Just a couple quick questions before I go tear into the car. I had to pull the motor to fix a broken crankshaft snout so I figure I'll get rid of some weight while I'm at it.

When removing the heater what do you do with the 2 lines coming from the core? If I remember right they just go right to the water pump, do you just loop them or just plug both of the pipes?

When you do take out the heater and air box and everything I take it you also lose the fan and blower unit as well? I never have taken it all out before.

One other thing I was thinking about doing was to get some of the weight off of the nose of the car and to clear up some room was to move the battery to the back of the car along with the ABS unit. Has anyone done this? What do you recomend for wire size for doing the battery? I have also seen some guys run like a 0 gage wire up to a little power block on the inner fender up front then go down to the starter from there with smaller wire.

Has anyone moved the ABS? I don't think it would be that hard to do, just extend the wires and re-pipe the brake lines. I have a friend that does GT cup with his C5 and he moved his to the back when he was building the car to free up some room. I think it would clean it up a little as well as move some weight off of it. Along with give me some more room since the car has a blower on it.


Just wondering if anyone had done, had pics or things I should look out for when doing it.

Thanks

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1994 1LE Z28 T56
383, 6.0" rods
GTP Stage III heads
4:10's
Hooker LT's
blah blah blah.....ATI D1 15psi Intercooled

http://members6.clubphoto.com/anthon.../guest-1.phtml

[This message has been edited by 1LEThumper (edited September 06, 2002).]

 

Well the heater doesnt weight much, maybe 10lbs for everything. But if you really wanted to get rid of it I would imagine you could just connect the 2 lines together and have the coolant just loop back into the waterpump.

The battery is a good idea. I would run the biggest wire you can possibly fit. Just keep in mind if you ever run the car at an NHRA track they will want to see a sealed box with kill switch.

As for the ABS I think you're on crack if you want to try and move it It hardly weighs anything plus it would be a plumbing nightmare. You would have to run lines from the master cylinder to wherever you moved it, then another set of lines back up to the front of the car for the front brakes. Moving it would open the engine bay a little but its not worth the trouble IMO. I would go !ABS before I tried moving it.

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Jason
93 TA, M6

 

Well according to some of my friends that used to run in the challenge cars after you take out the lines, core, water, box, fan and all of the other stuff its close to 30lbs, but I don't know for sure I never have taken it out. Basically I just want it out of the way for some more room under the hood of the car.

Same goes with the ABS. I want to go to a bigger radiator and with the blower piping and the larger radiator the ABS is going to get in the way. I don't feel that I'm a good of a driver to loose it completely. Its not that much about weight transfer as it is just getting **** out of the way. After a while of fighting things and stuff getting in the way you just get into one of those moods were you want to move it all around

 

Pull the fittings out of the pump and install pipe plugs. If there is even a chance that you'll drive in the rain, leave the heater and defroster in. You won't believe how bad that windshield will fog without it!

 

The defroster really never worked that great anyway...since the car didn't come with A/C every time it rained I had to leave the windows cracked so I could even partly see.

Anything else I should do to get rid of some weight?

So far this is all I have done and she still is a pig
Removed back seats
Removed all stock seat belts (have a cage and 5pts now)
Removed spare, jack and accessories
Replaced stock seats with Forza's
Removed Dr. Side Airbag (now Momo Wheel)
Removed AIR and EGR
Alum driveshaft
Tubular K-memeber


Before I put the blower kit on, without me and a full tank of gas she weighed in at 3550. I know the blower kit added probably 85lbs more. I don't see how it gained so much weight, hell it was 3315 stock.

 

I just plugged the heater lines with some big bolts and hose clamps.

CMC people have removed the ABS (4th gen of course), JeffStar on the board has also, not sure he has a guide on his page about it though.

 

Well how unstreetable do you want to make it?

You could loose the front and rear bumper supports, ~50lbs there. There is also a steel tube running though the doors that doesnt exactly look light.

I wouldnt do either on a daily driver but its your call.

IMHO these cars (4th gens) are just pig heavy. You could strip the car bare and I bet it would still weight 3100-3200lbs.

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Jason
93 TA, M6

 

I'm also on a weight saving spree.
I've done all the stuff you listed above, except for the K-member. But that's on my list.
I figure the best way to reduce weight are:
1) Replace all the windows with plastic windows, and gut the doors completely.
2) Replace as many metal body panels and the hood with fiberglass or equivalent.
3) Remove the entire stereo system, including the hidden amps and speakers.
4) Aluminum calipers and rotors with aluminum hats.
5) Chromemoly suspension parts.

Glass alone weighs a lot, I bet you could shave off 200 lbs with just plastic windows.
A fiberglass hood should save 40 or so lbs.

Kurt

 

my stock hood only weighed 43 pounds. VFN makes the lightest hood which is 11 pounds. any other fiber glass hood weighs about 5-10 pounds less then stock. brakes can save 30 pounds. i like the plastic window idea. wish someone would make them for our car.

 

Well I started on it this weekend with some help from a few friends. We got the passenger side air bag out, the duct work and the whole heater box assembly. We patched the hole in the firewall with a thin piece of Alum sheet which will be painted to match so it doesn't stick out.

I still need to get it weighed but I would say we took off a good 6-70lbs. That passenger side air bag is probably 25 or so by itself.

Some of the insulation under the dash is pretty heavy as well. But not to bad.

It would be nice to get like a fiberglass hatch ( I know VFN does but it doesn't just bolt back on like the stock one) with a lightweight rear glass.


Once I get everything on scales I'll post up the weights.

 

You should NOT use aluminum to close out the firewall hole. If you have a fire the aluminum will not protect you. The added weight of some steel will be a small price to pay compared to the possibility of being burnt!