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| The aluminum fuel cell and home made weight box are neatly installed in the middle of the car. | Here you can see the Moroso heavy duty main electrical kill switch and the push/pull type mechanism sticking out of the rear. nice and clean install. |
I then found some universal mounting tabs in the Allstar book that simply weld to the frame rails and have holes punched in the other end. It worked out that the length of the brackets and the positioning of the holes worked out perfectly to line up with the holes in the fuel cell mounts and fit snug between the frame rails. I couldn’t believe it! I used two of those brackets on the rearward end of the cell and then I fabricated a cross member for the front that was a combination of cell mount and weight box mount.
Some of you not so familiar with Stock and Super Stock may wonder what a weight box is or why I have one, because what sort of fool would want to add weight to a race car, right? Well, it’s not a matter of wanting to, but every combination has an NHRA-mandated minimum weight in Stock and Super Stock. In my case the minimum weight will be determined by the cubic inches of the engine multiplied by a factor of 8.5 lbs. The 8.5 lb. factor is used to classify the Super Stock Modified/Stock class of SS/AS that I am going to run. The minimum weight for all SS/AS cars is 3350 lbs.
This is the adjustable head rest support bolted to the back of the aluminum Kirkey racing seat. A series of holes correspond to the amount the seat is moved fore and aft.
Now, of course, as is the case with pretty much everything in my world, nothing could be that simple though. If you use an automatic transmission you are allowed to multiply your minimum weight by 5% and subtract that amount from your previously calculated minimum weight. If you multiply the minimum SS/AS weight of 3350 by 5% and subtract you get 3180 lbs. So, no matter what size engine you build you can not weigh less than 3180 lbs. after taking the 5% auto transmission weight break. Man, I should be an attorney! 
This is the custom adjustable lower seat track i built using a stock Ford assembly. What a piece of engineering. Jeesh.
It is simply 8.5 lbs. multiplied by the cubic inches of the engine. As an example, say I build a 400 cube engine. That multiplied by 8.5 would equal 3400 lbs. with driver. Or say I build a 380 cube engine times 8.5 lbs. equals 3230 lbs. In the case of the 400 cubes I could weigh in at 3200 lbs. with an automatic though. With 380 cubes even though the 5% calculation ends up at 3070 lbs. I still would have to weigh 3180 lbs. minimum. So, obviously you wouldn’t want to build an engine any smaller than required if possible. There may be an exception to that theory but for now I’m keeping that to myself. Clear as mud, right?
Where were we? Oh yeah, the weight box! Most of the reason to have one is to be able to make the minimum weight but it also serves a purpose of being able to add the weight at a high point in the car towards the rear. This helps the chassis “pitch rotate” on launch and lift the front of the car. Or, maybe you just want to run a little heavy under normal conditions and have some weight “in the bank” to remove for a heads-up race.