Hey man whats this 25lb weight doing here

I was out wrenching on my baby today. Got a killer deal on some 98 Cobra Front end parts. Anyway I removed the front bumper cover and on the passenger side right in front of the tire above the driving light is this huge log looking weight bolted to my car. The stamp on it says "caution 25lb". What the hell? :eek7: Why in the world would Ford add an extra 25lb for the hell of it.

I removed it and took the car out for a spin afterwards. Other than the fact that it seems to have helped by ditching the extra weight, there were no adverse effects. I don't get it, anyone know anything about this?

Whaaaat?!?! let me nkow if there are any negative affects, if not then i will soon be out wrenching on my baby....

Well hold on there burly. I stayed up and did a little research and it looks like this was only done to the convertibles. Its purpose was to eliminate vibration. Well I took it off and got this thing up to 100mph tonight and I don't have any so this damn thing is outta here.

You can look burly but you shouldn't have one w your hardtop.

haha thats crazy

Well hold on there burly. I stayed up and did a little research and it looks like this was only done to the convertibles. Its purpose was to eliminate vibration. Well I took it off and got this thing up to 100mph tonight and I don't have any so this damn thing is outta here.

You can look burly but you shouldn't have one w your hardtop.
Yes, these things are called 'tuning weights' and Ford has been using them on some unit body convertibles since 1961, first seen in the 4 door Lincoln convertible.
They do dampen some types of vibration and cost less than actually strengthening the convertible structure.
What I am still working on is why my '79 Mustang and my '68 T-bird had these things bolted to the rear axle.

haha... ford was too cheap to do it right... funny stuff

eillob, i also have a convertible. i told you this long ago so ill let it slide this time. so this "vibration eliminator" is behind the bumper on the passenger side?

i just realized that when i do get a pair of aluminum heads, im gonna be losing a whoping 75lbs where it counts most.... :evillol:

eillob, i also have a convertible. i told you this long ago so ill let it slide this time. so this "vibration eliminator" is behind the bumper on the passenger side?

Damn thats right my bad. Yeah is on the passenger side just forward the front tire. I pulled my front bumper cover off to get to it. If you do that you can't miss it. One end is bolted to the frame and the other is bolted just above the driving light or fog light. Be careful removing it because its pretty heavy. Its a cast log and says caution 25lb. I tell you what I can tell the difference without it.

i just realized that when i do get a pair of aluminum heads, im gonna be losing a whoping 75lbs where it counts most.... :evillol:

You doing the AFR 165"s?

How many miles on your motor?

How are your motor plans coming along eillob?

Well they'd be doing alot better if I would stop buying crap off ebay. I've only had time to go to one shop and he wants 5K to do what I want. There going to rebuild my short block and turn it into a 347 w AFR 185 heads. About 415hp NA:evillol:

Cool, I think I've finally just decided to put the 351 in my '66 lol. .030, 10:1, AFR 185's, RPM Air-Gap, Crane hydro roller, and a 650cfm Spped Demon lol. Keeping the cam pretty mild 232*/242* .544/.560 112* should leave me pretty streetable with around 400rwhp @ 6500rpms.

i just realized that when i do get a pair of aluminum heads, im gonna be losing a whoping 75lbs where it counts most.... :evillol:

You doing the AFR 165"s?

How many miles on your motor?

well ive got my hopes up for the 165's or the 185's or trickflow track heats... ive got the cash, but i think im gonna play my cards wisely...i really need to figure out what im gonna do w/ my tranny first. :mad:
ive thought about it alot lately and there is a guy here where i live that will do the labor of a auto to man. swap for just under a grand and ive been checkin ebay out and there are guys gettin rid of world classes for under 500....not to mention the horsepower ide gain to the wheels w/ hte swap, itd be alot more fun to drive. im willing to sacrifice a little more dough. we'll just have to see how it goes

oh and yeah, ive got 115k on the motor... just another reason to do some "freshening" up :evillol:

well ive got my hopes up for the 165's or the 185's or trickflow track heats... ive got the cash, but i think im gonna play my cards wisely...i really need to figure out what im gonna do w/ my tranny first. :mad:
ive thought about it alot lately and there is a guy here where i live that will do the labor of a auto to man. swap for just under a grand and ive been checkin ebay out and there are guys gettin rid of world classes for under 500....not to mention the horsepower ide gain to the wheels w/ hte swap, itd be alot more fun to drive. im willing to sacrifice a little more dough. we'll just have to see how it goes

