Cars'n'Guitars

So what are some good ways to eliminate weight on these cars? I've been informed from many people these are heavy cars and I want to know what ways I can eliminate weight in general and focus most of my weight in the rear?

BlackenedBird

iTrader: (5)

You could have used the Search feature. https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...on-thread.html

Post #556 https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/post...8-post556.html has a link to the Excel chart that I built using weights that I have personally recorded & weights reported by other members here on TGO.

jaybdaboat

The thirdgen cars are lighter the rest of the generations for the most part.

Put there is a HUGE weight reduction thread.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

better questions are: What does your car weigh now? and what have you already done to reduce weight? also, what are you willing to give up, or what are you willing to spend on lightweight stuff?

unknown_host

iTrader: (1)

A lot of weight loss is what are you willing to sacrifice. If the car is a street strip car, I would say a set of Weld wheels with skinny fronts, a fiberglass hood, and an aftermarket K-member/tubular A-arms will drop considerable weight without giving up a lot of creature comforts. You will be giving up a lot of $$$ though .

The free/cheap weight reductions are when you start giving up things you might actually want. On my 89 L98 Iroc, I have gotten rid of the A/C system, extra wiring, jack/spare tire, a giant ugly custom sub box, cruise control, the stock power seats (this was a huge weight savings), emmissions equipment, and I am currently converting the car to an S10 box.

I learned a lot from my old car, you can lose a lot of weight getting rid of interior and carpet, but if you're like me you will hate driving it after that . Just be smart about what you get rid of, and don't do anything you can't go back if you really want to.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

I recently took off 200 lbs by removing all but the driver's seat (a buddy suggested removing the driver would take out even more), spare tire & jack, rear cargo cover, rear storage box, rear carpet, and door panels. I drove it to work for a couple of weeks like that, it was miserable. Put it all back in except the seats when I installed nitrous to get the needed performance for one class - much nicer to drive to & from work now.

BTW, non-GFX car, no AC right now, 3340 lbs going down the track with over half a tank of gas yesterday.

Cars'n'Guitars

I have yet to do anything weight reduction wise I'm at the stage where I'm starting to plan my car since I'm pretty postive my transmission just gerenaded and I'm buying a diesel truck for my daily driver now so my Camaro will be my toy. So money wise I will spend what I need to make my car light. I am willing to do many things to make my car lighter but will not do anything that will make the car unsafe and may be "sketchy" kind of work. Right now the car has a fiberglass cowl hood, american racing outlaw ii rims, basic stuff nothing power, no jacks or anything like that. I thought about swaping the whole front subframe but I can't find anything for racing after searching the internet.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

you couldn't find a tubular k-member? or front subframe? these cars don't have a bolt on front "subframe" like the 1st and 2nd gen counterparts, but there is weight and space to be saved by going to a tubular front kmember, rack, aarms, and coilovers.

www.racecraft.com
www.paracing.com
www.bmrsuspension.com
www.spohn.net
www.trzmotorsports.com

those are just the 5 off the top of my head that i can think of right now.

american racing outlaw II's are not a "light weight race wheel". there is some that can be had there with going to a dedicated race only wheel. this can be a very expensive venture by itself though. $1500+ for nice quality drag race wheels...and that doesn't include tires either.

how fast do you want to go? depending on your goals, you may not need to go into ultra light mode....

Cars'n'Guitars

Haha I want to go as fast as I can afford to, I know the American racing isn't that light but it's just what was on my car when I bought it. I was looking under my car and thought it was a bolt in subframe like 1st and 2nd gen but I guess I'm wrong. Money isn't really a problem as it will happen overtime as I plan on building it completely. And I will look into the front end parts since there aren't front subframes to buy.

FRMULA88

It really is a cruel game.

You take out the free stuff only to put most of that weight back in with the req'd safety equipment, so then you have to go for the lighter weight replacement parts.

All the stuff adds up to some major weight savings but a stripped out car is just that, a stripped out car. But suppose it depends how far you want to go with it.

I am sure my car is lighter than when it was stock. I still have full interior and power windows, less the factory front seats that I swapped for lighter racing seats. The rear seat is useless with the cage (except for small kids) so it will go soon.

Weight adders for safety and to pass tech!
8 point cage
sub-frame connectors & drive shaft loop
5 points harnesses
Dart block +50 Lbs more than oem block.


Weight savers: some free, some cost $, others $$.

AC & Heat delete (free mod)
removed all smog equip, (free mod)
removed all unused wiring, brackets, bolts, etc. (free mod)
manual steering ($)
manual brakes ($)
fiberglass hood ($)
tubular k member & control arms (half the weight of stock $$)
rear disc brakes ($)

I have not scaled in a few years... need to see where I am at but 1/4 timeslips do not lie.
Good luck

Cars'n'Guitars

I have some of those mods done already from when I bought the car, and plan to do the rest. Thanks for the encouragement.