I know there are God-knows-how-many weight reduction threads, but most of them are about swiss-cheesing cars or removing things from them rather than serving as a source of information to be taken into consideration when ordering parts and trying to keep weight down. There really isn't one consolidated thread of weights of off the shelf parts vs. stock ones, and there are a lot of parts that I've only seen speculation for weights for. Speculation isn't a very good method to use when dumping $$ on modding a car, so if this thread stays on topic, it could be really helpful to a lot of people... or at least hopefully somewhat interesting.

Anyway, I got bored and weighed the Ground Control setup, J&M caster/camber plates, and progressive strut mounted bump stops. I'll have the stock part weights in a couple of days when I get the car out and put the new stuff on unless someone beats me to it.

Ground Control rear adjuster + 9" 175 lb/in linear spring- 7.8 lbs/ side
(rear adjuster- 1.1 lbs/ side, rear 9" 175# spring- 6.6 lbs/side)


Ground Control front adjuster + 8" 850 lb/in linear spring - 13.2 lbs/ side
(front adjuster- 4.2 lbs/ side, 8" 850# spring - 9# per side)

J&M/ Hotpart Caster Camber plates- 5.8 lbs/ side

Ground Control progressive strut mounted bump stops- 0.2 lbs/ pair

#'s are probably +/- 0.1 or 0.2 lbs, taken by holding the parts and standing on an el grande cheapo digital bathroom scale, subtracting a control reading of my weight out.

 

...And some crap I had laying in the garage:

2" E-Bay Billet Aluminum hub-centric wheel adapters, with nuts - 4.2 lbs A PIECE. (That is, 16.8 lbs of rotational, unsprung weight added to the car to run 4th gen and 'Vette wheels...) '

34mm hollow GM front sway bar- 12.8 lbs (Will measure stock 32mm solid WS6 later)

 

Indiana had an endless winter so it took longer than I thought to get everything on... but it's on and it's finally nice driving weather!

Anyway:
Stock BZW front springs w/ insulator: 11.0lbs/ea
NNM Rear springs w/o insulator (re-used it w/GC setup): 5.2 lbs/ea
Stock strut mounts: 4.2 lbs/ea
UMI double adj. dual roto joint panhard bar, mild steel (just came in, will have it on by tonight and get #s from stocker): 6 lb

So, the GC setup with stiff 8" springs adds about 2.2 lbs unsprung weight per side in the front and with 9"ers out back adds about 2.6 lbs per side. Hotpart strut mounts add only 1.6 lbs per side over the crappy stock ones.

I also find it interesting that Founders advertises their strut mounts as weighing 14.00 lbs for the set (7.0 a piece) and their on car adjustable rod/rod phb as 9.0 lbs. That's 1.2 lbs a piece over the Hotpart mounts and 3 whole lbs over the UMI phb... hmmm.

 

Flimsy stock junk PHB, with rubber bushings still in tact and decent shape- 5.6 lbs

If anyone else has parts coming in or just laying around, feel free to contribute! It'd be nice to put together a chart or something of all the different brands and chromo vs mild steel, stock stuff, etc. This is the suspension board, but wheels, tires and spacers would be helpful too since they account for a ton of unsprung weight and have the most leverage. The following chart has most of the popular wheels using 4th gen/ Corvette offsets and came from http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/fbody/weights.htm but there really aren't any third gen offsets on there, which are better as they do away with the heavy spacers, so post 'em up!

