anyone here did it to a f body? like with holesaws and stuff to cut the weight down? i was just wondering who has done this, to help lighten things like that beast of a front crossmember, i had started lightening it up abit today, takes alot of holes to really make any difference but, im trying to get my unibody as light as possible while still being able to be somewhat street driven, just not accident proof. if anyone has any ideas where alot of weight that can be cut down or what areas not to do,lol, please give me ideas

this is the kinda stuff you do to make your car go faster when your not working

 

What about a tubular crossmember. I don't know if i'd be putting so many holes in a unibody car. They need all the help they can get.

 

I dont think id being doing that.

first the strength issue, cutting holes in the unibody is comprising stiffness that is already lacking.

second, from a legal standpoint, if you ever need to sell that car and something breaks, on the future driver...guess whos getting sued? Or if something breaks on you and someone else is injured.

You might want to check out the legality of what youre doing if you plan on keeping it "streetable"

not trying to be a d*ck , just trying to look out for you and other motorists

How much weight can you lose from this? i cant imagine much.

 

yeah it really isnt helping that much, but i have only put mabyey 10-15 holes in it, and no your right, this car is mine till it dies! its got no a/c, no heater, heater core, no vents, no wipers, this thing wouldnty pass any but an e test ksue its an 84! , but its got a new paitn job on it! and it handles like hell and burns lots of rubber.

the local speed shop guy just told me about it , and how he does it to all his stuff and if u do it properly, it doesnt really affect much!
provided he is doing it on his race car,

so i duno ill jsut play aroudn with it, and if it isnt strong enough and something bends oh well, its time to take my field car camaro apart

 

I wouldn't be doing that if i were you. There are several reasons why that is not a good idea and is counterproductive. First you will not lose much weight at all, maybe 10lbs, if you do the whole car. Also you are seriously hurting the structural integrity, stiffness and durability. To do it correctly, it would take same DFEA and FEA modeling and analysis to find out what could be removed. Look to other places to save weight. Start by removing the interior, i removed the rear carpet and seats and saved 35-40 lbs. You can remove the console, the dash, and some other interior stuff. You can get aluminum heads and save 50lbs.

Don't do it, there are better ways to save weight!!

 

Tubular and Chromoly Chassis Parts are a place to start

Fiberglass Hoods, Aluminum Engine Parts

All of which don't require taking a hacksaw to various body parts of the car.....

 

What the?!?

Come on people, you don't cut holes out of the car's sheet metal until there's a FULL CAGE in the car. Yikes! I hope your car doesn't fold in half on the highway or something.

Where have you drilled so far, might I ask?

 

Most of the material i removed doesnt really serve much of a purpose, basically ive got a few holes in my crossmember, a few holes in the center of the control arms (where strength does not play a factor.) as well as a few holes in the front of the unibody, where the material is there for an accident!

Maybey it wasnt the smartest idea,lol, but its better then some of my friends running no steel bumpers and alot of holes underneath to help keep weight down.

if i made and put a strut tower brace on, the holes i drilled wont matter one bit.

but i do think that these cars are heavy tin boats that need to go on diets. next time in magasines when they show a before and an after photo of the car going on a diet, look and see where they remove material, was it worth it? who knows, i havent driven the car since i took the holes out to see if it affected the rigitity of the car.

 

Its not that hard to get sub-3000 lbs.

 

i want to see pictures of the holes...

 

hahah i gotta see pics of this

sorry all i can picture is some 40 year old ******* working on his ford going "look betsy i found a way to make the truck lighter" as he pulls out the power drill.

 

40 yr old? fu< K that right up your @$ S , im younger then you, and my 2.8L powered camaro is my field car! :lala:

 

me too...





btw,a tubular Kmember will be lighter then the stock one ever will..... and the early 4banger 3rdgens had alum bumpers... get one of thoes and shave some more weight while retaining the bumper.....

 

there we go, the information i wanted to here! ideas of how to get it lighter (ie aluminum bumpers in the early z's)
and i realise it wont be lighter then a tubular k member, and i no way have intentions to lighten it that much, but as for right now, i know there is alot of extra that doenst serve much of a purpose and that is what im going after.

 

I don't get you partner. 1st thing I did was check any links you have to see what were dealing with (want your car looks like) Thats always the first clue if someone serious or not.

REMOVE THE STUPID SPEAKER BOX if you are so concerned with weight savings-
....It'd be a good start.

Then, don't consider putting a 427 BB into a car either that was nose heavy to begin with. A SB can be made just as fast.

We will start there (awaiting future pictures to see results)

 

Don't get yerself banned again Dean

Since you have a street car, I wouldn't suggest this, but you go tubular bumper supports.

 

the sub box has been out for months, those pictures are last year!! and my 427 BB is for my 91 camaro!

 

I would just spend the money and buy a tubular crossmember. I don't like the idea of putting a whole lotta holes into a chassis that is already weak as hell. Also the suggestion of the fiberglass hood would help ALOT. Considering our hoods weight in at about 70lbs. Or also get some tubular control arms made from chormoly. Getting rid of your a/c system (75lbs) will also help a lot with weight. Hell even our interiors are damn DAMN heavy. The front and rear carpet sections together weigh in at about 80+lbs! The rear seats are about 30lbs. I dont know...just the thought about cutting holes into something that not only holds the motor in the car but also makes your suspension stay togehter...that just scares me. Thats kinda like cutting holes in your seat belts O_o

 

lexan glass kits would drop a good bit. Jegs advertises a 77 lb weight loss.

pre-trimmed and molded though they want $1000.

 

Lexan is a lot harder to break than glass is too, for those of you in high crime areas. Lexan flexes, where glass just breaks.

