Another question i looked through the search and couldnt find anything good on this, I'm into weight reduction cause uh i work at Burger King and make 5.60 an hour that means i need cheap mods im going to take out the back seats and ive also heard you guys say the hatch back is heavy as hell. I was wondering whats in removing the hatch back or can it even be done and how much thanks guys.
Mitch

PS. Sorry about this being in v6 this is where i hang out and read everything so i figured you guys could help me out cause you guys seem to be the coolest out of all the boards thanks

 

hatch as in rear glass?? That's a pretty heavy piece there, and I wouldn't recommend removing it by yourself. The rear seats are light and can be removed easily. The rear glass unbolts at the hinges, there should be 2 nuts on each side of it. If that's what you're looking for, that is.....

 

well, you COULD take it out... but then how are you going to cover it??

yea, its pretty heavy, but it really isnt worth taking out unless you get a fiberglass notchback replacement or somthing....


i know how it is building stuff on the cheap, but you are better off just keeping the car in one piece then stripping it out. esp if you drive it every day...




really even if you totally strip out the car, its not going to make a noticable diffrence on the street.. sure on the strip you might gain .3 but you wont tell the diff on the street, and frankly, its not worth the hassle that it turns the car into to drive...

you're better off looking elsewhere for gains.

 

why take out the rear seats? they don't weigh JACK. the rear carpet weighs more than they do. The front weighs even more. I know, Ive replced them in my car. Shiz, just invest in light weight carpet w/no padding for some serious weight reduction.

Remove the hatch window? If you don't put a notch bak on it, you've negate any weight reduction due to drag.

 

cheap mods

we have discussed cheap mods under fifty here. the best one for about one hundred dollars you could do a more then full tune up, do a search for tomP's tuneup (damn that needs to be in a sticky)

 

ok so ill scratch that idea thanks guys for getting me out of something that wouldn't have helped anyway

 

That rear glass -is- heavy as hell... but there's no way to get rid of it unless you dump a ton of cash. Click on <a href="search.php?s="><img src="images/top_search.gif" alt="Search" border="0"></a> and type in the word "notchback", and do a search of all message boards. You'll find a bitchin' lookin' piece that GM put on the rear of some rare f-bodies. The aftermarket makes them but it's big money. Even if your rear hatch struts are worn out and the glass won't stay open; you'd think "well if these gas-lift struts are shot, the glass doesn't feel that heavy"- those struts aren't worn out all the way!! If you change the struts (like I did back in '94), you'll be surprised at how much those struts are still working.

The hood is Also heavy as hell! Fiberglass lift-off's can be had for $300. If you want a fiberglass hood that bolts to your hinges, it's usually an extra $200. The hood I want is the factory "flat boring plain-jane" hood, in fiberglass... with hinge attachments, it's $500. (sigh) But I won't buy any other hood; I hate seeing a cowl induction hood when there's no carb.

 

Tom Tom Tom, that's why you buy the 93-97 Ram Air styled hood. As far as i'm concerned, it's about the only good looking hood on the thirdgen birds....that 98+ styled hood just doesn't flow with our lines very well...aka ... i think it's ugly!!!

 

Instead of doing cheap mods you could save your money and buy something that you will actually feel. I make 5.75 an hour and just recently bought a rebuilt 2.8, put in a new cam, roller rockers, and cloyes double roller timing chain. I also spent $800 on a stereo system last year this time. If you so chose you could spray the sh*t out of it for like $500. Granted between insurance and gas and putting away for college, money's tight (hell I don't do to much besides work on the car) but money can also come from b-days and x-mas too. :rockon:

 

THANK YOU! Now... where'd you find it? I want a 'glass hinge hood for the Camaro, but can't find one

 

Yep, the rear seats are light, the rear bench seat is twice as heavy as the seats.

When I took my rear seats out, this is how much they weighed,


(2) rear seats 8lbs
(1) rear bench 10lbs


so 18lbs all together. I removed my rear seats solely for the purpose of truthfully being able to say my car is a 2 seater, plus I have more room to haul things and I can keep a full size 15" wheel and tire behind my passenger seat.


I'm into making my car lighter too, well at least trying not to add on any more weight.

The notchback, and targa hatches are lighter. I would like to get one, but I don't really like the looks of either hatch enough to get one.

Can't go wrong with a fiberglass hood. I'tll take some weight of the already heavier front.

 

I took my rear seats out.


I weighed them__18lbs for the rear seats and fold down bench.


I took my seats out solely for the purpose of saying my car was a 2 seater. Plus it frees up some more room.