Can I get my car down to 3200lbs?

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Mar 20, 2006 | 12:31 PM
  #1  
Im going to pull the a/c and HVAC, power steering, add prostars with ront runners, remove spare tire and jack, back seats, tubular k member with upper and lower tubular a arms, fiberglass life off hood, QA1 coil over conversion, and remove all the "unneeded" stuff from under the hood. Think I can pull it down? What else can I remove to get the weight down there?
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Mar 20, 2006 | 12:55 PM
  #2  
Re: Can I get my car down to 3200lbs?
Depends on just how much you want to keep and if you need to keep it street legal or not.

Last year before the start of the season I took my car across the scales. My car with a BBC and full roll cage, the race weight (car, driver, fuel etc) was 2975. It's a completely gutted out race car and could never be made street legal again. Fourth gens are not much different in weight from third gens. Some can be a little heavier.

If it's a full race car, remove everything not needed for speed or track safety.
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Mar 20, 2006 | 01:20 PM
  #3  
Re: Can I get my car down to 3200lbs?
If this is a car you drive normally, I would advise that you put the powersteering pump back in, because without it, it's nearly impossible to drive on the streets without tiring out. It's not remotely safe, if you have to make a quick move to avoid another car, you will not make it. I know this because I went to the track and ran a short belt to bypass the powersteering, and maneuvering around was harder than hell. In a fwd car, it's doable, but in a rwd, no way...unless only 3rd gen camaros are that way but that seems to be the trend ive seen so far.

If it's just your track car...then by all means gut the hell out of the thing, 3100 is more than possible.
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Mar 20, 2006 | 01:36 PM
  #4  
Re: Can I get my car down to 3200lbs?
I'm 3400 w/ full tank, less driver...and thats with stock wheels and radials with the only weight reduction being no rear seats, rear belts, jack/spare, and rear carpet (which was cut out by the previous owner )

I would think that you could pull 200lbs out with the new wheels, K member, A/C HVAC removal, rear seat, belts, etc...Just like said above what are your goals?

--Alan
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Mar 20, 2006 | 06:23 PM
  #5  
Re: Can I get my car down to 3200lbs?
Well I want to drive the car on the street just not often. I have driven a friends car with no power steering and front runners and it seemed to be pretty easy to manuver. I might leave the power steering in for piece of mind. I want a driver and passenger seat and carpet. I dont want it to be an all out race car but if I can get it down to 3200 lbs race weight and keep it streetable and legal then thats what i'd like to do. Any ideas?
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Mar 20, 2006 | 07:46 PM
  #6  
Re: Can I get my car down to 3200lbs?
Having manual steering and disconnecting power steering are 2 different things. The only problem with manual steering is parking lot driving with wide front tires. Driving down the road, you won't notice a difference.

Disconnecting power steering is something totally different. A power steering box/rack is designed to operate with hydraulic pressure and will be hard to steer without it. Some track only cars with a converted power steering box have a hose looped between the inlet and outlet port of the steering box to keep fluid in it. It's still harder to steer than a manual box but at least it won't fail for lack of fluid.

The power steering pump doesn't use that much power anyway. When there's no load on the steering (going straight) there's very little pressure in the system and the pump isn't working hard. It's when you actually need to turn that the pump starts to build higher pressures.

The biggest advantage to a manual steering system is the weight saving. Taking off the pump, brackets, lines, fluid, cooler (if equiped) and using a manual steering box is a big weight saving. It also cleans up the engine compartment.
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Mar 20, 2006 | 09:35 PM
  #7  
Re: Can I get my car down to 3200lbs?
I accidentally forgot to add fluid to my p/s system the other day after my heads/cam install... that **** was impossible to turn, even w/ my skinnies on.
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Mar 20, 2006 | 09:55 PM
  #8  
Re: Can I get my car down to 3200lbs?
Just as a point of reference, my 4th Gen race car is completely stripped of anything not necessary ie: wipers, interior panels, factory wiring harness, passenger seat, rear seats, carpet, power steering, A/C, heater, ect. It's got a 6 point roll bar, one composite racing seat, tubular k-member, lightweight front brakes, weld draglights with skinnies, nothing under the hood that's not needed, no front or rear bumpers. It's nowhere near street legal, and it weighs 2800
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Mar 21, 2006 | 05:43 PM
  #9  
Re: Can I get my car down to 3200lbs?
If I can get to 3200 I think I can hit some nice 11 second passes on the stock cam.
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Mar 22, 2006 | 12:54 PM
  #10  
Re: Can I get my car down to 3200lbs?
I did not read all of the thread but from what I did read, if you are doing all that stuff 3200 is cake.
Mine was 3150 with 235 driver and I took everything out of the car I can list it if you need me to....
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Mar 22, 2006 | 03:39 PM
  #11  
Re: Can I get my car down to 3200lbs?
Quote: I did not read all of the thread but from what I did read, if you are doing all that stuff 3200 is cake.
Mine was 3150 with 235 driver and I took everything out of the car I can list it if you need me to....
Shon,

I would be very interested in a comprehensive list of what you removed.
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Mar 22, 2006 | 03:51 PM
  #12  
Re: Can I get my car down to 3200lbs?
Here it goes:
HVAC, carpet, plastic interior panels, exhaust (run a y-pipe).
BMR K-member, BMR upper and Lower A-arms. QA1 shocks/springs.
Herron Performance LCA/PHR (rod ended). LW battery, replaced dual fans with 12" single fan. 'glass hood (loosing even more going from flat bolt on to 4" cowl pin on), no radio, no wipers/motor/tank. no EGR/AIR.
Manifolds are heavy! 1 seat, cloth manual vs leather power. no rear seats. no power steering or bracket (alt relocated).
skinnies and fats (warriors of which are the heavier wheels I could have run). Rubber 'mat' on firewall, ABS deleted and computer but left wiring, LL installed.
Hood hinges, about 8#s total. Traction control gone.
Front/rear bumper supports. All speakers and most of the wiring for speakers gone. Solid motor mounts
some bolts here and there. run 1/4 or less at the track.

Weight adding stuff: Spohn TA, Spohn Drag bar, 12 bolt, 4.33s/spool (lighter than posi)

I think that is about it.

I am going racing Saturday so hopefully they will have the scales open for me to get a new weight.

I pretty much printed out the weight reduction list on several boards and highlighted it as I did things, there is still alot left to do
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Mar 22, 2006 | 04:30 PM
  #13  
Re: Can I get my car down to 3200lbs?
Hard top or T-top car?
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Mar 22, 2006 | 04:34 PM
  #14  
Re: Can I get my car down to 3200lbs?
Quote: If I can get to 3200 I think I can hit some nice 11 second passes on the stock cam.
What is your current car weight and current ETs? 11s with the stock cam will be a real challenge at 3200.

With my 97 LT1 auto I'm at 3335 lbs w/o driver, w/ hot cam, 3200 stall, Long Tube headers, 3.73s, PCMforLess, slicks and suspension work (several other performance mods) and running 12.20s. Which took a lot of hard work to get to get to the low 12s.
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Mar 22, 2006 | 06:23 PM
  #15  
Re: Can I get my car down to 3200lbs?
Car hasn't been ran yet. I'll get some dead stock baselines to run some comparisons. Gonna be hard but i'm in Iraq and i'll have to go by my friends driving skills. LOL I'll let you know the results.
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