Putting your car on a diet -- ideas on where to shave weight

[Alchemi]

Not sure how it changes over the years, but a 11.75 disc brake set up dose weigh more than a 11x2.5 drum brake set up by a few lbs, cant remember exact numbers, but i have had both on the same scales in the same hour

Yes it is hard with a C, but I think the percentage thinking is wrong, a lb is a lb and requires X hp to move. Not all C's are 4500 lbs either, A 67-68 Fury @3800 is about 150lbs heaver than the same year B body and about the same as a year later B.

Grab some refreshments and a note pad and have a cruise through this thread on Moparts Real world weight loss program and it` cost..........

 

[WissaMan]

Buy a Caterham or a Lotus. Or both.... that's what I did.

I own a 91 MR2 turbo that puts down nearly 400whp on E85, so when I want my small car rocket fix I jump in that.

I think some of you are getting my point -- not everything will get done right away, but when the original item needs to be replaced, I'd go with the lighter version. The heads for instance. I'm not going to put aluminum heads on it just to save weight. Rather, when I have an engine built at a future date, I'll opt for aluminum heads at that time. I don't exactly have cash pouring out my ash, but I'm okay enough that I can have some freedom with my choices here. A lifetime of driving used cars helped enable that situation...

There's also probably some importance to where the weight is reduced too. Taking 200lbs off the front tires is going to be more beneficial (imo) than just loosing 200lbs off the overall car.

 

[Alchemi]

If your going to get serious about it, scale the car. The C's have a much lager/heavier trunk area than "regular" cars and more of the weight is in the centre of the car, pulling 200 off the front may screw with the balance of the car more than you think

 

[Outsider]

Pull the radio, heater and wiper drive assembly if fairweather driving, cut out the rear window mechs and pin the windows, remove the rear seat and put carpet in place. Relocate the battery to the trunk (better wt distribution).

 

[Turboomni]

Get big tires and inflate them with Helium.

 

[3175375]

Get big tires and inflate them with Helium.

What do you need the extra proton, neutron and electron for, ya baby! Go with Hydrogen...

 

[Turboomni]

Love to see pics WissaMan of your Mister 2. That must be one hell of a ride!
Cool car.

 

[rapidtrans]

Talk to the Derby guys. They sure know how to cut weight!

 

[mr. fix it]

Run a 2 gallon gas tank
That’s going to save at least 100lbs

 

[mr. fix it]

Talk to the Derby guys. They sure know how to cut weight!

Saws all does the job quite nicely but it may not look nice once done

 

[rapidtrans]

My initial response in jest was, put the 440 in a Duster. Done deal!

 

[WissaMan]

Love to see pics WissaMan of your Mister 2. That must be one hell of a ride!
Cool car.

Sure thing, I'll try and snap some on the next nice day. Yes, it is fun! Having the engine in the rear gives it pretty good grip for acceleration. A totally different experience from driving a boat with a torquey big block. It's a contrast to the C-bodies so I can choose one or the other depending on my mood for the day I think it's fun having multiple affordable cars rather than 1 really expensive one!

 

[WissaMan]

Run a 2 gallon gas tank
That’s going to save at least 100lbs

How about I run it on hydrogen -- then it'll actually be lighter with a full tank

 

[Turboomni]

My new engine for my Fury to be installed next month has aluminum heads ,intake ,water pump and housing on it to replace the all cast iron 440 in the car now. I am guessing it will be 80 to 90 pounds lighter than my present engine. Will I notice a handling improvement? I really don't know. I have my doubts.

 

[Old 66 Yorker]

It's a big block..in a deservedly big c body car..won't loosing all that weight take away from the intended "floating in a boat" feel?

Size matters, I will defer this to Oprah..

 

[Sir Dodge alot]

I've been also looking into shedding weight off of my 64 custom 880.

I'm going with aluminum water pump housing from CVF and maybe a aluminum radiator also.

Another is aluminum alternator/crank/waterpump pulleys.

Aluminum crank pulley alone drops about 1 pound.

Many iron parts can be settled with aluminum counterparts I reckon. Aluminum heads/intake/headers instead of log manifolds.

Tubular control arms is another, if aftermarket parts are available for us rare C body enthusiasts.

 

[Badvert65]

The easy stuff, besides what has been mentioned:

• Denso ‘mini’ alternator-6.5 lbs (Factory alt-13 lbs)
• Holley carb-Aluminum is 6.6 lbs compared to ‘regular’ one at 12 lbs
• Manual steering-13 lbs, power steering box/pump-55lbs
• Manual brake MC-4 lbs, Power booster/MC-15 lbs
• Bench seat-100 lbs, late model buckets-60 lbs (pair)
• Ditch the radio, speakers, clock-6 lbs
• Rear seat belts-9 lbs
• Factory spare tire-45 lbs, aluminum rim/small tire-25 lbs
• Regular battery-40 lbs, racing battery-10 lbs
• Keep windshield washer jug empty, 4-8 lbs depending on capacity
• Bypass heater (in summer)-5-10 lbs (fluid & hoses)

The less obvious stuff would be to:

• Remove redundant brackets and fasteners
• Replace steel brackets with aluminum
• Replace steel fasteners with aluminum/titanium/plastic
• Trim all fasteners to the shortest length necessary
• Keep dome light on-makes the interior lighter (just seeing if you are paying attention)

 

[6PKRTSE]

I hole sawed everywhere I could in my E body Challenger that wouldn't be seen, added light weight aluminum and carbon fiber wherever I could. Alum, heads, intake, water pump and housing, radiator, seats, etc. However, adding the weight of the chromoly cage and Mega Block put weight back on. Still an all glass window, steel car it is no lightweight at 3760 with me in it.

 

[Badvert65]

adding the weight of the chromoly cage and Mega Block put weight back on

That isn't adding weight, it's adding MUSCLE

 

[Snotty]

... why????