S1 Low Body Measurements

downdraft- like i said, "up until crysler". The anneversary was on chrysler's dime. And I am not knocking the engineering/development team in the least (though a stroker plate is bit cheezy for any production car, especially a super car, JMHO) What they were able to do with the countach is amazing, and it alone (again my opinion here) saved the company from bankruptcy. Between the lm002, jalpa, and countach replacement, they had to be spread thin and put in long hours.

Emelio,

My car is a 1980 low body. Series which??? That's the problem. It's got the later guages, it HAD originally the later OZ rims which I am replacing with Bravo wheels, but a low body style. Whatever. It also was a project of Bob Wallace's for years that included one of the 3 Turbo motors that he built...that was a disaster and he then put a Quatrovalve motor in it that was de-stroked, custom cams/crank/pistons, triple disk clutch and custom brakes. Light car, big motor= big grins. #1121254

Hi David, nice you made it to LAMBO-POWER. When I saw "phantom309" yesterday I kept thinking that sounds familiar. It wasn't until your last post that figured it out.

 

David had to when he brought them in to Canada and told me there was a 600+ pound difference between his 80 and his 87.  

 

David, do you remember the exact weight of each car.

 

P.S. When you decide to part with those Bravo wheels keep me informed. :mrgreen:

Hey John, happy new year! Yeah, Michael Fuschi intended for that gorgeous car of yours to have these wheels! I have a line on another set, if it works out, I'll let you know. They are DAMNED expensivo though! I'm sure you remember how much my set cost me....crazy, but then again, they only made a few sets of these things. I think that pearl white downdraft of yours is the sharpest QV out there.

The local trucking scales weighed my car at 2840 lbs with a half full tank(s) and me not in the car. That vs. the 3400 lbs that a QV comes in at....and this car has a 4 valve motor. The difference is mostly in EPA motor junk, crash bars, later AC equip., cats etc....and a slightly taller body I would guess.

Happy New Year back at you. Keep me in the loop on the rims.

 

2840 lbs , incredible. I can't wait to hear how quick that car is with the built 4V motor in it. You have the best of both worlds.

 

Thanks for the compliments on my car. I would really love to talk with Michael someday about his time as the keeper of #12989.

Hey John, happy new year! Yeah, Michael Fuschi intended for that gorgeous car of yours to have these wheels! I have a line on another set, if it works out, I'll let you know. They are DAMNED expensivo though! I'm sure you remember how much my set cost me....crazy, but then again, they only made a few sets of these things. I think that pearl white downdraft of yours is the sharpest QV out there.

The local trucking scales weighed my car at 2840 lbs with a half full tank(s) and me not in the car. That vs. the 3400 lbs that a QV comes in at....and this car has a 4 valve motor. The difference is mostly in EPA motor junk, crash bars, later AC equip., cats etc....and a slightly taller body I would guess.

 

Wow..... 2840 lbs..... I'm drooling again.

 

I think it's more than just the items you mentioned, because I have no EPA stuff, and I have similar AC equip (weight wise) as the LP400 on my QV. Mine weighed at 3360 lbs with 3/4 full tanks, and around 100lbs of stuff that has since been removed. WHat else it might be I don't know, though the LP400's did have lighter weight chassis (thinner metal for tubes, etc) and thiner sheet metal. The magnesium engine parts wouldn't be it given your QV engine......

I don't get how a Countach can weigh as low as 2840 lbs when most light 308s are around there or slightly heavier?

 

This is all very fascinating stuff!

go Mifune, you should know that there is NO AC in this car at all....Bob stripped it out, and I don't miss it with the cool climate we live in here. The shocks are aluminum bodied Eagles that I bought from Chad Bolles, no stereo or speakers etc....the only "extra" equipment that is on this car is an onboard extinguisher. It would be great to know just what those crash bars in the doors weigh in at. The first thing I noticed when I got in my car was how much lighter the doors were! I owned QV HLA12201 for a few years and it felt MUCH heavier in acceleration and on long sweepers....not always a bad thing though, it DID have a certainty in the way it tracked the road and the fit and finish of the interior was much better.

I'm not sure about the engineering history, but the QV recieved a lot of changes. The QV cars have a 1" longer wheel base, don't know why, but I have confirmed it. The Registry has all the specs for all the cars. Check it out

I don't get how a Countach can weigh as low as 2840 lbs when most light 308s are around there or slightly heavier?

