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

[Knebel]

Check out how heavy the seats are. Get some aluminium drag seats upholstered to match your interior!

 

[LocuMob]

I'm questioning the seat weight. My bench seat is considerably lighter than the buckets together. I need a bigger scale.

 

[Badvert65]

The bench seat I took out of my 65 Belvedere weighed 100 lbs., and the bench seat I removed from a 79 Volare weighed 75 lbs. These were weighed on a pretty accurate medical scale and just my own personal observations.

 

[LocuMob]

The bench seat I took out of my 65 Belvedere weighed 100 lbs., and the bench seat I removed from a 79 Volare weighed 75 lbs. These were weighed on a pretty accurate medical scale and just my own personal observations.

Yeah, could be the old memory playing with me. I'll have to weight the bucket seat I have in storage.

 

[Knebel]

Oh yes the bench seat is very heavy. You can probably save a good 50lbs or more on that.

 

[Henrique]

get rid of all power stuff, power brakes, power steering, inner fenders, fabricate fiberglass hood, trunk, doors, bumpers (I had to make my own fiberglass parts for the 66 Polara as no one makes them).

 

[Henrique]

Also, get rid of heater core, etc.

 

[edbods]

Quite an old thread. But weight redistribution can have a pretty noticeable effect too. I remember reading an article made back in 2012 or so from the same guys that used to write for the 90s tuner mags at their peak, about the effects of weight redistribution, simply relocating the battery alone from its factory front left spot towards the rear right made a difference of about 1.5% which doesn't seem like much, but was very noticeable to the driver. Wish I could find the link, it's still out there but I forgot the name of the site/magazine it was under.
Ooh I found it: The Hows and Whys of Battery Relocation or How Battery Relocation Affects Corner Weight! - MotoIQ
Mike Kojima was the guy I remember. He used to write for Import Tuner etc. and I think a lot of the guys that wrote for the import mags write for MotoIQ now.

 

[Rustyrodknocker]

Quite an old thread. But weight redistribution can have a pretty noticeable effect too. I remember reading an article made back in 2012 or so from the same guys that used to write for the 90s tuner mags at their peak, about the effects of weight redistribution, simply relocating the battery alone from its factory front left spot towards the rear right made a difference of about 1.5% which doesn't seem like much, but was very noticeable to the driver. Wish I could find the link, it's still out there but I forgot the name of the site/magazine it was under.

I have one those books with the slick pages that were popular in the 90's can't remember the publisher but I have several, one I think was super street mopar that covered these concepts. Even though it was about mopars I believe it's a Z car on the wheel scales in the picture. They discuss relocating weight.
You do add some back in long cables to reach the trunk.
I have thought about this concept a fair bit and I think a Cbody can lose a ton of weight.
Just like a 400 pound man vs a 200 pounder.
I lost a bunch of weight last year. I was successful largely because I first gained the weight to loose the year before...
And that comment was made. If your machine is on a diet, the logic says you should be in shape..

 

[Henrique]

Quite an old thread. But weight redistribution can have a pretty noticeable effect too. I remember reading an article made back in 2012 or so from the same guys that used to write for the 90s tuner mags at their peak, about the effects of weight redistribution, simply relocating the battery alone from its factory front left spot towards the rear right made a difference of about 1.5% which doesn't seem like much, but was very noticeable to the driver. Wish I could find the link, it's still out there but I forgot the name of the site/magazine it was under.

Yes. Absolutely. Getting rid or moving weight from the front ro the back will help with acceleration. My 66 Polara has the battery in the trunk, all the way back on the passenger side. It hasan aluminum manual steering box from a duster, aluminum radiator, manual brakes, no sway bar, shiny 165 tires on 15x4 cragars and 29.5x10.5 slicks on the back. I ran it with a stock or very mild cam (shifting at 5k) and the car ran 1.8 sec on the 60' and 13.8 sec on the 1/4. I am getting it ready for next season with a bigger cam, porting the heads and will cut the bumper brackets and the outside frame rails where it splits in two in front of the front suspension. I am going to run 2 750 double pumper instead the 500s afbs. Will get rid of read seat, rear window mechanisms. Hopping to run mid 12s with the 383 that came with the car.

I have one those books with the slick pages that were popular in the 90's can't remember the publisher but I have several, one I think was super street mopar that covered these concepts. Even though it was about mopars I believe it's a Z car on the wheel scales in the picture. They discuss relocating weight.
You do add some back in long cables to reach the trunk.
I have thought about this concept a fair bit and I think a Cbody can lose a ton of weight.
Just like a 400 pound man vs a 200 pounder.
I lost a bunch of weight last year. I was successful largely because I first gained the weight to loose the year before...
And that comment was made. If your machine is on a diet, the logic says you should be in shape..

Everything counts! That's a good point! Drivers weigh reduction also counts! Good incentive to get healthy!
I found this article that gives some rough estimates of potential weigh savings:
Chevelle Weight Reduction - Trim The Fat