58 lbs - AFS chrome 17x11 GS offset wheel with new Dunlop SP8000 315/35/17 tire
56 lbs - AFS chrome 17x11 GS offset wheel with BALD Dunlop SP8000 315/35/17 tire
56 lbs - 18x9 chrome Cobra R replica wheels with 285/35/18 tires
55 lbs - AFS silver 17x11 GS offset ZR1 wheel with new tire
55 lbs - 17" Prime chrome 5 Stars with 275/40 tire
55 lbs - 17" chrome Firewhawk wheel with new tire
54.5 lbs - Replica SS wheel with Khumo 712 275/40 tire
53.0 lbs - Replica ZO6 chrome 18x9.5 w/ 265/35/18 BFG KD
52 lbs - AFS chrome 17x9.5 ZR1 wheel with new Dunlop SP8000 275/40/17 tire
50 lbs - OZ Monte Carlo 17x9.5 with 1/3 tread 275 GSC
50 lbs - AFS polished 17x11 GS offset ZR1 wheel with new 315 BFG Comp TA drag radial
48 lbs - 16x8 stock chrome 5 star with Kuhma Estca Supra 712 tires (V rated)
47 lbs - 16x8 stock painted 5 star (95 TA) with new Kumho ESTCA Supra 712 tire
45 lbs - 99 TA stock 16" chrome wheels and tire (SZ 50)
44 lbs - 93-96 Camaro wheel with Nitto drag
41.5 lbs - 93-96 Camaro wheel with bald 255 BFG drag radial
40 lbs - Weld Pro Star (15x10) with new Hoosier QTP 28x11.5-15 (no tube)
35.3 lbs - New Dunlop SP8000 315/35/17 tire
31 lbs - New Dunlop SP8000 315/35/17 tire - hmm?
31 lbs - Kumho Victoracers 275/40/17 tire
30 lbs - New Dunlop SP8000 275/40/17 tire
29.5 lbs- New Kumho ECSTA SPT 275/35/18
29 lbs - 97 to 99 Vette standard rear wheel
28 lbs - Kumho Victoracers 315/35/17 tire
27 lbs - Weld Pro Stars (15x3.5) with Cooper 165R tire
27 lbs - 18x9 chrome Cobra R replica wheel
26 lbs - new Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 295/30/18 tire
25.5 lbs - Hoosier A3S03 Autocross tire 315/35-17
25 lbs - Firestone SZ50EP stock size tire
25 lbs - new Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 265/35/18 tire
25 lbs - New Futura 275/40/17 tire
25 lbs - Chrome ZO6 replica (Xtreme Motorsports) 18x9.5
24.5 lbs - Goodyear GSC 245/50/16 tire
24 lbs - 97 to 99 Vette magnesium rear wheel
22.5 lbs - Hoosier A3S03 Autocross tire 275/40-17
22 lbs - 90 Vette stock wheel 17x9.5
22 lbs - Hoosier R3S03 275/45/16 tire
22 lbs - 01 Camaro SS 17x9 wheel
22 lbs - 2 piece Centerline Sabre type 17x9.5 wheel
21.5 lbs - 97 to 99 Vette 18x9.5 wheel
20.06 lbs - 00 Vette standard rear wheel
20.5 lbs - OE ZR1 17x9.5 wheel
20.5 lbs - AFS replica 16" SS wheel
20.1lbs - 97 to 99 Vette magnesium front wheel
20 lbs - CCW 17x10 wheel
20 lbs - CCW 17x11 wheel
20 lbs - 3 piece Centerline Sabre 17x9.5 wheel
19.5 lbs - 1996 stock Camaro wheel
19.5 lbs - Stock 5 star 16" Z28 wheel
19 lbs - 2000 stock Camaro wheel
19 lbs - 97 to 99 Vette 17x8.5 wheel
18-19 lbs - Centerline 17x9.5 wheel
18.08 lbs - 00 Vette standard front wheel
18 lbs - Fiske FM5 17x9.5 wheel
17 lbs - 2000+ stock Camaro wheel (different than above?)
13 lbs - Weld Pro Star (15x8)
10 lbs - Weld Pro Star (15x3.5)
10 lbs - Bogart DragStar 15x10 racing wheel

 

Aluminum Hubs w/studs --- 4.22 lbs
Stock Hubs w/studs --- 7.44 lbs No bearings in either one

 

Stock Spindle modded for aftermarket brakes --- 11.1 lbs
Racecraft RR Drop Spindle ---- 9.0 lbs

 

CTW Motorsports 17" x 9.5" wheel - 20.4lbs, no spacers needed.

 

Where in Indiana are you?

 

Spohn/UMI tubular a-arms will save 5/5.5 lbs over stock a-arms

 

Thanks a lot, pal. Just looked up what these look like... one more thing to spend money on at some point! Surprised there aren't more people running them.

Evansville, apparently the Gallup ranked #8th most miserable city in the USA hahaha.



TEDSgrad, is that the 1st or 2nd UMI a-arm design?

 

2nd UMI or the Spohn adj arms.

 

The look is not for everyone, but the weight, brake clearance, and price to performance ratio are spot on.

I have been supplying CMC racers with wheels this year - they are being forced to switch from 16" to 17" due to tire availability. I have been selling the wheels to street cars too - a few members on this board have them...

 

I weighed the stock pieces and aftermarket pieces when I did the tubular k-member, a-arms, and coil overs on my 84.

