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i am debating if i should get a 3rd gen camaro or bird- and sell my s13 project i was going to dump a small block in it but im not too sure now-.
stripped with me (im a whole buck 40 :P) and the v8 in it - it should weigh about 2650 wet(oh and including a cage).
im curious if stripped can i get the 3rd gen down to even close to this? using carbon fiber fiber glass rear window delete for a fiberglass hatch and strait glass-whatever- to get it down there.
if i can im going to ditch the s13 240sx projet and just get a 3rd gen it would be alot simpler.
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It will be very difficult to get a third gen race weight (car, driver, fuel, etc) down under 2800 pounds. Typically 2400 pound range means a tube chassis. There's a lot of sheet metal in a third gen.
My car is a totally stripped down race car. Even though I run a BBC and have a full cage, my race weight is just under 3100 pounds. The cage itself is over 200 pounds. The BBC with aluminum heads is roughly the same weight as an iron head SBC. All my windows are Lexan and my deck lid is a piece of aluminum. The hood is fiberglass. I have some fiberglass doors to install this winter which after replacing my stripped down steel doors, may strip off about 50-70 more pounds.
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87 IROC-Z
All engine, no power adders! Bests: 9.348@144.71
dont get me wrong, it can be done!
its just hard.
the thing to remember however is that a 2600 lb 240 will be slower than a 3100 lb thirdgen.
in a thirdgen, you not only have the room for a big engine, but it will generally handle better and go faster in a straight line than a 240
if you swap a 350 into a 240 expect a lot of headache and very very cramped quarters.
i imagine that it would throw the weight bias off pretty bad too, but i could be wrong
if you get a bird, get a notchback conversion to loose an easy 150 lbs off the back of the car.
then relocate everything you can as far back as you can to redistribute the weight bias.
if you are loaded (clearly not the case however) an LS1 will weigh less than a SBC and have more power.
the key is to use aluminum or fiberglass wherever possible.
then again, i am biased towards the camaro so im not really a fair judge
there are lots of threads about this BTW, do a search for weight reduction
if you get a bird, get a notchback conversion to loose an easy 150 lbs off the back of the car.
The entire stock hatch and glass should only weigh about half to 2/3 of that, and a notch would only weigh slightly less.
It's almost as easy to get a Chevy with a notchback as it is a Pontiac, since the notchback TA's were made in '87 only, and only 6XX were made.
dont get me wrong, it can be done!
its just hard.
the thing to remember however is that a 2600 lb 240 will be slower than a 3100 lb thirdgen.
in a thirdgen, you not only have the room for a big engine, but it will generally handle better and go faster in a straight line than a 240
if you swap a 350 into a 240 expect a lot of headache and very very cramped quarters.
i imagine that it would throw the weight bias off pretty bad too, but i could be wrong
if you get a bird, get a notchback conversion to loose an easy 150 lbs off the back of the car.
then relocate everything you can as far back as you can to redistribute the weight bias.
if you are loaded (clearly not the case however) an LS1 will weigh less than a SBC and have more power.
the key is to use aluminum or fiberglass wherever possible.
then again, i am biased towards the camaro so im not really a fair judge
there are lots of threads about this BTW, do a search for weight reduction
how in the world would it be slower? ls1 swaps in 240 are quite common nowadays
But the OP said he was going to put a SBC in it... . I kept my mouth shut at first because I assumed you must have known something about 240's that I didn't... apparently not.
The entire stock hatch and glass should only weigh about half to 2/3 of that, and a notch would only weigh slightly less.
It's almost as easy to get a Chevy with a notchback as it is a Pontiac, since the notchback TA's were made in '87 only, and only 6XX were made.
But you can buy aftermarket Notchback hatches all day long nowadays.....
3rd gen hatch complete (hinges, struts, rear flat panel, and spoiler) is 95 lbs. The only thing missing from that number is the plastic underneith, which might be 1 lb or so. Lexan and a replacement panel will save about 37-43 lbs depending if you use 1/8 or 3/16 lexan.
A heavily stripped road race thirdgen that I know of is in the 27-2800 lb range w/ out driver and it still has glass windshield and hatch and a GEN I SBC with aluminum heads.
The entire stock hatch and glass should only weigh about half to 2/3 of that, and a notch would only weigh slightly less. 
. I kept my mouth shut at first because I assumed you must have known something about 240's that I didn't... apparently not. 
