I'd like to know how light you can make a 3rd Gen that is still practical for the street. I'd like to know about some of you that have modified your cars and if you've weighed them on a good scale. My car was a V6 T5 and I converted it to a 350 T5 TPI with aluminum heads, and removed all but the necesities under the hood. I'm afraid to weigh it, I think I'll be disappointed. Please let me know what some of yours weigh. I'm not interested in highly modified Pro Street cars, just a mildly modified car with maybe a glass hood & no back seats, etc. Thanks, Mike

 

well i cant give you any weight numbers but it is pretty easy to figure out how to lighten a car depending on how serious you are about it. here aer just some ideas.
ditch the AC
manual windows and locks
ditch teh spare tire and jack
loose the rear seat
loose radio and all speakers
get rid of air pump and all smog crap
run aluminum wheels and brake drums
get a hollow sway bar from a TA
aluminum driveshaft
run an aluminum waterpump

in extreme cases
get rid of heater box and all controls
remove the center console
only run one seat
gut the dash or totally remove it
remove plastic panels, doors ect.

those aer ideas just off the top of my heat. weight reduction is dependent on how far you wanna take it. basically, just start strippin stuff untill your heart is content.

 

Many people claim that by removing the sound deadener underneath the carpet, you can take off 10 pounds. Don't believe it... when I swapped my carpet out for new ACC repro carpet, for kicks, I separated the old sound deadener from the back of the old carpet. The stuff was light as hell. It's really not worth all that work.

 

Whoa now! theres always room for tunes :rockon:

 

oh heck yah! i would NEVER take out all my radio stuff all 2 subs, 2 6x9s 2 5.25s and 2 tweeters with my pioneer cd player. my system thumps, way too cool to take out. i was just tossing out ideas at random

 

The best stuff to remove would be the spare tire and jack from the back, thats very heavy, and try to get a light sub box if you can, and removing ur smog crap and all that, get a light muffler?
And lighther car parts would be a better idea also.
like removing seats and stuff is stupid
screw knight rider, ur gonna be loner rider if u remove all that stuff like radio and seats.. etc..

 

Fill your tires with helium.

 

what if you get a flat
a spare tire and jack may come in handy!

 

get triple AAA

 

Fill your tires with helium...
Does wonders for traction!!!
Just be sure not to remove anything you may need in case of an accident. Safety first.

 

...and last but not least....Don't date fat chicks.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/t...ngpounds.shtml

 

My car weighed in at 3380.
No A/C, power everything, no spare tire or jack, JL 12W6 in a small 14x14x8 box, amprack with 2 amps, 16" GTA wheels, 305 with Edelbrock Carb, no back seats, 1/4 tank of gas.

 

Boy- this sure drew a lot of comments- thanks for the advice, but I've already done most of the stuff (at least the stuff about the car!) you have talked about. I once saw some infomation - I don't know how accurate it was, the a base 1LE without any options weighed almost exactly 3000 lbs (I heard 2950). This sounds really light. Has anybody actually weighed a car that approached this weight? Thnaks

 

My friend lightened his 86 Z28, it was well under 3000lbs.
11.50's on a carbed 350 with TH350 tranny.

 

What all did he take off his car? The only options I now have are power locks and power steering, I've got 1LE aluminum brakes, and aluminum heads and alum waterpump on a 350 TPI, just wondering if I'm anywhere close to 3000 lbs, I haven't found an easy place to weigh it. Thanks

 

fiberglass hood, no a/c, and I can't remember anything else.
Anything in the engine bay that isn't required was removed as well.

 

Me and my dad have a totally gutted S-10(race seats, alluminum dash w/guages and nothing else) 350 iron heads alluminum intake Weld Draglite wheels custom roll cage that weighed in at 2,960 lbs, it was weighed at a truck stop CAT Scales, wery accurate.

 

My 91 weighed in at 3300 stock, without me. adding the roll bar was close to 100 lbs. my car is being built for bracket racing, so all the above mentioned is going bye bye (heat, radio). i am keeping my interior. with f/g hood, and loosing everything not needed underhood for the 1/4 mile, i want to be around 3000-3200 w/o me.

