Ballast help!

[Holster Maker]

Any body know where to find some ballast plates? Say about two 75 lb flat lead plates to mount where pass seat was?

 

Tony, I remember seeing two in your car.

I got to meet this 9.5 with some weigh & detune!

 

BTW, you were talking about HV oil pumps, that's probably what's causing my motor to push oil out, even the dip stick has to be plugged. R/seal is leaking too!

[Tony G]

Hi Mike,

I had some plates but they were 15lbs each,and to get 150lbs of ballast is a ton!

Sounds like you have too much crank case pressure with that oil being pushed out, I would first check to see if you have a blow by problem.

Call me if you need some input on this.

Thanks,

Tony Guaglione

[GT4Point6]

One way to make lead "bricks" is to use old valve covers or a metal trough. Get the lead from a metal supply place, looks like bb's in 25# bags or so. Melt them and pour into the valve covers. A metal supply store "may" carry plates but the one in San Diego doesn't. A cajun cooker stand with an old pot works great.

[jeffburch]

I saw some really neat ones on the BIW S197 cars that Irwin and Capps built. They were huge and looked like they were cast. Had cast holes for bolting them in.

They had them bolted in the trunk area on a mount that was between 2 roll cage tubes. These cars are way over powered hence the big ballast.

Might try David Irwin at Tyler Ford, Tyler, Tx.

Ginsberg has contact info aswell.

 

jb

[GT4Point6]

Keep in mind

 

8.8. Ballast

Up to 150lbs of ballast is allowed, but no further rearward than the plane of the front of the main hoop of the roll cage.

 

That puts it in the pax front seat area for most cars in our class. Trunk mounted ballast is not legal IN CMC.

 

Edited to add IN CMC. Not sure if your asking for your AI car or something else.

Edited December 9, 2007 by Guest

[powerslide91]

I have not tried this first hand, but I have a buddy that went around to tire stores and asked them for their used wheel weights. After he collected enough of them, he melted them down into bricks.

 

Jeff

[tacovini]

David Irwin borrowed one of the big ballasts (65#) from me at the inaugural Nationals.

 

I got them at metal scrap yard in San Jose years ago.

Metal scrap yards are awesome and you'll most often find exactly what you need.

 

There's a little haggling on the price and if you need it cut or whatever they'll usually aim to please.

 

-=- T

[Holster Maker]

Thanks Todd.

JB, I bet they were from one of these guys. Nuclead has some flat with holes for bolts and thanks.

 

www.alchemyextrusions.com/bricks/default.asp

 

www.nuclead.com/casting_custom_shapes.html

[Al F.]

Try the roundy round shops. I've seen weights up to 50#, drilled, marked, as well as associated mounting hardware.

[Holster Maker]

Wow, good idea! Found 25 lb lead bricks at saferacer.com for $35 ea.

[TurboShortBus]

BTW, you were talking about HV oil pumps, that's probably what's causing my motor to push oil out, even the dip stick has to be plugged. R/seal is leaking too!

 

That's likely blowby. If you're pushing out the dipstick on a naturally aspirated engine, then you probably have a very significant amount of it. I had the same thing happen on a boosted (13 psi) engine a few years ago, but I had already broken the ring lands on 3 pistons. Do a compression test and/or a leakdown test to figure out which cylinder (or cylinders) is the culprit. If the cylinder pressures check out, then you'll have to take a look at your PCV/breather situation.

 

Mark

[GT4Point6]

Wow, good idea! Found 25 lb lead bricks at saferacer.com for $35 ea.

 

Shipping aint' going to be cheap!

[TurboShortBus]

What if, say, a CMC car had a trailer hitch so that the driver could pull a small trailer to the track with race tires and tools in it. It would also make an excellent location to pull a car out of the kitty litter, especially if you use a receiver hitch, and just un-pin the ball hitch and re-pin a tow hook. However, would that hitch be considered ballast? Just thinking out loud here...

 

Mark

[NickS]

The way I would interpret this is that it would not be permissible. None of the eligible cars came with a hitch as a factory option therefore you can't install one.

 

-- Nick

[Lady in Nomex]

The way I would interpret this is that it would not be permissible. None of the eligible cars came with a hitch as a factory option therefore you can't install one.

 

-- Nick

 

I don't think I'd like to pull one out of my front bumper either!

[Holster Maker]

Al, Found those roundy round ballast blocks. www.speedwaymotors.com

Like Kevin said, they are made from valve covers, 50 lbs each for $80. One thing wrong tho, Chevy valve covers!

Yes Kevin, AI placement. I don't remember what the rules say for placement. I'm going passenger seat rear bolt holes and foot well of rear passenger area.

Guess I need 3 of them chevy valve covers and a grinder to remove that name...........

Now restrictor plates for a carb....that seems to be a hard one to locate. I'm getting tried reading all about them and no sales info.

[y5e06]

valve cover molded ballast seems red neck to me.

so here is my redneck version:

I use standard olympic barbell plates. you can chose any increment you want 5,10,25,35,45. I have two 2"x10" (or so) 3/16" steel straps & use two bolts & washers. one strap goes underneith floor pan other goes on top of the weight(s). can be made to look fairly presentable and weights are clearly marked. easy enough to pick up cheap on craigslist or your local sporting goods store.

[Lady in Nomex]

When I had the third gen we used brake rotors for ballast!

[Holster Maker]

My problem is that I need 150 lbs. I'm corresponding with www.tungsten.com and that stuff is heavy, 1" x 14" x 17" plate weights 150 lbs......so he going to make 4 at 1/4" being 37.5 lbs ea.

Now to see what he comes up with for cost and shipping. Yeah, I bet!

Jules, where do you dyno at up here?

Edited December 13, 2007 by Guest

[Lady in Nomex]

Hi Mike, This guy took over for Larry - Ruben Mitchell at Advanced Dyno Technologies, Inc at 707-425-3966 at 96 Railroad Ave, Suite B, Suisun City, CA 94584. The altitude of the shop is 15 ft!

[Holster Maker]

Thanks Jules, man he might be under water someday!

[bsim]

Actually, I think you mean http://www.tungsten.com and holy moly! 3" x 3" x 6" = 33 pounds?!?!?!

[Holster Maker]

Yeah.........I changed the post, Thanks Brad.

I can't believe how heavy it is. He hasn't got back with me for the cost yet. Probably ran out of calculators!!

[King Matt1548534716]

I can't believe you are actually considering using tungsten as ballast! A 1x1-inch cylindrical slug like you would use for crank balancing runs about 15 bucks. I shudder at the thought of what 150 pounds of it would cost. What's wrong with lead or steel? I bought lead ingots at a local roundy-round shop for a buck a pound. I called a scrap yard a couple years ago and back then it was 50 cents a pound, maybe it's still that cheap in bulk. I've also got 135 pounds of lead wheel weights that I got for free from a local Discount tire, but I've never gotten around to melting it into a usable form. I have about 125 pounds of ballast in my car, one 57-pound chuck of steel, another that's 53 and a lead block that's 27. It really does not take up much space at all.

[Holster Maker]

Matt, I know, just having fun and curious since they show ballast.

He wrote back today and gave me a price, $52.70 per lb, my ballast would be $7905. I was right, he had to find some more calulators..........

Funny thing, who buys this stuff for ballast?