 

This is all very fascinating stuff!

 

Well, the LP400 I know weighs in around 2700 and change, because I have direct experience with one that a friend and I weighed. Careful examination all around the car (while sitting next to my QV) does reveal a lot of difference in the "heft" of the structure, and it is eveident in a lot of ways. You can feel it when you're driving it too..... it's very evident.

 

My Lotus X180R weighs in at 2940 with full tanks of fuel, and it's amazing how even a couple hundred lbs (as compared to the QV) can make a big difference in feel.

Tony/John, what would you guys say is the one or two most obvious measuerment differences between the two body styles? I doubt that we can get many folks to perform a lot of measurements on their cars, but we might just get quite a few to do a couple of easy ones. It would be one way to get the registry "adjusted" (with Glen's blessing of coures) to more accurately reflect the changes in the Countach line.

David, the biggest difference was in the entire height of the body. From the bottom of the rocker panel to the seam where the top of the door meets the roof. There was over two inches difference between the two cars. We both used the soft seamstress measuring tape so that it hunged the contours of the body. We also measured in the same place on both cars by using the front of the NACA duct as a guide. Another big difference was the seat bottom to roof height. We both have our seats set as close to the same position as possible, and since the seats are sewn in a block pattern we measured from the forth block back from the front leading edge straight up to the roof. There was about two inches difference between the cars.

 

Another interesting measurement was the height of the suspension. My car has adjustable coilovers and has been slammed, the front spoiler sits five inches off the ground. Tony's car sit in the factory stock position and his spoiler is only 4 inches off the ground.

Thanks John. How about this....could you post a pic of you taking the tape measurement from the bottom of the rocker to that top seam, and a shot of your tape placement from the bottom of the door to the top. Trapazoids abounding, it's hard to know exactly where you guys are placing things otherwise. If we post the pics to the VLG too, we might get this narrowed down once and for all. You know, in all of the many book on the Countach that I have read, NO mention is ever made of this...only ONE mentions the taller roof line, but it's complety devoid of HOW it gets higher.

 

GOD I'm hungover.

I take care of it tomorrow.

David, here are some pics of the measurements Tony and I took. These are from my '86. Tony will have to post pics of his.

 

These four pics are from the bottom of the rocker panel to the seam where the door meets the roof. The second pic is so you can see at what part of the door Tony and I used as a guide line, the NACA duct.

These next three pics are from the bottom of the door to the seam where the door meets the roof.

The next two are from the seat bottom to the roof. As I said in my previous post Tony and I have our seats in as close to the same position as possible and we used the forth block back from the front leading edge.

And lastly Tony and I discovered a big difference in the size of our door. The bottom of my QV door measured just under 26" in lenth. Tony's was about 2" longer.

John,

That's just awesome....now we can get somewhere with this silliness!

I'll measure mine tomorrow and try to get to the 1979 car here in town soon. What we REALLY need is more 1980 cars in the database. Are you on the VLG still? Should we ask for some file space there? Fred???

I think what I'll do in the spring is make a template of my door. Butt a piece of TRIMMED cardboard up against the door, like a T. When it's all trimmed to the angle, I could put it againt countachQV's car. Then we can see the angle difference of the glass.

What year is your Car Peter? I forgot.

1978

Measurements on 1121116

 

1. 47 1/4"

 

2. 36"

 

3. did not measure, to much room for error. I was not sure of your seat position.

 

4. 27 3/4"

 

As soon as we get better weather I'll get it weighed.

Brian, what color do they call that? I looked it up your car on Glen's site....totally cool and I don't think I've seen that color before. Thanks for the measurements, I started an excell file for this little experiment. That's 4 cars down.

Measurements on HLA12053. 1987 USA spec FI model produced September 1986.

 

And to further amplify the hand built nature of these cars, I have listed the measurements on the drivers side (DS) and passenger side (PS)

 

1. DS - 49 1/2" PS - 49 1/4"

 

2. DS - 37 3/4" PS - 37 1/2"

 

3. 33" - Each side relative to seat adjustment

 

4. DS - 26 1/4" PS - 26"

 

Overall they are within range of John's measurements.