Lets talk about weight savings!

[ShadowFromHell]

Anyone have any good tips/ideas? I would love to see a thread similar to what we have going in the fab forum for FMIC. If my CSX doesn't sell in the next few days its going on a serious diet. Pics/weight saved would be great!

My tip? Find some light wheels. Factory TM wheels are HEAVY compared to some other options out there. If you can run 14's I think neon sport wheels are some of the lightest out there, and they are cheap (wanna buy a set ?). I plan on running a set of 2000-02 neon "snowflake" wheels on my CSX. They are so much lighter then the any of the factory TM wheels it is ridiculous!

[bakes]

1st you have to decide what the Vehicles propose in going to be (ie. drag,road car, autox......) this will dictate were to move or remove weight. Remember weight in the right place can be you best friend.

2nd i recommend finding a set of scales getting a car out of balance can be dangerous
All measurement should be with driver in the seat and 1/4 load of fuel (for stock tank).
keep records of when and were you move/removed weight.

3rd as we will see as the tread progresses that moving/removing weight will change suspension setting.

[bond_bbs]

Just replacing the factory seats with fixed-back racing buckets can drop a serious amount. The driver seat in my P-Body with electric controls I would guess weighs about 70-80lbs.. Both my fixed-back buckets combined only weigh 30ish.

[turbovanman²]

Simple, get some lightweight aftermarket wheels, the Rota's I have are stupid light.

Step 2, gut the interior, run a drivers race seat.

Step 3, fuel cel.

Step 4, small battery.

Step 5, sawzall and lexan,

[Juggy]

if thats the 89 csx your selling with the fibrerides....i highly doubt you are going to find a lighter production wheel

my shelby charger weighs just under 2500 with driver (160 pounds) and COMPLETE interior. i just ditched everything you cant see, or that I dont use (radio, heater controls, heater box...etc...)

my goal is too have the car under 2500 pounds w/driver after the cage is installed. the weight savings from my new rear drag rims will pretty much compensate for the weight of the cage, which is about 60 pounds of rotating mass

[ShadowFromHell]

if thats the 89 csx your selling with the fibrerides....i highly doubt you are going to find a lighter production wheel

my shelby charger weighs just under 2500 with driver (160 pounds) and COMPLETE interior. i just ditched everything you cant see, or that I dont use (radio, heater controls, heater box...etc...)

my goal is too have the car under 2500 pounds w/driver after the cage is installed. the weight savings from my new rear drag rims will pretty much compensate for the weight of the cage, which is about 60 pounds of rotating mass

Well, I can safetly say, you have never had a fiberride in your arms. They are HEAVY! I think they were much more of a marketing gimmick, then a performance adder. I know the 15in neon flakes are much lighter, as I have both.

[cordes]

Replace items with parts you've made out of tissue paper that has been epoxied. You will need to coat it with some sort of UV protection to stop sun damage and retain what little structural integrity it offers.

[OmniLuvr]

id stil like to know what the dedicated purpose of the car will be before i would make opinions on where to remove the weight. if its a drag car, you can get crazy and remove some serious weight. similar with an auto-x track car, but i think it would matter if there was going to be other cars on the track at the same time (rubbins racin is not good for some weight saving tricks). same goes for a street/track car.

[crusty shadow]

well since i have a P-body, and its main purpose is a drag car, while keeping just enough stuff for it to be street legal i can probably contribute to this thread.

right now the car is in bodywork/paint stage so theres not a whole lot going on other than sanding etc.
but i have removed most of the factory stuff i will not be using.

all weights are estimated, i do not have a scale.

stock seats- all gone. front seats weigh around 60-70 pounds each. rear seat with the all brackets and seatbelts probably weigh another 70 pounds.

stock dash- gone. the dash weighs about the same if not a little more than a front seat, im guestimating 65 pounds. i will be making a new dash out of fiberglass that will hold an instrument cluster, headlight switch, whatever gauges i decide on and a double din navigation radio.