 

I find that article very impracticle. The money-to-power ratio just doesn't seem to be there. You could lose a lot more weight with a lot less money and then spend the money you saved on actual mods instead of replacing perfectly functional parts (like flexplate, driveshaft, rocker arms).

I'm very interested in what everyones car weighs and what they've done to it ...I need to get an idea of what mine weighs.

- Still has power everything
- Fiberglass hood
- Aftermarket wheels (front skinnies)
- No sway bars.
- Rear seats, curtain, few other not-so-heavy interior parts removed
- A lot of engine bay stuff: cruise, smog pump, I think the TPI weighed a lot more than my carb setup.
- All the A/C components removed.

Now I gotta find a place to weigh it....

 

I'm going to guess 3200lbs.

 

My bird was weighed 3 yrs ago,It came in at 3280. With me 180lbs toolbox and air tank, guessing 30 lbs. This was without having removed anything. Steel hood, steel rims, power steering,Cast Iron intake. Since I have gotten a FG hood,-?lbs AL rims, -20lbs per tire=80lbs and manual steering, -20lbs. AL Intake,-20lbs. Subframe connectors need installed, +50 lbs Im guessing it weighs 2950 lbs. I should take it and get it weighed, and know for sure.
Later
Spud

 

'89 305 TPI GTA 5 speed t- top, no spare or jack, has N2O bottle, power everything including leather seats AL driveshaft, headers. 3580lbs race weight 3430 w/o me.

'91 305 TBI 5 speed hard top(no ground EFX), power stuff manual clothe seats has spare and jack. 3500 race weight ~3350 w/o me.

 

Ok, well to lighten it, but also make the car streetable you cant go all out. Here are some things I can think of that will help you lighten the car up but still be acceptable for daily driving use and comfort.

1. Like you said, get a fiberglass hood
2. Kind of expensive, but maybe even fiberglass fenders
3. Who needs more than 1 passenger? Remove the rear seats
4. Sign up for Tripple A and Remove the spare and jack
5. Get tubular chrome-moly suspension components (K-Member)
6. Aluminum heads (you already did that)
7. Aluminum 1LE driveshaft
8. Ditch the 3rd gen gas tank and install a 4th gen plastic gas tank (11 pounds right there hehe)
9. Aluminum/Electric water pump or other devices
10. Remove un-needed stuff from the engine bay
11. Convert to manual windows/locks
12. Remove the heavy audio equipment. 6x9's are not heavy but subwoofer boxes are

And then there are things you can do that aren't really streetable but will help lighten the car.

1. Convert to fiberglass doors with lexan windows
2. Get a lexan rear hatch
3. Completely gut the rear of the car (carpet and plastics)
4. Remove passenger seat too
5. Remove all the audio equipment altogether

 

You might be a hot rodder if...
If you shaved off your window tint to save weight.

 

My car weighed in a 3380 with a 3/4 tank of gas. I weighed it at a truck stop weighing station.

It has a 350 LT1 from a Caprice which has Iron heads, separate oil cooler, 4L60E tranny, No AC, spare tire and jack, power everything, no cruise control, and no emissions stuff.

 

Any more info on the plastic 4th gen gas tank trick? Is it a bolt in or simple mod? This is a new one for me. Another idea for weight, remove honey comb structure behind front bumper and replace with tube or something simmilar. Maybe 10lbs.
Tyler

 

Yeah it was talked about earlier. 4th gen plastic gas tank shaves 11 pounds. Its not a bolt in type mod because I think you have to use a different fuel pump from the 4th gen. Try searching for it. I believe the mod Z28Racer had alot of good info.

 

I'd certainly like to know more about the 4th gen tank retrofit as well. I currently have a severe cavitation problem with the stock 3rd gen tank if I'm cornering hard with under 3/8ths a tank of fuel. I've heard the 4th gen tanks are baffled.