How to corner weight your car for under £100...

I've wanted to get the car corner weighted for a while now. Keep reading loads of how to guides and its seems like its possible as a DIY job. Ringing around a few motorsport garages its a good £300 for a corner weight session.

The cheapest motorsport set of scales I could find were £899, a no go. A set of 4 industrial scales off ebay were £100, this was worth a try.

My new baby boy helping in the garage.

Quick setup to make sure they would take the weight of the car without breaking.

Quality China copy of a Panasonic battery, these went straight in the bin.

All four wheels up on the scales, nice the car is light enough to push up the ramps.

Right now time to set it up correctly. The scales on the carpet in my garage were not giving accurate results compared to the solid concrete floor.

Each scale foot had a hole cut in the carpet.

Then I used a laser level to make sure each scale was level with each other.

The laser beam just hits the top of a standard level so this job is made easy with a standard level.

The floor under one of the scales was much higher than the rest of the floor, to the point the adjustment on the standard scale feet was not enough so I had to make my own shorter feet. 

All ready to go..    The car weights 508kgs without my fat arse in it. This is with a full tank. 

Corner Balance Calculator
https://robrobinette.com/corner_weight_calc.htm

Starting results

Originally I was running 14 PSI upfront and 16 PSI at the rear, sounds like these pressures are more suited to the track so I have increased to 18 PSI all round.

Final weight in before any changes made.

Without Driver

FL 114.7      
FR 119.3
RL 144.6      
RR  129.4

With Driver

FL 117.7      
FR 142
RL  184.2    
RR  184

Here are the calculated results. Its not all that bad, the front left is pretty far out. This could explain as to why I appear to get the sensation its throwing me left off the road on the humps and bumps. 

I need to start with the lightest corner, so here the front left (117.7) and increase the ride height by adding a couple of turns to the shocks.  The increase I make here will also make increases on the diagonal corner and also decrease the other opposite corners corners. These natural results will help make my adjustment easier as I need to increase front left and rear right and decrease the other diagonal corners. 

Current

FL 117.7  - Increase    
FR 142 - Decrease
RL  184.2  - Decrease    
RR  184 - Increase

Target

FL 125      
FR 135
RL  176.9    
RR  192

First Change - Two turn increase Front left 

Results - Strange results as this should have increased FL and RR.

Without

FL   114.0    
FR   120
RL    145.9
RR   128.7

With

FL    114.7  
FR   144.3
RL   187.4  
RR  181.9

Second Change - Two more turn increase front left

Results - Closer to target, working as it should now. 

Without

FL   118.8
FR   114.7
RL    141.8
RR   132.4

With

FL    116.3
FR   141.9
RL   186.l  
RR  182

Third Change - One more turn increase front left. 

Results - again closer to target, don't really want to increase the ride height further here so will more to the right rear next.

Without

FL   118.8
FR   114.3
RL    141.5
RR   132.1

With

FL    117.8
FR   140.5
RL   184.6
RR  183

Fourth Change - Increase 4 turns to right rear. 

Results - Over target now, reduce right rear to see results. 

Without

FL   127.9
FR   105.2
RL    131.7
RR   141.8

With

FL    130.8 - Decrease
FR   127.8 - Increase
RL   171.6  - Increase
RR  194.8 - Decrease

Fifth Change - Decrease by 1 turn to right rear. 

Results - Getting so close to target, last change for this corner. 

Without

FL   125.3
FR   107.7
RL    134.4
RR   139.1

With

FL   127.8 - Decrease
FR   130.6 - Increase
RL   174.8  - Increase
RR  192.6 - Decrease

Decided to run the results again to check my new targets.  Next was to change the front right to make a final change.

Sixth Change - increase by 2 turns front right. 

Results - Done!

Without

FL   122.5
FR   111.2
RL    138.7
RR   135.6

With

FL   124.9
FR   133.4
RL    177.7
RR   190

Target
FL   125
FR   133.5
RL    177.6
RR   189.7

Think I am going to struggle to get them any closer than this.

The final results, pretty happy with 49.7% cross weight.

Those were the results on paper, the telling is how it drives on the road.  Straight out for a little blast up the road, initial feeling is it feels more balanced and less likely to want to throw you into the ditch. 

Really pleased I went for the cheaper DIY option and glad I did it myself. 

New air filter MWR

So apparently the standard Honda paper filter is pretty restrictive. Was told to replace it with a MWR foam filter. They offer three versions, a road version which cuts down on induction noise, a road race version which doesn't have the noise reduction. Both of these can be cleaned yearly. Then a full on race version which can't be cleaned and is throw away.

I went for the road race version.. Its literally just alloy frame with a oil covered foam filter.

It better perform better than it fits.. :)

Need to get the duct fitted soon..

Rolling Road / Remapping

Had the car booked in to PQD in Maidenhead for sometime now. They came recommended by AB Performance, AB was just too far for me to travel to get them to arrange the mapping. 

Up early and the first time loading the car onto the trailer outside of the garage. All went well, made easier on a beautiful day. 

Strapped on and ready to go!!! 

Looks strange having the car right behind you.

Arrived safe and sound.. Car uploaded and ready to get on the rollers.

My little car about to get thrashed! 

2-3 hours the car was on the rollers, mainly doing full throttle power runs to limiter.  

Here are the results..  150whp at the rear wheel..  A 2013 CBR1000RR should put out 178BHP at the crank. Means if my engine is putting out the correct BHP I am getting a 15.7% transmission loss. Some say this is down but think its completely dependant on the dyno. 

It feels so much better now, no dead spots.. It pulls from low RPM where is got bogged down before.. Really really happy with the results, took a long time but seems like he did a really thorough job. Not managed to get any full throttle/high RPM as the Tyres were still 30 psi plus from being on the rollers.. Had a massive moment with the rear end lighting up. Then ended up running out of petrol and having to ask some lads walking by to push me to the petrol station round the corner.. An eventful 20 minute trip out.. 

Back home and decided to check the oil, wasn't even registering on the dip stick. Put about 200ml in and it was on the bottom of the dip stick.. I'm guessing three hours of power runs would use a fair amount of oil.. 

Goodwood Breakfast Club - Soft Top Sunday

First ride out with more than two MNR's... Met up with Jamie off the OC in his MNR..  First impressions he's a hooligan ha ha. 

It was bloody cold first thing, I thought these cold mornings had passed.  

I've learnt now Adam loves a TVR.

My next build!

Bloody people getting in the way

Good morning out.. Looking forward to the next one!