 

Lexan also isn't street legal and scratches very easy..

 

I gotta see pictures of these holes....:lala:

No offense but that's gotta the worse possible way of saving weight on a car........

 

I definitely think you've gotten good advice so far... so stop cutting holes in stock pieces! Doing it the right way will cost you some money and time, but anything worthwhile will. I'm no pro at this, but from what I've learned I'll give you the list in order of importance of how i would go about reducing weight.

First, eliminate rotating mass! This matters much more than static weight. A lightweight wheel/tire combo, aluminum driveshaft, lightweight flywheel, lightweight rotors.

Now for static weight savings: remove any seats you are willing to do without... they're friggin' heavy! lightweight drivers seat, lightweight battery (big savings here), Fiberglass hood, Drop power options, tubular k-member and a-arms.

Now engine: go aluminum on the heads, and engine block if you can afford it! Actually, at this point just look to increase the power, you should have saved lots of rotating mass and weight yet will still be safe and steetable with no holes in your frame!

Chassis/Suspension: You might be able to lighten up the doors a bit, but I'm not sure about this and I'd reccomend further research on if it's worthwhile and how to do it best. Now, do what's needed to get your power to the ground! If you don't already have them, don't be affraid to get SFCs, a strut tower brace, steering brace, and LCA relocating brackets. The added weight will be more than compensated for in increased weight transfer and rigidity. You have to look at the big picture and be willing to trade some added weight for added power, handling and traction.

 

The Percys stuff is coated doesn't scratch easy like normal lexan, but you're right that the windshields are not DOT approved.

 

Good ideas on here, and I've read about people doing the swiss cheese thing. But we need all the structural rigidity we can get to handle those monster mods we have planned...I tend to agree, that drilling holes in your car is kind of scary.

When you say "field car," do you mean you use it just for racing? If that's the case, there's probably lots you can get rid of or replace with lighter pieces.

I read somewhere that the C5 Vette's floorpan is made of balsa wood and resin, to save weight. Not a bad idea, although balsa wood probably wouldn't work for some things, like suspension pieces, and driveshaft, LOL.

 

what i've done to mine for weight saving, 8 point cage and subframes put me back to where i started or a little over but well worth the trade off.

 

Where can one get some tubular front-end pieces? I'm sure they are quite expensive, but its something worth looking into.

Also, how much weight would an aluminum radiator shave, and how much does the smog equipment weigh? I've been debating removing the smog stuff. I finally replaced my AC compressor with a 1LE pulley and removed my heaterbox (to modify) a couple days ago after removing the rest of the AC stuff a while back.

EDIT/UPDATE: Just weighed the A/C components, and it was 29lbs. That includes the compressor, evaporator, condensor, hard lines, and the other thing I forgot the name of... lol. Also includes the part of the AC box that I cut off. The compressor itself was 15lbs. The rear seats and seatbelts were 27lbs. So far that's pretty much all I've done for weight reduction. The smog stuff will come off when I get headers, and I may be going to aluminum heads soon enough. I'm also going to attempt to make my own fiberglass doorskins and buy a new hood.

Wow, $460 for the tubular K-member plus $120 for spring perches, and then add shipping. Not worth it for 25lb weight savings.

 

Tubular kmember and Aarms (stock spring setup w/perches) will drop 40lbs. I paid 475.00 delivered. Not bad money compared to some other options (fiberglass frontend, alumminum block, etc.) I didn't do it for weight savings alone though- more for the extra room to work/exhaust clearance. Look at it like this, a fiberglass hood will set you back close to the same money as the tubular suspension pieces- without the added bonus of all that extra space for longtubes or (the miracle of) pulling your starter out without droping your ypipe.

A fiberglass frontbumper, using steel tubing or the early camaro alum. for a front bumper support might be worth 30lbs. I think pulling out the dash, center console, heater ducting, etc. would be worth alot of weight... say 60lbs. Alumminum heads are probably the best upgrade you can do for weight savings and the added horsepower aftermarket heads offer. A set of fiberglass doors cost 550.00, probably the best mod- dollar per lb. of weight dropped. Front fenders don't weigh that much so fiberglass would prolly be a waste of money there. A smaller battery, ministarter, power steering delete, front sway bar delete. Really depends on how far your willing to go as some of these mods have drawbacks and cost is an issue.

The focus on my car has been to get weight off the frontend of the car and the next step is probably going to be some fiberglass parts like bumper, doors, and alum. heads. So far I have pulled the a/c, installed non ac box, removed the headlight motors and brackets, battery in the trunk, removed electric door locks, pulled factory computer, installed tubular kmembers, and arms. while all of this might only add up to 100lbs. I'm not willing to give up too much driveability. A full on drag car or weekend car could easily drop a couple hundred lbs. in creature comforts or power acc's.

 

Let me know where you got that for $475 shipped and where the fiberglass doors can be had from. I may be interested in that in a few months then. My next big project is an LT1 head/intake swap...50lbs lighter and flows as good as "stage 2 ported" L98s as well as being able to handle more CR/timing

How much weight do you think fiberglass doors would save? That might be worth it to me before the K-member because I want to repaint my car in the spring, and I have a dent under the mirror on my left door (someone backed into my mirror). $550 is a lot, but if that will fix that dent and save a lot of weight, I'd do that.

 

isn't chromoly not a good idea for a street car?
chromoly might be strong from my understanding but continious stress I thought made it very weak

 

Tubular kmember:
http://www.profabracing.homestead.com/

Fiberglass doors:
www.vfnfiberglass.com

You'll probably need a frontend alignment after installing a kmember so tack that onto the price. The fiberglass doors say "lexan use only", which falls into the
nothing's ever a bolt-on!!!