Yeah I really like my manual, course it'll get you in more trouble too. You start hearing that motor talkin too ya, start barkin those tires OOOOOYeah! Troubles commin, that fool at the light better not want any.:evillol:

Cool, I think I've finally just decided to put the 351 in my '66 lol. .030, 10:1, AFR 185's, RPM Air-Gap, Crane hydro roller, and a 650cfm Spped Demon lol. Keeping the cam pretty mild 232*/242* .544/.560 112* should leave me pretty streetable with around 400rwhp @ 6500rpms.

Dude I wish I had half your knowlege when it comes to motors. Why are you going with the 351?

Dude I wish I had half your knowlege when it comes to motors. Why are you going with the 351?

if only we all did.... :rolleyes:

Hey burly you pull that weight out of there or what?

Well they'd be doing alot better if I would stop buying crap off ebay. I've only had time to go to one shop and he wants 5K to do what I want. There going to rebuild my short block and turn it into a 347 w AFR 185 heads. About 415hp NA:evillol:

www.dssracing.com

don't waste your money, get one of their longblocks.

Then call Ed Curtis at FTI for a cam grind...

Trust me, a local shop in Iowa did my motor, since I was deployed to Iraq at the time and couldn't do the work myself. In my opinion I wasted 3500 bucks getting nothing but a shortblock redone.

I wanted to do a DSS 331 w/Edelbrock heads, and run a custom cam. Woulda had a hell of a lot better than the 14 second Slowbra I have now, and doing it myself I'd have saved a load of cash.

Thanks for the advice svtcobra, I'll look them up.

Hey burly you pull that weight out of there or what?

im prob gonna drop that 25lbs when ever it is i get the rest of my goodies on :) ... im all about high expectations.

Then call Ed Curtis at FTI for a cam grind...

i know this guy that is getting rid of heads rockers cam lifters and push rods for a steal and i think i might submit, but the cam is an x303...i really want an fti custom. should i sell the x and spend a little more mulah and get the fti??? i just want some other people opinions... thanks

I havent done much with the abc cams. But I've heard they are over rated...much like gt40's.

Why are you going with the 351?

The main reason I'm going with the 351 I think is because I already have it lol. Also I like the free extra stroke and stouter bottom end when compared to a 302. With the 351 I have or will have over 400 ft lbs of torque for a total of 4000 rpms of my power band according to desktop dyno which supposedly is accurate up to 5%. Also having the extra stroke will lower my power band some so I dont have to spin the motor as high to get great power.

Then call Ed Curtis at FTI for a cam grind...

i know this guy that is getting rid of heads rockers cam lifters and push rods for a steal and i think i might submit, but the cam is an x303...i really want an fti custom. should i sell the x and spend a little more mulah and get the fti??? i just want some other people opinions... thanks

YES!!!!! Ed Curtis is the man!!!!!!

does anyone know how much a custom cam from ed might run??

I havent done much with the abc cams. But I've heard they are over rated...much like gt40's.


I'm not a fan of Alphabet cams myself either. Fords really need a dual pattern cam, and a 94-95 computer doesn't like a lobe sep less than 112 degrees. That's why the classic E-cam won't work on ours. I do like my Crane 2031 (.513/529 216/220 IIRC), and other guys have had good luck with some Comp grinds, but Ed Curtis is definitely the road to true power.

I don't remember his prices right off hand, I'll look it up tonight while I'm browsing the ol' corral. Those guys love custom cam setups.

GT-40's are overrated to a point, but I'm still gonna get GT-40X's for mine. They will work well with my cam, and it's still the same engine concept that Ford had in mind for my Cobra, it's just a lot more competitive than my Iron stockers...