What kind of weight mods does it take to get a Fbody to 2800-2900 Lbs? (3000-3100 with me in it) Is it possible without ripping up the interior and still having a street car?

Chris

 

you would have to do alot of work to a car with a full interior to get to 2800 lbs. youd have to get alot of lightweight parts like a fiberglass hood and probably lexan hatch glass, lighter wheels, replacing alot of the steel parts with aluminum, like the radiator, heads, electric water pump, things like that. other things you could do with a full interior would be to get 4th gen seats and put 3rd gen tracks on them, get the aftermarket carpet that is lighter than the stock carpet


its pretty tough to get a 3rd gen to 2800 lbs anyway, to get one that light most people would remove alot of the stuff that arent 'necesities' but make life alot easier like headliners, air conditioning, etc..

i bet you could make a street legal thirdgen with a full interior to 2800 lbs, but it would take alot of hard work and probably alot of time and money to go along with the hard work

 

I am trying to get my Formula down to 3000lbs with a full interior. we'll see how it goes

 

fill your rollcage with helium.....

 

I just swapped out my steel inner bumper front bumper on my Trans Am for an aluminum one. after I got the old one out I weighed the 2 of thme with the impact absorber still attached to both and the aluminum bumber weighs exactly 14lbs less than the steel one !!! I am not sure ic the general made aluminum bumpers for the Camaros but it would def be worth checking out.

 

CARB diet

 

A guy I know that has a pro-street 3rd gen Camaro said he replaced his power steering gear box with a manual one from an S10. for one if this is a straight forward swap then you would def gain hp from not having to run a power steering pump and also you would reduce more weight from pitching the pump. as far as the gear box goes I am not sure of the weight diff. this is def something I am going to be looking into, possibly tomorrow if I make it to the junkyard. I will keep you guys up to date on this one.

 

do a
I have seen several threads with the s-10 manual steering box idea. I am sure one of them have weighed them...

 

well I went to the junkyard after work today and one S10 had a manual steering box. it was a major puta getting it off the truck b/c it was sitting on the ground, but with a few choice words and alot of sweat I got it off. I asked one guy on Ebay selling a 3rd gen power steering gear box how much it weighs with the pitman arm on and I specified with no packing and he said it weighed 29 lbs. the manual box off the S10 weighed in at 23lbs with the S10 pitman arm on. so it looks like the box alone will reduce 6 lbs plus whatever the power steering pump, brketry, hoses and belt all come to I don't know yet but I will soon. I am going to clean my new manual box up a bit and paint it black then I will post my new steering weight results.

 

Save some weight....don't paint it...

 

start with a base model 82 firebird, 2858 lbs!

 

do you need AC or heat?

 

I'm still wondering if the weight of an 82 base firebird is actually under 2900 Lbs, sounds a little light to me.

I dont really have to have heat or AC, just a comfortable interior.

Chris

 

I e-mailed you the pdf file which is the page taken from the gm 82 book. I hope this clears it up for you

 

it would be tough to hit 3000 lbs and keep creature comfronts....

my car weighs in at exactly 3200 without me in it. it has power steering, heat, all power options. the CM 9" will take some weight off, but it will be hard to get to much lighter and still have a "nice" car to drive

 

your right but, that's what base model cars used to be.

 

Come on over and take a look at what it takes. You've already got the offer.

Also IHI anytime you would like to do wheels I am down. Car is starting to come together quickly. All I need is tires and a radiator.

 

Isn't a base model a V-6?

 

from 84 onward, yes.



but in 82 and 83, you could get the 4cyl iron duke motor.


the motor was so gutless that chevy thought it was unsafe in such a heavy car... it could bearly accelerate... im talking mid 20 1/4 mile times..... so they made them light... they're what the alum bumpers came in... they usually didnt have AC... ect...


by the time you add a v8, the "lightweight" basemodel 4banger car weighs the same as a minimal option V8 car anyway.. so that route isnt really that great.



really, to get below 3000lbs, you'll need to totally gut the car. you can do some trick stuff to get you close, but you wont actually go below 3k until you ditch the interior and all creature comforts...

 

Yes that right, I had forgot about that. I was selling Chevy's back then and we had one as a price leader no a/c and the little black 'doggy ear' mirrors, sport mirrors were an option.

I actully thought they were suprisingly peppy thru first second gear, for a 4 banger with a stick, they ran a lower gear then the V-6 or 8.

I remember using a stop watch on my buddy's dad's mint 62 Impala 283 powerglide on a 1/4 mile we had marked off out side of town, about the same et! Sorry reread post, the Impala ran about 20 sec.

 

An aftermarket K-frame would be a big saver I bet. That factory one is like an anchor from the Titanic!

 

factory one isnt as heavy as it looks.

 

I thought it was pretty darn heavy and awkward when I removed mine. But then again, I don't know what the aftermarket ones weigh.

 

Mods for being lighter.

Removed antenna
gutted doors (until I get enough cash for fiberglass ones)
lexan side glass
Fiberglass hatch piece
fiberglass hood
tons of bolts
heater core box removed
Flaming river manual steering rack
front and rear bumpers gone
aluminum heads
only thing pullied is the low mount alternator
Tubular control arms and cross member
15 x 3.5 fromt wheels
fuel cell (custom aluminum
removed charcoal filter and everything else
manual willwood master cylinder
removed back seat
removed carpet and sound deadening material (autozone carpet 12 pounds for whole roll)
Stock wheel wells and fram gone
Ford 9 inch with aluminum center section.
Rear willwood disc brakes.
Removed wiper motor and assembly
Lighter tranny than stock soon to be an all aluminum deadenbear.
custom thinner sheetmetal rear hatch area.
4 link back half kit (not so much weight but better strength
coil overs in rear
soon to have lexan glass
gutted steering with with painless switch kit for all accessories
no centerconsole
No wiring other than painless
theres more but those are some good starters
basically anything bolted down

 

sawzall is your friend

 

one of my friends on the westcoast boards has a completey gutted z28, just a steering column and 3 gauges. T5 and 400sbc no computer all carb, dual exhaust dumps before rear tires. and his raceweight is 3085 lbs. goodluck!oh yea, one drivers seat as well.

 

3065lbs actually with myself weighing in at 165lbs and a full tank of gas

oh and its an RS and still got stuff to take off w00t

 

yeah he's the one i was talking about ^ ^

 

well, a sbc does not weight 500 lbs more than an iron duke so, a base model is what I would start with then do the little things like sound mat removal (you know all the dumb stuff that adds up in the end)

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=277754

heres some ideas