Zell1luk

Long story short: I can't afford to build a 400+ hp engine so I want to make my car faster by taking some weight off. What are the best, inexpensive ways to get some weight off these cars? Doesn't have to be specific to the body, but anywhere on the car; I just wasn't sure if there was a better place to post asking about something like this.

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

If you're not serious enough to build a 400 horsepower engine than you aren't serious enough to need to remove enough weight where it will make an appreciable real world difference. Not being mean, just stating real world experience. Fiberglass cowl hoods, aluminum heads, removed emissions equipment, removing AC system, relocating the battery, etc all carry an expense and may save 100 pounds. The usual thought is that Removing 100 pounds will generally lower your 1/4 mile time by 0.10 seconds or more easily put, an amount you'll never appreciate unless you're doing the 1/4 mile. Maybe if you're seasoned at autocrossing you may notice it also.

Night rider327

iTrader: (13)

Weight Reduction is not cheap really.

I have done a lot to remove weight and it's not been cheap or easy.

Here are some of the things I done...

Removed the stock heavy rubber back carpet and replaced with thin speaker box type carpet.
52 lbs oem carpet and under lay/padding
7 lbs 4 rolls light weight carpet
Savings of 45 lbs

67 lbs steel hood w/hinges, shocks, latch
51 lbs harwood bolt on 4" cowl fiberglass hood w/hinges, shocks, latch
Savings of 16 lbs

33 lbs stock th-400 torque converter
24 lbs 9.5” 3500 stall converter
Savings of 9 lbs

29 lbs Both Iron brake drums
20 lbs Both Alum. brake drums
Savings of 9 lbs

72 lbs stock front seats w/ tracks
62 lbs Ebay sport race seats w/ stock camaro tracks
Savings of 10 lbs

90 lbs Iron 462 casting heads
61 lbs Alum brodix IK200 heads
Savings of 29 lbs

20.5 lbs stock starter
10.5 lbs Mini starter
Savings of 10 lbs

4 lbs stock steel lower pulley
2 lbs alum 5.5" lower pulley
Saving of 2 lbs

13 lbs Power brake booster, Master cyl & prop valve
1.5 lb Strange manual master cyl and hardware
Savings of 11.5 lbs

10 lbs for ECU and all un-needed wires (carb setup)

All of that together is 151.5 lbs of weight and the price for those items was around $2800

With the old rule of thumb 100 lbs = .10 sec in 1/4 mile and 10 hp = .10 sec..
The car would only be 0.15 seconds in 1/4 mile due to weight loss

If you have an '87 L98 you have 225 HP stock... Adding power would be much cheaper and easier

A good set of heads $1200
Cam $225
Headers $275
will get you to 375 HP or more

Vanilla Ice

Having no funds and not being serious about a hp number are two completely separate concepts.

Weight reduction doesn't have to cost you anything. Pull out the seats, carpet, consoles, trim, door panels, mirrors, wipers, fluids, emissions, ground effects, spoiler, body reinforcement, any unneeded components, stereo/speakers, and anything else you can think of.
Want to keep it looking good, feeling stock and being comfortable? As said adding hp is cheaper.

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

This is bad advice unless it is a drag only car. No mirrors and no wipers will save next to nothing and get you ticketed by the police regardless of what state you're in, not to mention it would never pass a safety inspection if your state demands them. Removing body enforcement is a sure fire way to turn a minor fender bender into a disaster for your car and potentially you. You really need some type of coolant overflow tank. Four stock speakers and the radio may save 10-15 pounds. Unless it's a track only car or you already have a good engine don't fool around with removing x,y or z.

monkey-leader

I dont think the aforementioned ratio of 10 lbs to a tenth faster is right. Its more like 100lbs to a tenth. Also, I wouldnt mess with any structural elements like door bars unless it is a track only car. I dont really like getting crushed, but if the .05sec is worth the risk to you have at er.

Here's some free things to remove that wont hurt you in the summer. They are not all "legal", but nothing that would kill you. Also they are mostly estimated, I dont really have time to weigh everything.

