Finally got my car across a scale today to see what this year's race weight is. I've got some fiberglass doors on order and I know I won't be able to get them installed before the next race. I might not be able to get them installed before the end of the season, but I'll try

Looking back at my race history for the race weight. Race weight is car, driver, fuel etc. How much weight is sitting on the starting line that the engine has to move.

2006
Race weight was 3085 pounds. 1851 Front, 1234 rear for a 60/40 nose heavy split. Car ran a best of 9.754 @ 140 mph

2007
Race weight was 3062 pounds. 1850 Front and 1212 rear for a 60.8/39.2 nose heavy weight ratio. That was after the back half project. Car ran a best of 9.575 @ 141 mph

2008
Race weight is 3042 pounds. 1786 Front and 1256 rear for a slightly better nose heavy weight of 58.7/41.3. The increased rear weight could be because I repositioned the seat to move me back a bit, the addition of the CO2 bottle assembly and the addition of a parachute holder. The front weight reduction was from changing the intake and fuel system. The Weiand tunnel ram and dual carbs is a lot heavier than the Edelbrock tunnel ram and dual toilets. The BG400 electric pump was replaced with a lighter belt driven pump. Car has run a best so far this year of 9.523 @ 142 mph

I was actually surprised to see it that light. I was expecting closer to 3085 pounds. The fiberglass doors will easily put me under 3000 pounds. I'm guessing my stripped down steel doors currently weigh 50-60 pounds each. Fiberglass doors will be about 20 pounds each at the most once they're ready to be installed. I'll need to install the Lexan windows on them, latches, handles, hinges etc.

I also changed my car number "again". Took off the H311 (hell) and put on 1Z28

 

Good luck with the door project.......

I'm currently at a crossroads with my car, seel or gut and turn into drag car.


I'm leaning towards gutting it, more fun

Do have any suggestions/tips or warnings in regards to gutting one of these?

 

For race only, if it's not required for speed or track safety, remove it. A factory third gen is typically around 3500 pounds. There's a lot of weight you can remove but the faster you go, you have to put weight back into it like a roll bar or cage etc. My full cage probably puts about 150 pounds back into the car.

 

How much front fascia support has you removed? Gut it all out...remove the entire thing, & rebuilt one out of small aluminum tube structure, like Andris did on his TT Camaro.

Not only are you removinng weight, but it also as far forward as possible, moving your weight distribution towards the rear tires.

 

Haven't started anything yet. I'm still looking at pics of other cars to get ideas on how to do it without it looking like a hack job.

I'll have to check that out. Thanks for the info.

 

Where did you get fiberglass doors? Are they illegal for street? DO they have functional windows?

 

Doors were off Ebay. Shipper screwed up and they got lost in shipment. Paypal gave me a full refund. Doors are available from Harwood at roughly $400 each.

Fiberglass doors are not considered street legal. They have no crash protection. They are just a shell. Hardware, latches, hinges all need to be put onto the door to make it work. Solid Lexan needs to be attached for windows. There's no way to make functional glass windows.

Shipping weight for the 2 doors was 35 pounds.

 

gotcha, i did some research and learned the same thing.

Maybe a fiberglass skin is more feasable.

But it just bothers me that my late 80's thirdgen (a much smaller looking car) weighs the same as my freind's GM A-body. All the weight is in the HUGE doors, and the heavy glass.

Are you planning on getting new set of doors?

 

The only thing light weight about my car is the aluminum heads and it weighs 3050 without me, The AC is gone too but everything else is stock. My 2.8 firebird weighs 3090. Both hard tops. I don't know why you say a typical 3rd gen weighs 3500.

 

If I ever find a deal on some fiberglass doors, I'd like to get some but I can't justify full price for a set.

When I bought my car many years ago, I pulled the original doors off and weighed them. Complete power option doors, hinges, motors, glass, inner paneling etc were 105 pounds each. I sold off those doors when I picked up some non power option doors from the junk yard.

I cut out the crash bas from inside the door, removed all the paneling, cut out most of the inner metal leaving just enough to hold the window regulator and door handle. Doors were now 75 pounds each.

Since then, I've removed the glass and regulator and installed a Lexan window but have never had the doors off to weigh them again. Might be in the 55-60 pound range now.

20 pound (or less) fiberglass doors would still be a huge weight saving.

3500 pound is race weight, car, fuel driver etc and usually fully loaded which is a typical third gen except the base models. Start shedding weight by removing power windows, mirrors, seats, AC etc and the weight will decrease.

I have no idea what my cars weighs by itself. It never goes anywhere by itself so I need to know the total weight that the engine needs to move.

 

Well i still have alot of weight to shed in my car. Even though i try to get rid of all the "un-necessary" stuff, its still a street car. Im very happy with the driveline at this point and to go with anymore power will require big $$$, so the next easiest way to gain is to shed weight. Good advice though, ineed to start somewhere and start shedding, that will probably be next year's project.

However, im still baffled to see the weights you are decribing!!!

Ive never weighed my car, but im going off of what most people say their's weighs.

How is your "stock" aluminum headed v8 lighter than your V6??? Im skeptical that its so little, but maybe youre right. Im intrigued.

 

The engine isn't stock, it's got trickflow heads and an eagle rotating assembly. Those are the only things that would change the overall weight of the car, I don't know how much the rotating assy would change it either. Probably less than the headers. The camaro was a V6 car, meaning no gfx, it was also a no option car. All the emissions stuff is gone too, guess I should have mentioned that before.

The 2.8 is all iron, it's heavy, the bird also has AC and gfx so there's a little more weight. All emission equipment is in place.

Both cars were weighed at a local stone quarry, so the scale is accurate. It also said my dad's '89 300zx weighed 3200lbs which is right on for that car.

 

Did someone say their near stock Camaro weighed around 3050lbs?
I've had my 86 IROC-Z across the scales with me and a half tank of fuel across the scales a couple of times.
3600 to 3750 depending on how the scales were set.
I weigh 200 lbs and 7 gallons of fuel is 36 lbs.
T-tops. A/C completely removed. OEM spare tire and jack. Aluminium intake. Steel heads. Headers.
I wish I was 300 pounds lighter.

 

As in my case, quarry scales and land fill scales are accurate for differential calculations although not necesarily for actual weight.
A typical scale in this application could be off by few hundred pounds but because they're used for before and after calculations, the initial inaccuracy dosen't enter into it.
It is interesting to note that the empty weight spec on my new to me 86 Camaro 2dr sedan (like the title says) is 3071 lbs.

 

The weight of the 300zx validates these scales. The lady also asked me if it needed to be signed for the DMV, so I can only assume that they are accurate. Both the titles of my f-bodys say mid-3000's and the 300zx's title says 3200. Finally, I know this is stretching it, but, the online HP by MPH and weight calculators come up VERY close to what my engine should make.

I'll have to find another set of scales and see for sure sometime.

 

I have an IROC. There's probably a good 50 pounds of ground effects on it.

 

The only reason I mentioned the scale accuracy is because I've had my 86 over the same set of scales twice ( a few months apart ) and the results were different. That's not to say that they're all like that.
I spend a far bit of time at a local chassis shop and will use their four corner scales at some time. I want to do a comparison between my IROC-Z and the 86 coupe I picked up. It would be grand if there is a few hundred pounds between the two. A hundred pounds per tenth in the quarter is the going rate. That's like free horsepower.