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Bare Body Shell Weight Revealed


Jeff

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Well I finally dropped my Z off the rotisserie tonight and I had promised BlueOvalZ, Terry Oxandale, that I would weigh the bare body shell. Of course I promised him this over a year ago when I put it on the rotisserie. :bonk: I have it on four jack stands and bought four cheapo bathroom scales to place under each stand. I added up the weights and subtracted out the weight of the jack stands.

 

And the verdict is 520 pounds

 

The car is down to bare metal with every ounce of undercoating stripped and the small rails that go under the floor pans are removed right now. The tranny mount has also been removed. I would guess this is 30 to 40 pounds that need to be added back in.

 

I was a little surpised that it weighed that much as I would have guessed in the 400 pound range. Oh BTW this is an early 260 so it should be similar to a 240. I started with a 240 that I gave up on and I really don't see very many differences when comparing the two body shells.

 

Just thought this was an interesting bit of trivia I would share with the masses. I've got a great pic of it on the scales but won't be able to post it until tomorrow because I left the cable for my camera at work. I hate it when that happens :twak:

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Guest Zachb55

hmm, that does seem sortof high for some reason, but still not bad i guess. I know i can lift the front end a good foot off the ground, and im not that strong, and i can also skooch the rear around as needed. i still have the wheels and suspension and diff. on it though. i wonder what the exact same thing would weigh in carbon fiber? i wonder how many hours of work it would be to make a shell out of carbon fiber and aluminum and umm any other really expensive extremely light-weight materials we could think of??? :wink: I know that one of the first things im gonna do is weigh my car as soon as i get it all back together. im hoping for around the 2500 mark, where does all that weight come from? jeesh... lol. thanks for the info man!! :D

 

-Zach

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I can't take credit for the bathroom scale idea that was BlueOvalZ's idea.

 

I sure hope none of the ladies in the neighborhood catch you returning those scales.....

 

Oh damn I've been busted :D Target had those for $5.09 each and they weighed me the same as my existing scale so hopefully they're somewhat acurate.

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Mike:

 

I'm going to get the suspension back under it this weekend and then it's off to a shop to have the subframes installed, front frame rails replaced and a portion of the inner fenders sectioned.

 

I knew this car had been in a collision but once I stripped it I found how badly the reapir had been botched. They had bondoed the damn frame rails. The rails are wavy as hell and I don't feel comfortable trying this much structural work on my own. If I don't pay someone to do this work I'm never going to get done.

 

I have a full spare suspension so I can start cleaning up everything and get my coilovers installed while the car is in the shop.

 

SPIIRIT:

 

There is actually a fourth jack stand & scale under there it's really weird that you can't see it. Yes the cashier gave me an odd look as she rang up four scales. :D

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My dad and I picked up my bare 73 240Z shell (with subframe connectors installed, along with thicker engine frame rails). He was about 81 yrs old (he's 85 now) at the time. He's not a body builder but he's in excellent shape for his age. I'm out of shape - have been for 15 yrs or so.

 

Based on that info, I guessed 400-500 lbs. We lifted it off of high jack stands on about 9" tall platforms (getting it onto the rotisserie) and held it up for 5 seconds or so.

 

Thanks for using the bathroom scales to actually measure the weight.

 

If anything, you could have slightly jammed the scales (pushing the platforms sideways) and that would underestimate the weight. But I seriously doubt that my dad and I could have lifted and held much more than 500 lbs for 5 seconds (at least I took the heavy rear end :D )

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Mines probably 50 pounds heavier than yours from all the bondo I discovered yesterday! I am in the process of sand/soda blasting the paint, inside out and bottom, I thought I had a pretty rust free car. I guess it was rust free after the last guy got through bondoing. I weill post some pictures tonight.

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Guest Zachb55

good luck with the removal, and be carefull with a sandblaster!!! i used mine just to get paint off of smaller parts like the inspection lids and noticed some warpage, so i decided i would hand-sand everything that wasnt in a nook or cranny, or obviously strong enough not to warp (like hinges)... just some thoughts :D

 

-Zach

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