• Heater/AC -70lbs
• HVAC Ducts -20lbs
• Radio and speakers -20lbs
• Center console -5lbs
• Carpet and sound deadening -50lbs
• Plastic interior panels -30lbs
• Smog stuff +HP/-Lbs. Not quite free you need a new belt. -10
• Enormous Rubber Whale Tail Spoiler -30lbs
• Passenger Seat -35lbs (you can take them out at the track)
• Rear Seat -35lbs
• Bumber Egg crates - 30lbs
• Get some excercise -???Lbs

"Free" Total: 315ish pounds


Less than Free:

• LY6 Swap -100lbs (1500CAD)
• Thinned wiring harness -~10lbs
• Super T10 instead of TH700R4 -~50lbs (1000CAD)
• Pin on hood DIY -50 to 60lbs (100-200$)
• Mini Starter -10lbs (50CAD)
• Headers/Cats -20 to 30 Lbs maybe remove the cats, who am I to tell you how to live your life :P

Costly Total: 240ish pounds for 3000ish dollars. However, there's also have close to 380HP of added value.

Conservative Grand Total: 555 lbs lighter and 180 more horsepower

I lose a built drag oriented automatic and a lot of comfort. They invented clothing for cold days and my A/C never worked anyway...

Tibo

iTrader: (15)

Some of your estimates are off, far off. HVAC ducting will not save you 20 pounds, I would be surprised if it weighed 10 pounds. I pulled out all of mine last month and it's just a few feet of thin lightweight plastic.

The entire front bumper weighs 25 lbs, the plastic egg crate/honeycomb on the bumper probably weighs 5-10 pounds and it is very illegal and dangerous to have no bumper. You can take the route of replacing it with a steel beam but depending on it's rigidity if you get in a front end collision could bend the frame rail much more easily.

If you're including the dash, dash board, headliner, door panels and every plastic covering in the car then you would save almost 30 pounds. Just the sail panels and panels around the hatch/well you might save 10 pounds.

All this goes right back to what I said, unless it's an off road (autocross, drag strip, road race) vehicle don't bother with removing anything. Even removing the spare tire and jack may save 30 pounds but you'll end up shifting the weight bias more forward than it already is.

And please, PLEASE do not go and drill "speed holes" all over the car.

DonW

Boys, I hate to say it but any modification done to these third gens unless it is an LS swap is worthless. And that LS swap has to be done right and look good too for the car to have any resale value when your done. Dropping 20 pounds here and 15 pounds there will only help you climb a hill a little better, and will absolutely kill the value of your car, not to mention get you a nice ******head label lol. We are now living in a day where HP numbers are absolutely insane right from the manufacturer. All of the mods mentioned here wont even make a 305 keep up with a 4cyl 2016 Camaro. I say restore LOST power to keep her running good and enjoy having a thirdgen. Still the best looking gen yet IMHO

DonW

I should correct myself....An LS swap isnt the only one worth doing. I have an L98 from a 1990 TPI Corvette about to go in mine. But thats because the 305 is just tired. Even Americas best sports car, the vette, only punched out 245 HP in 1990. A new Camaro however? double those HP numbers! I guess what Im trying to say is, wouldnt it save alot of time and be better in the long run not worrying about dropping any weight and just enjoy it for what it is? Yeah, I hate that the damn hondas can out run me on the interstate too....but by gosh our cars are just more drivable and they can have that junk!...lol

Night rider327

iTrader: (13)

Good catch there. Thank you. You are correct. It was a all nighter at 4:30 am when I posted that.

monkey-leader

Did you just call me a sh!thead? Rude.

My car is not for sale. Unlikely, I'll ever sell it. So, IDGAF what you think I should do to it.

The thing about everything I've done is that it can be easily undone (except the roll cage). If i decide to, I can put all that stuff back. I have no idea why I'd put a broken GM A/C unit or a boat anchor of a SBC back. Seems counter productive.

My car is for autocross/track days. So, lightening IS valid. If I need to argue why, you shouldn't be posting in a weight reduction thread.

I'll weight the front and rear egg crates, they weigh more than you think. Most of my estimates are on the Conservative side. Its pretty well known that a gutted third gen doesn't weigh much.