interior trim- the only trim im keeping is the trim around the doors, and thats just to keep it a little more street freindly. the quarter trim panel will be cut so there is only about 3-4 inches of it away from where the door weatherstrip is. probably only saving about 10 pounds there

carpet/padding- gone. the stock carpet is actually surprisingly heavy. mine wasnt waterlogged when i pulled it out and the carpet easily weighed as much as a front seat. if you look in the quarter panels you'll see what looks like trashbags filled with felt. those are also gone. probably weighed about 10-15 pounds total . i am keeping the headliner mostly cause it doesnt weigh much and i dont want to fry like an egg in the car ( its being painted black)
i will be putting new carpet in but im not using regular carpet. im using the stuff we have at work that i use to cover subwoofer enclosures amp racks etc. it has no backing, very thin and very light. no padding underneath, just simply glued to the floor. same size piece of carpet compared to original weighs about 4 pounds.

windows- they are all out right now for paint, im about 100% positive i'll be replacing the back 3 with lexan, still unsuire if i want to keep real glass in the doors or not, it will be a street car ( occasional street) and rolling lexan windows up and down will scratch the snot out of them in a hurry, plus i dont want issues with leaks. i can seal the rear 3 with urethane so that wont be a problem but im not so sure the lexan windows will be as water tight as the original door glass.

door panels- im actually increasing weight here. ive made new door panels to accomodate a 6.5" component set and are made from wood and fiberglass, they will weigh about 20 pounds each when done. the stock door panels are just cloth covered cardboard and weigh all of 5 pounds each stock.

HVAC- all of it gone. the under dash box weighs around 40 pounds or so. the compressor is another 40 pounds. the hoses and condesor is probably good for another 25-30 pounds.

[OmniLuvr]

i wanted to know about street driving, because you can also lose some weight when removing material from the REAL metal bumpers on the inside of the bumper covers, but its not safe to drive on the road.

im also removing all the guts from my doors (except drivers), no speakers, door panels, regulators, even latches and inside door skin/regulator mount on the rear doors (and maybe pass front). im also thinking about re-skinning the outside of the doors in aluminum.

im also thinking about cutting out the spare tire well and some surrounding metal (without sacrificing structural integrity) and replacing it with aluminum.

running with only a downpipe/dump will save weight as compared to a full exhaust system, plus decreased spool up time. it may also be possible to make the dp out of aluminum, but not necessary.

if possible, getting a lighter material trunk/hatch will help also.

you can try to fabricate a rear trailing arm for it to out of tubing, but i believe this may not be so safe for turns if its being made to save weight. it will also take some fabrication skills. the non vented rear discs also weigh less then the 4 lug drum setup. maybe even run the smaller disc setup in the front for less weight and rotating mass, but again, for drag racing. this will also allow you to run a smaller rim, and this will give you more sidewall for traction and keep the rotating mass of the wheel closer to the center of the axle.

[W.P._Turbocars]

Dustin Don't ---- up your numbered car. Use the 88 that you started out with back in the day. Even though I like to get as much weight savings as I can, I still wouldn't tear into a numbered car when I have a non numbered p body sitting off to the side. Just my .02. Also if you do start stripping it pull all the HVAC and interior. Will save quite a bit of weight.

[Ondonti]

those weights are all way too high, but the carpet is actually heavier slightly. I have the weights in an excel file on my desktop back in the States.

[ShadowFromHell]

Dustin Don't ---- up your numbered car. Use the 88 that you started out with back in the day. Even though I like to get as much weight savings as I can, I still wouldn't tear into a numbered car when I have a non numbered p body sitting off to the side. Just my .02. Also if you do start stripping it pull all the HVAC and interior. Will save quite a bit of weight.

No one would buy it, and I need the money to pay bills. Its getting parted. The deadline on anyone showing intrest has came and went... It sucks, but thats life. My 88 is going to stay a "street car". It may even get a/c!

[3Bar_Mopar]

My P-Body a couple summers ago:



I actually used to remove the door glass on nice days and evenings. Now that I have nowhere to put the passenger seat and door glass, I keep them installed during nice weather. I also have no rear bumper now. The back was/is light enough that I can lift the rear wheel off the ground.

I'd like to cut out the spare well soon...mine's rusty, so I'd like to replace it with flat sheet aluminum or something. I'm thinking about removing the guts of the doors and using straps for the windows. The gas tank will be next and replaced with a cell. I guess the dash and heater box crap will come out eventually. The floors need some rust repaired before I can remove the carpet, but it's coming. I'd like to get the car under 2K pounds and over 400 w/tq.

Ondonti...do you have some pics of your gutted Duster dash?

[RoadWarrior222]

Are your hubs too round?
http://www.autospeed.com/cms/A_112017/article.html