What do these cars actually weigh?

[Dangermouse]

Interesting thread.

Presumably there was a standard weight of an average person in 1981 that they used in their design and it would have been less than 188lb. Possibly 150 or 160 to allow for some luggage. I wonder what number the car companies use today for the average American?

Would be great to get a BTTF car on these scales too

[David T]

Drilled and ventilated rotors won't help with braking distances, they will just delay the onset of fade. You might consider a more aggressive pad but it will chew up the rotors. The limited slip diff (a quafe) will only help during certain particular driving conditions. About the only time you will encounter such conditions is on a track while racing. IMHO way too expensive for the very limited gain. In fact, with the Quafe, under other different conditions, it can actually make it harder to control. We see this in the Lotus, it has an open diff and some have put the Quafe in and after spending all of that money they do not have a whole lot of good things to say about it. Few will say it was a bad thing, especially after plunking down all of that money! What does make sense is the one piece input shaft. You should also be using Redline MT-90 in the transaxle now. The money spent on the Quafe would be better spent on an advanced driving course like a Skippy course. Learn how to drive better and you don't need the Quafe. It seems you have already made up your mind. Let us know how it works out.
David Teitelbaum

[jmettee]

Forgot about replying with my info for a few days. Here's what I weighed on my stock manual with all the "extras" taken out (tools, fire extinguisher, etc) & full of fuel.

Front 1054 (37.5%)
Rear 1757 (62.5%)
Total 2811

[Nicholas R]

Drilled and ventilated rotors won't help with braking distances, they will just delay the onset of fade. You might consider a more aggressive pad but it will chew up the rotors. The limited slip diff (a quafe) will only help during certain particular driving conditions. About the only time you will encounter such conditions is on a track while racing. IMHO way too expensive for the very limited gain. In fact, with the Quafe, under other different conditions, it can actually make it harder to control. We see this in the Lotus, it has an open diff and some have put the Quafe in and after spending all of that money they do not have a whole lot of good things to say about it. Few will say it was a bad thing, especially after plunking down all of that money! What does make sense is the one piece input shaft. You should also be using Redline MT-90 in the transaxle now. The money spent on the Quafe would be better spent on an advanced driving course like a Skippy course. Learn how to drive better and you don't need the Quafe. It seems you have already made up your mind. Let us know how it works out.
David Teitelbaum

The ventilation in the brakes doesn't help the braking, it's the fact that they're 4 piston calipers that helps them. They also have very aggressive wilwood pads to dig into the wilwood discs. The braking is VERY noticeably improved.

Also I very much disagree about the LSD. The LS1 produces a lot of power, much more than you're used to in a Delorean, and if either tire has a reduction in traction, there is no hesitation before that tire spins freely. It's not a question of my driving ability, it's just physics. In an open differential the power follows the path of least resistance; only takes one wheel. Cliffs car with the 2JZ supra engine has the LSD and it is a truly noticeable difference. Eddy was telling me about when he first did that swap and how he did a 360 in the car after accelerating through a puddle down in FL. After that he knew he needed the LSD. I haven't done any 360s but if definitely felt the traction loss many times. To me the LSD is a very justifiable improvement.

[thirdmanj]

All this talk of LSD is very exciting!

[David T]

One big reason in the Lotus's for getting a LSD is if one wheel should lose traction momentarily and then quickly regain it you can get enormous shock loads into the drivertrain. The LSD is supposed to help reduce that. There are things you can do with the suspension that can mitigate the bad effects and I would try some of them first. Getting a LSD only trades some bad traits for others. You will find that out once you get it. The # of pistons all by itself does not change the way the brakes work. It has to do with pressures and that is a function of the sizes of the pistons. 4 small pistons can do what 2 larger ones can do if they are sized accordingly. The composition of the brake pads can have a HUGE effect on braking characteristics. Ventilating and drilling the rotors not so much. Typically the more aggressive the pad the more they will chew up the rotors. Also the most aggressive pads only really get good once they get hot. Till then they really don't 'bite". Not a good trait for a car driven on the street where you may have to do a panic stop on cold brakes.
David Teitelbaum