The OP said he couldn't afford a 400+HP engine. Getting anything out of that TPI setup will cost a mint. Dump the truck motor TPI and get a semi decent used carb/decent cam from the classifieds. Or even some used Vortec heads and an intake while youre at it. These can all be had fairly cheap. Getting 300-350 is pretty easy. Past 350hp and the cost rises exponentially.

Also, saying that a 295 horsepower 3500lb turbo 2l will beat a 300hp 3000HP car is wrong.

I don't know why you're all so **** about this, the OP asked for free ways to make his car faster and lightening/tune-up is about it. Having a medical job is nice for buying things but I'm sure you know that money doesn't grow on trees in college.

articwhiteZ

iTrader: (56)

dropping 250lbs. off a car. and adding 800HP with EFI and a none LS motor. works for some of us I gess...LOL

monkey-leader

Nah, thats garbage man. You need that weight for re-sale....

TylerSteez

iTrader: (3)

just start saving money, I dont think you'll notice much of anything by removing a couple things, especially without a budget for lighter parts. buy a low miled 350 vortec out of a 96-99 suburban. lt4 hot cam kit, beehive springs, have the heads worked for 1.6 rockers and screw in studs, vortec style intake manifold with a nice carb, adjustable fuel pressure regulator, higher stall converter, subframe connectors, and all the other little things Im forgetting and you'll have a nice 350hp car for $4000 tops.

Zell1luk

Thank you for a productive answer! It's not that I won't want horsepower some day, but the money just won't be in the cards for a while yet. At the end of next summer I should have a few grand extra, and I was thinking about buying a used race motor from craigslist or a friend. But like I said, until next winter I won't have the money for that so I just wanted some easy ways to get some weight off.

DonW

monkey-leader, I didnt call you anything. My reply was to the original poster who clearly stated that he didnt have the funds to build HP, so his next thought is to reduce the weight of his car. In a reasonable "been there done that" fashion, as I would state to any one of my six children I advised him to just enjoy his ride. I wasn't rude to anyone. How about the next time your in Tennessee I'll let you buy me a beer

Zell1luk

^You're*

Thirdgen89GTA

iTrader: (5)

Unless your goal is total race car, don't bother with the interior weight reduction stuff. You should keep the blower assembly and HVAC so you can keep Defrost. One day you may need that to defog, or defrost the windshield. You also need to keep wipers, if you can't see, you can't drive.

Radio, how much performance do you gain losing 4 paper cone speakers and a head unit? Not much weight at all. I consider the weight of the sound system well worth its reduction in boredom.

Interior carpets, passenger seats. If you remove these, this is where you will gain the most ground in terms of weight lost from the interior. However, you will also have a huge increase in the amount of cabin NVH. Exhaust noise will boom in the interior. And you'll hear every pebble that hits the under carriage. Wind and road noise will increase as well.

Relocating the battery, you can do that, and its beneficial. But you aren't losing any weight. You are actually adding weight, that power cable that has to run from the front of the car to the back, plus the weight of the battery box. Now, what you will do is get better weight balance, and that can be good all on its own. However, now you need to mount up a master cut-off switch drilled into your bumper to be legal at most drag strips.

Basically, any weight savings you can do for free, comes with its own cost in terms of how civil your car feels. If you want to ride around in a stripper car with no interior and be deafened by NVH feel free to remove your interior.

I could never remove the interior on a street driven car. I might pay to replace the heavy rubber carpet with some kind of light weight insulator and lightweight carpet. But I'd go nuts if I had to deal with all the NVH it would generate.

My car with the UMI Roto-joints is pretty quiet inside considering there are no more rubber bushings anywhere. So all the road imperfections get transferred to the chassis. If I were to remove my carpets, it would be a race car. My exhaust is also loud enough WITH the carpets.

monkey-leader

There's always cost to quality to speed. You can get 2. Seeing as he wants to go faster and doesnt have a lot of cash, quality suffers.This applies to everything...

monkey-leader

Here's a spreadsheet some guy made, dunno how accurate it is...
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...FXGpY/htmlview

DynoDave43

iTrader: (11)

Interesting table.