How light can you make a thirdgen if you strip id down. I love my car, but it probibly weighs over 3700lbs with all the options and mods it has. Is it possible to get it under 2900?

 

My car with me in it is now 3175. I'm about 160. If I had a small block and a TH350 or PG tranny it could be close to 2900. Getting mine lower now gets expensive. I still want a PAracing tubular front crossmember. Some fiberglass fenders and doors would cut even more weight off.

To get it down to 2900 pounds the car becomes totally stripped. There's very little left to be considered street legel so a 2900 pound third gen would be considered a full race car.

More realistically a street third gen should be able to get down to the 3200-3300 pound range.

 

I was talking to a guy who made a full race car out of his and he has a one peice front end thats fiberglass. Doesnt weigh much at all.

 

my car + me + full tank =3175lbs. minus me = 3040 - gas =29??lbs.

complete a/c removal
complete smog removal
no spare or jack
all sound deadening material (retained carpet but not the pad under it)
no radio system what so ever removed all including wires
rear spoiler

 

I would cry if I was without my radio.


Well, actually, my radio just got stolen..heh. But my car's not running right now anyway.

 

no radio, you must be insane. I will leave the subs at home when i head for the track though. Nuthin better than a ride that can bump like hell, and still smoke everything that comes it's way.

 

I've been driving my car close to 3 years now and of that time, only 2 months has been with a $3500 stereo installed. I took it out after installing everything cause I never listened to it much anymore. The system came out of my old truck. Doesn't bother me one bit that it's gone

 

Hey guys, whats up? I JUST NOW went and got my car weighed at the truck stop. It weighed 3100 pounds even. What I have done, is complete A/C and smog removal. Even the ducts behind the dash. No spare or jack. No passenger or rear seats. And that's all I have done. I thought that was pretty light. I can break under 3000 no problem. Lighter parts... aluminum heads, headers. There is some nasty looking stuf right behind the front bumper. Supposed to absorb shock if crashed. WHo gives a ****. That will be gone in a little bit. I still have radio. Figured it weighed only about 20 pounds anyway so. But yeah, I will see you all guys later. I will leave a document I found on the internet in another post about lightening your car. I think this was done to a 4th gen, but still pretty much the same. Anyway later guys,

 

Here is the doc: enjoy it is good stuff.

I'm glad you finally got the car you want! And the wonderful thing about the Chevy is that there is unlimited mods for it. The supercharger is a great way to go, but stay with the small one (no overheating and it wont blow the tires loose and is nicer on your lower end.) But with the NOS you can spray at any rpm. Idle or 5000 rpm (providing your rev limiter is working.) The supercharger is better (btw a lot more $$$.) And to be quite honest, I have seen both cars race (on 5.0's) and the car with NOS is usually faster than the streetable supercharger. But there are pro's and con's to everything. In the mean time, there is at least 45 HP and maybe 75 lbs. of weight for the taking!!! Forced induction, computer attitude adjustment, hotter plug, exhaust... Remove unwanted weight, maybe carpet insulation, sound deadener is found all over that car and it adds up to weight! Go easy on the stereo (do you really need 5000 watts??) Look under the car. Plenty of undercoating that can be scrapped off. (I did it to my car and it weighed over ten pounds!) Look for extra long
brackets that can be trimmed. Think about lighter wheels and while your at it go with the Bf Goodrich Drag Radial (that tire hooks dead solid!) the car will feel faster and launch better. And with the extra traction you can go ahead and remove that front sway bar and bolts and bushings that has to weigh at least 35 lbs. (Right out of the front of the car!) and will allow the front end to lift more and give better weight transfer to the rear end. Think about moving the battery to where it is better needed like in the trunk (all those amplifiers will need less wire, too.) Every hundred lbs. is a 1/10 in the quarter mile!!! I'll take it any day!!
Think about lighter seats the factory seats weigh a ton (At least 40 lbs. each!) That is almost a tenth right there!! Get into the mind set of getting it lighter and it will add up quickly!! *FREE horsepower*!! It stops quicker!! It turns better!! It gets better gas mileage!!! Light is right! Lean is mean!!! IT adds up quick!! I removed 385 lbs from my Trans Am one weekend and when I got back into the car it felt like 75 hp!! I swear! The car sounded like it had more power but it did'nt. It only felt like it. It excelerated faster and sounded like it. It also launched better. The car woke up in a big way!! To get 385 lbs out I had to get a little radical All the above mentioned plus good bye seat belts. So long blown speakers (I could'nt hear the radio anyway because my exhaust is so loud.) Oh yeah, good bye radio, good bye floor mats, ashtray, cig lighter, door panels, glove box (I told you I got radical.) Good bye FRONT BUMPER!!! On my '78 T/A it weighed
over 50 lbs! And it came off with a fist full of bolts. And you couldn't notice.. (I only removed the railroad tie inside the front bumper). There are two more inside the doors but I did'nt have time for them. I took out the inner fender wells and bolts (in '78 they were steel.) When I got done, the front end sat about 3.5 inches higher in the front!!! It was a hard laugh!! I had to put a torch on the springs before I could go to the track. After all that the car FLEW! You don't have to get THAT radical, but you get the idea. Spare tire a jack? For sissies!!! Toss em!! carry a can of Fix'o flat and a plug kit. (It will bail you out of 99% of your flats) and it weighs less than 1.5 pounds. The front shocks can get lighter too. (and 90/10's will give better weight transfer also.) Take a look behind the back seat! Press board, glue, and steel. YUK! Maybe 5-10 free lbs. Cut out that steel with tin snips, hack saw or high speed die grinder at your dads shop. Don't cut the seat spports so you can put it back in. Think about the fuel tank! It's heavy! They make fuel cells that are 20 plus gallons and very light, maybe 25 lbs lighter than factory. Imagine two cars, both identical except for weight . (Yours is 400-500
lbs lighter one is 3400lbs and car "A" is only 2950! Need I say any more??? And along with the 50 or so hp your going to tacl on to, its net power were talking about about 12 second car pal!!! That stops better than stock (you'll need it) Brain storm. Also lighter pulley's. Lighter harmonic balancer (they make em less than 4 lbs now!) Prove me wrong if i'm lieing!!! That means 25X unsprung weight!!! Any thing that is rotating free's up even more power! Lighter brake rotors (or drill them), lighter drive shaft. At this point your car is bitchin'!!! BAD TO THE BONE!! And mostly because it is lighter. Now if you want to get radical, buy a set of cylinder heads. (They can be stock) and we'll shave em (more compression) Better fuel port them to mach your match ported intake drop in a bumpier stick and hang on. But that's a little radical, but realisticly a low to mid 12 second and spent a fraction of these Ricki Racers out there and still blow em away and all they can do is scratch there empty heads!!! You're 400 lbs. lighter and they don't even know it! And the power you did make is unoticable! (Stock, tricked out heads). Even if you don't change the heads it'll be a 12 sec car!! guaranteed!!! Yes! The front windshield can be replaced with a lexan one(at least 40 pounds!!) And put all the moldings back on) fiberglass hood.. It's endless!! How fast do you want to go with a mildly worked over engine??? When it comes to getting there first light is right buddy, light is right!!!

 

Changing the windshield to Lexan only cuts off 20 pounds.

The gas tank is 25 pounds. My 4 gallon fuel cell is only a fraction of that.

My car may still be considered heavy but then it also has the big block and a 6 point roll bar. My car weight includes me. I don't care what the car weighs by itself since it doesn't go anywhere without me. I need to know how much weight the engine is trying to move. My goal is to get it down to 2800 with me in it.

 

That's a good goal.