Anybody know how much our stock, steel hoods weigh? I mean, have YOU or a friend actually weighed one? Or gotten the # from a good source?

I'm just what kind of weight savings I'll get over my new hood. It's not here yet (not even ordered yet) but I'm curious how it will compare to the stocker.

 

I know its a lot lol or at least it feels like it

 

I weigh ALOT of my parts. I use a digital home scale.

my stock 1988 camaro hood weighs 67 LBS. Thats with the rear hinges, shocks, and front latch still on it.

My harwood bolt on 4" cowl fiberglass hood weights 51 LBS with the same hinges, shocks and front latch transfered over to it.

So the fiberglass hood saved me 16 lbs off the nose of the car.

Remember bolt on glass hoods are heavier than the thin pin on only race hoods.

I ended keepinf the hinges, shocks, etc on the rear but removed the whole front latch part and installed 2 hood pins up front.

The stock front latch, coil spring on hood, the striker, and the big brace/mount on the car that the latch is mounted too weighed 6 LBS.

 

67lbs?!!!

I mean I knew the hoods had some weight but damn.

Sounds like we need some CF components...

I'll see what I can do for you guys...

 

i read some where it 80lb but you did it so... its still up there but i wouldn't have thought a fiberglass one would be that heavy

 

51lbs? And I thought their claim of 40-45 lbs was bad!

I want an OEM latch, not a pin on. I've had that before, but that's not for my GTAs style.

 

my pin-on is under 15 pounds.

 

So my '83's factory composite hood really does shed a lot of pounds over it's steel counterpart(and over the front wheels).

 

Composite is a dangerous word... All it means is a mesh of multiple structures.

If it's a fiberglass hood then so be it...

Anyways I used to make carbon/kevlar COMPOSITE parts for imports a few years back. If i can get a place to work I will start making peices for our cars. I will start with the 87 Birds and work from there. Considering I own an 87... it's a good place to start.

I'd say with hood, front quarter-panels, hatch(with lexan) and replacement doors. We could save some where around 300-600lbs.

And then if you wanted to go nuts and start replacing steel components with aluminum alloy and titanium copies... we could easily have a 2000lb(est) 3rd gen without a full-tube chassis and full re-skin.

 

watch the doors, they are key to the structural integrity of our cars

 

I just weighed my stock 92' hood..... 74 lbs with hood blisters still attached.

Looks like I need a lite weight hood!!!

Ray

 

And have spent a very pretty penny on it too. I admit, if you got a thirdgen to about 2500lbs I'd be SHOCKED. I could see 2800 or 2700lbs, but 2000lbs I think is out of the question.

The fenders weigh very little, from what i know fiberglass replacements aren't much lighter than the stock fenders. The hood i know is heavy, I've lifted it quite a few times. If anyone had a stock lightweight replacement that used hinges for the 85+ TA style hoods I'd be on that.

 

I just had my hood off of my '85 Camaro Z28 when making the louvers functional and weighed mine in at about 55-60 lbs. The scale was off by almost -10lbs so I just added that to the indicated number, therefore rendering my measurement somewhat inaccurate. I had no idea it weighed that much until I tried picking it up.

Does anybody make lightweight replacement doors for thirdgens?

 

Yes, but race versions only. No window channel. They even have a full "frame" to attach the window lexan too.

 

82-92 Doors
No Posts or Rockers. Lexan Use only
Price=564.00 a pair
Weight=10 eand.ch
Ship: UPS Items.



I thought, a while back, if the majority of the outer skins could be cut out on our doors, then replaced with fiberglass. Not a big weight savings, but would help SOME, if you were trimming the last pound.

OR, for 91/92 'birds...

91-92 Trans Am Doors with Posts and Rockers
Lexan Use only
Price=584.00 a pair
Weight=12each
Ship: UPS Items.

 

I wasn't talking strictly fiberglass. I mainly do composite work with Kevlar, Carbon, Fiberglass and occasionally urethane... although I despise the stuff.

Besides most of the fiberglass products you see are chopped... meaning they don't use weave twill fiberglass which is stronger and allows for less material... IE... lighter.

But a dual layer of Carbon should be enough strength for visual components and shouldn't weight more than 10lbs per component.

As far as structural strength goes... I always create sub-frame for the parts. Doors would get it for sure so they could look OEM... as far as the hood hinges... the spring would have to be replaced... to be honest a light gas shock application would work better but if you did want to use the OEM mounts and latch that would requires a large sub-frame that would rob you of the weight saving.

 

There are no springs on any thirdgen hood that I've ever looked at. Its all done with a gas shock.