A-Arms: Spohn 20.0, GM 30.8
Upper Strut Mounts: Spohn 16.4, GM 8.0
K-Member w/ motor mounts: Spohn 37.4, GM 51.2
Springs: Spohn coil over 10.2, GM 23.0

Spohn Total 84.0
GM total 113.0

*Total weight savings 29lbs

 

Solid 32 mm bar less hardware and bushings came in at 21.8 lbs... 9 lbs over the 34mm hollow, finally got around to looking lol.

 

36mm hollow is lighter than a stock 30mm solid sway bar and wonderbar, according to Lon Salgren, so it must be light.

I have a 34mm solid front bar and would like to get a 36mm hollow bar, it would probably be considerably lighter and actually stiffer too. If I do change it, I'll get weights.

 

Extra Large 7/11 Slurpee-

frozen specs: 1.124 lbs

Jalapino Beef jerky- 16 oz

Roll around shop stool- 8.7 lbs

Hammock- Ill let you know when I get to Hawaii again.

 

Pound cake: 12 oz...

 

California water tax--priceless

 

If you were from California, you would know that using the words "California" and "Tax" in the same sentence is redundant. you can slip communism into there also if you feel like it.

It's the weight we bare for living here in such beauty. (I hope you got the pun)

 

Commufornia? Anyone?

 

Slurpee would be one, too!

 

UMI 2nd Gen Front A-Arm: 13lbs 1.4oz with mounting hardware.

 

Paul, I would be curious if you could weight that assembly with just the bottom of the ball joint resting on the scale. Jus tsit the ears of the A-arm on the counter and pivot the weight of the ball joint onto the scale as it resembles in actual weight motion. Would be curious how much different this is from stock A-arms. I would imagine it might be even more a a weight loss when measuuring actual unsprung weight since alot of the arm is sprung weight also in percentage.

ps- Those arms look beefy(as in great) like the quality of stuff GW puts out.

 

Here you go:



Measures out to be a tad more than 1/2 the total weight.

It is very beefy - wasn't sure about which arms until I saw the thread on the 2nd gen UMI arms and was sold.

I speak to the folks at GW quite often - they are planning to get arms out there by the end of this year; but were happy to recommend this one as a substitute for the time being.

Hopefully they install with no issues and work as described. As I'm going to change the entire front end on the GTA - going to Koni yellows, wilwood 13" brakes, these arms, UNI strut mounts, GW springs, and all new Moog linkage; I won't be able to compare apples to apples with the arms.

 

Wish i'd had waited and got these instead of their Gen 1 arms.. These looks much better and you can get them with optional delrin bushings, but the main thing is adjustable steering stops and the spring index holes.

 

Another k member a arm package

Stock k member 54 lbs.
UMI road race kmember 30 lbs

Umi 2nd design a-arms 2.6 lbs lighter each, so 5.2 lbs saved over stockers

 

Doug always says he's planning stuff. That's been his bullshat line for years. Some come through, some projects don't...lol.

I would be curious what a stock configuration done the same weighes?

Also Paul, You were smart enough that I did not even have to suggest to you and you properly evened the height of the ears with the scale height- A smart man.

 

Yes, Doug is a hit or miss type - spoke to him for about 45 minutes at SEMA 2011 about 3rd gen parts. He mentioned that they had a few things on the horizon, but that was 18 months ago and nothing has hit the market yet. Go figure.

Apparently another poster above mentioned 2.6lbs savings per arm - 5,2lbs for the pair. Not too bad considering how overbuilt they are - I wonder if there is a large difference in weight between versions 1 and 2.

We try our best to keep things even keel - including our a-arm weighing techniques, lol...

 

My a arms i just put on large bathroom scale. Not really the most accurate but close enough. Thats the entire a arm, with poly bushings in the umi, stock rubber in the orm a arms

 

Mine is an 82, No interior, thin aluminum dash and doorpanels S&W Backhalf, 28 gauge steel tubs and floors, PA Racing front K-Member, 8 gallon fuel cell, ladder bars, Ford 9", Steel Bartlett 15x15 with beadlocks, full .120 wall x1.75, 8 point cage with full X door bars, 33x21.5 MT Sportsmans, 17" Jegs 5 spoke aluminum fronts with 26x4 MT, BBC, iron heads, TH400 with removable bellhousing. Just under 3200 lbs with my fat ***, 235 lbs.