (with the brackets & headrests).  The rear seat is another 50 lbs (both pieces total).  

I can't remember what the heater-only dashboard box weighs.  But the AC version weighs about 50 lbs (just the dash box, not the whole AC system).  
           

The cell is plastic, its light. 2as a heater only car. I still run a full interior with factory carpet and sound deadner.