has anybody actually weighed their ranchero at a race track or truck stop?

mine isn't running yet, and i'm going to try to lighten it up as much as possible before i get it to the track - so i'm trying to get a baseline here. from what i understand, the numbers on the door sticker aren't even close. also front/rear weight distribution if anybody knows...

it's a '75 ranchero "500", originally with 351W, FMX tranny, posi, fancy interior - 40/60 split seats, full gauges, P/S, A/C, cruise, interval wipers... no P/W or PDL.

 

I weighed my 73 ranchero 500 with 400/C6 split bench, power everything, a/c, and 1/4 tank of gas and it weighed 2500 in the front and about half that in the rear and the total weight was 4280.

 

thanks!

do you know if the '73 has that gigantic hunk of steel on the front end, aka the "5mph bumper"?

do you have anything aluminum on it - intake, heads...?

what about wheels - steel, aluminum, drag-lites?



man, that's heavy! i'm gonna need a few more ponies than i thought!

 

Yes, it has the 75 pound bumper and the bracing in the doors and so on and so forth.

Aluminum intake and carb.

Steel wheels. 225/70/15 up front and 275/60/15 out back. Not sure on size of rims.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 07-Aug-02 AT 03:26 PM (EST)]thanks - that's some useful info! to reduce and/or transfer weight, i'm thinking of:

convering to power rack & pinion steering
removing the heavy steel bumper & rubber/steel shock mounts, and making some aluminum brackets to support the chrome "outer bumper"
moving the battery & spare back by the tailgate
aluminum intake, water pump and radiator
serpentine belt with late-model aluminum accessory brackets and underdrive pulleys
late-model aluminum/plastic master cylinder
late-model A/C
remove steel beams from doors
lightweight late-model starter
C4 tranny
Weld "pro-star" wheels
lightweight seats

those are the obvious things i've thought of so far, that seem to be do-able without throwing down a fat wad of cash - basically junkyard and commonly available (cheap) maintenance parts, and a lot of work!

i have some other ideas, but i'm not sure how practical they are, or if there are parts available:

fiberglass fenders & hood (maybe someone makes these?)
fiberglass bumper & front-end (yeah, right!)
plastic (lexan?) windshield and other glass (street legal? curve-able?)
move radiator to back (PVC hot water pipe, electric fan)
replace front control arms with tubular steel or aluminum... (aftermarket? "donor" car?)

i'd really like to get it down to 3750 lbs. or less, but that may not be possible... with all the above stuff except the fiberglass body parts and plastic windows, i'm guessing it looks about like 2200 front, and 1850 rear, or about 4000 total...
if anyone has any advice or opinions or other thoughts on any of this, i'd like to hear it - that's why i'm posting this here! especially if you might know of parts, materials, or techniques that would be helpful.

 

Does anyone know of a place that does fiberglass body parts for the ranchero besides the pin-on hood from US BODY?
I want a one piece fiberglass front end but I would settle for a fiberglass hood that can utilize the stock hinges with a 2-3" cowl and fiberglass outer fenders... and maybe fiberglass door skins, if they are not thicker than the factory metal skins.
Someone was doing a fiberglass bumper, but I can't remember who or how much they were going for.

 

thanks for the info on the hood - i don't want pin-on either, but if there aren't any others, it should be possible to reinforce it and put some weak springs in the hinges, or use lightweight hinges and a prop rod. probably have to pin the front, but that's a good idea with any fiberglass hood!

yeah, a one-piece tilt-up 'glass front end would be really cool!

i saw a guy on a torino web site named "Dutch" who was going to make a fiberglass front bumper for a '73. it had some subtle styling tweaks, so it looked a lot like the original but slightly more aero or modern looking. really pretty nice! that was a year or two ago, so i don't know if he ever got the prototype finished and if he has a "for sale" version ready now. mine is a '75, so it wouldn't look quite right - but i've been thinking i'd like to convert to the '73 front end anyway...