Those pinewood weights you buy at the craft store aren’t lead and aren’t very dense. Lead is nearly twice as heavy as that stuff. Don’t use it if you want to win.
Usually I melt lead bird shot into holes drilled in the car body. It’s an efficient way of weighting the car, but this year I tried tungsten beads. Tungsten more than one and a half times the weight of lead, and I was able to pack a lot of weight into a small area in the car body. But the problem with tungsten beads is that there’s a lot of wasted space in the car body.
Lead melts at about 600 degrees, a temperature you can reach with a propane torch. But tungsten melts at 6000 degrees, so melting it into the car body isn’t an option. Instead I had to pack the beads in, shaking the car to get the beads to settle.
Next year, I’ll be using tungsten powder instead. Just drill a hole, pour in the powder, and seal the hole back up. I’ll get all the efficiency of tungsten, but without the wasted space, allowing me to pack weight into a much smaller space. And it will be easier than trying to fit the beads into the car and easier than melting lead.
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4 comments so far ↓
Tina // May 29, 2006 at 10:09 am
Where is the best position for the weight?
Ron T // Oct 22, 2006 at 6:48 am
Get a msds sheet and check tungstein powder I am sure if spilled out of car due to dropping of car it is considered hazerdious use solid tungstein and it is not hazardious.
Scott // Feb 14, 2007 at 10:31 am
I’m a chemist. Tungsten isn’t hazardous. Especially if you don’t eat it.
Gary // Dec 21, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Tungsten Powder is not Hazerdous but solid Tungsten is actually more dense. There is a new Tungsten Disc out (See Maximum Velocity.com) that condenses 3.25 oz of weight into a 1″ diameter and about 3/8″ tall. I tried it, easy to install, just drill a hole and drop it in. I haven’t seen anything that allows you to condense the weight any tighter and keeps it extremely low!
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