Built my own little ballast system

S

smbstyle

New member
I got this idea off of another STL driver at the last race at Palm Beach; it's easy to take out of the car if need be, weight can be added/removed quickly. It is 1/4" thick steel plate in the center, 1/8" thick steel beams on either side that mount directly to the stock seat track locations, and a steel Gold's Gym threaded dumbell handle welded to the 1/4" thick steel base plate. I will be using barbel weight plates, and right now I'm about 85lbs under weight, so I've got a few plates to add. The next step is to drill a hole through the threaded center section after I have the weights on in order to put a cotter pin through it so the nut can't back out. I'm also planning on having it powdercoated next.

What do you all think about this? I liked this idea a lot better than drilling a bunch of holes into the car, and I can easily add and remove weight as I modify the car.


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You will have to drill lots of holes to make sure the nut can
t back off too far.
I would drill at least a few, but I'd double nut it. The interference can really lock things down.
 
CRallo said:
Off the top of my head, I would say that is not technically legal. Though imho that is fantastic!
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I know for SM it's definitely not, but the chief of tech was the one that pointed out the other STL driver's ballast system similar to mine as a "good idea" for me, lol.
 
Greg Amy said:
No technical limitations to ballast design/placement in Super Touring. Just make sure it's safe!
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Definitely the top priority!

I was considering drilling a hole through each weight plate in the same location that lines up with a hole in the base plate, and then running a huge bolt through them and through the base plate, but I dont know if that would help anymore, or be considered "overkill".
 
Are you sure you want that big rod sticking up in the passenger side if you need to get out in a hurry and want to use the passenger door?
 
There's a bunch of things about this I'm not thrilled by from a design standpoint. I'd personally rather be able to locate the weight to my best advantage, and dislike the single point of failure design shown. ~90lbs is a lot of force at the regular g loading the car will see. at impact loads it's scary. plus, like Jim said, it's in the way. IT rules require a minimum of 2, 1/2" diameter bolts. I think there's a good reason for it, even if it's not required in ST. just my $0.02.
 
jumbojimbo said:
Are you sure you want that big rod sticking up in the passenger side if you need to get out in a hurry and want to use the passenger door?
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It's going to be trimmed down a bit once I see how high the weights come up. If I can get past the the halo seat and center net, I don't see this as being an obstacle. Plus, don't a lot of cars have a diagonal brace going from the main hoop down to the passenger side footwell mount of the cage, that would cut across any exit path the driver would have? And those seem to be a popular cage design for a Miata?
 
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Chip42 said:
There's a bunch of things about this I'm not thrilled by from a design standpoint. I'd personally rather be able to locate the weight to my best advantage, and dislike the single point of failure design shown. ~90lbs is a lot of force at the regular g loading the car will see. at impact loads it's scary. plus, like Jim said, it's in the way. IT rules require a minimum of 2, 1/2" diameter bolts. I think there's a good reason for it, even if it's not required in ST. just my $0.02.
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Chip,

Do you have any suggestions for changing/modifying this ballast system, or a ballast system that doesn't drilling a bunch of holes into the floorboard? I figured I'd get praises for this system after one the tech inspectors even recommended it to me after seeing it on another STL car...

How about the idea of running a bolt or two directly though the weight plates and down through the base plate?
 
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one failure point sucks.

a spear sucks.

sucks is a very technical term, btw.

I would skip the spear, build a plate like that and use the traditional bolts and washers to attach the weight to it.
 
CRallo said:
one failure point sucks.

a spear sucks.

sucks is a very technical term, btw.

I would skip the spear, build a plate like that and use the traditional bolts and washers to attach the weight to it.
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Hm, i like that idea. basically follow the typical ballast setup, but instead of drilling through the thin floor to mount them, mount to the plate?

btw, what kind of weights do you all suggest using?
 
Or how about this; the weights I was thinking about using have holes on either side to grab. What about running a 3/4" bolt though each sideto down to the base plate, and then a 1/8" steel plate across the top that the center pole and two side bolts go through? Might be easier to take a pic of what im describing
 
CRallo said:
one failure point sucks.

a spear sucks.

sucks is a very technical term, btw.

I would skip the spear, build a plate like that and use the traditional bolts and washers to attach the weight to it.
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I was thinking more of your seat bracket plate design like you have done. Just add a thicker plate instead of the scary spear...

You can add additional plates with longer bolts in 4 points, remaining flat with no spear and still removable like a seat.
 
I like it. Marc cefalo had something like that in an ITR s2000. I don't think it presents an obstacle to exit at all recognizing you will trim down the post.

I have to run 150 pounds in my 968 and made a bunch of holes in the floor to double bolt my weight and wish I had come up with a product like yours. Plus I am always changing weight based on the wheels I run or the scales at different tracks being up to 40 pounds different.

The strength of using the factory seat mounts will be superior to drilling the floor.
 
Yeah, i probably shouldnt have posted the picture as is. The "spear" will be cut down considerably once the height of the weights is measured, which will be about 6 inches right now, and wont be any different than a long bolt.

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Here is the style weight I'm planning on using, and with the open grip areas on each side, I will have a 2" x 12" 1/4" piece of steel going across the top of all of the weights with a hole in the center to go through the center pole and a hole on both outer edges to run a bolt through the openings of the weights and down through the base plate, using either 1/2" or 3/4" bolts on either side. The total height of everything will be approx. 6" considering the height of each weight when flat. Or, I can even run 2 bolts on each side, and have two 2" x 12" pieces of steel going across on either side of the center pole. Either way, I will be eliminating the issue of a single failure point.
 
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