Saw the weight saving post over on the FE Forum.......

[machoneman]

The car is 3250 with me in it, still has all the glass windows and the factory bumpers. Thinking about fiberglass bumpers this year to save a little weight. Drives down the road real nice, and even nicer down the track wink.gif
Jay Brown

Making some simple aluminum bumper brackets to replace those battleship steel OEM brackets and adding that 'glass bumper IIRC can save about 30-35 lbs. off the front. Not quite the same saving for the rear however. And yes, replacing the glass in maybe the doors, rear quarters and back glass would save a bunch more yet it does get involved and ain't exactly cheap! Stripping out all the under dash stuff would be effective and cheap yet render perhaps a not quite ready for cool, foggy or wet weather car. Decisions, decisions!


 
 

[turbohunter]

Great idea for a thread.
I'm sure there are quite a few things I/we haven't thought of.

[cjshaker]

After seeing that wiring behind the dash, I doubt there's much factory stuff back there. A mouse would cause a nightmare behind there..lol

There are ways to save weight on the stock bumper brackets also. Drilling big holes is a good way to lighten just about anything. Less weight is the same as adding more power.

[jayb]

The 69 Shelby front bumper is unique, so I'm doing my own fiberglass mold and then will pull my own fiberglass bumper out of it.  I'll put a thread up about this process in a couple weeks when I'm done.  Factory front bumper is only 15 pounds, though, and the rear bumper is only 13 pounds.  With fiberglass brackets, I can probably save a total of 28-30 pounds there.

Got a few other tricks up my sleeve, though.  I do hate the idea of replacing the stock windows with Lexan, because they end up getting scratched and looking like crap after you roll them up and down a few times.  External window supports are not legal in my class at Drag Week, and having windows that don't roll down is not a good option for a street car, so I'm planning to keep the factory glass.

And of course, there's always more power...

[Barry_R]

I did the holes in the bumper brackets thing on my Torino.  Took lots of effort to do a nice looking job.  After we were done we weighed the slugs we cut out - a whopping +/- 1.5 pounds.... I kinda gave up on weight reduction back then, but its still a really critical item for a real race car.

Not particularly good example - but the idea of removing a pound in a hundred places certainly applies.

Replacing every non-critical fastener with aluminum or plastic - bumpers, fenders, dash mounting, horn mounting, etc.  Sprint car guys use chrome-moly tubing with threaded segment and hex welded on for fasteners.  Replace those beautiful but heavy Cammer valve covers with fabricated sheet metal.  Battery in the trunk is traditional and good for rear weight - but moving it further forward in a box saves a bunch of heavy cable.  Braided hose is pretty but weighs a ton compared to the newer Kevlar weave stuff.  Carbureted guys can move to the newer aluminum ones replacing the older zinc parts and drop 5-10 pounds.  Just make a hanger for your phone instead of a dedicated radio, a couple LEDs instead of door and dome lights....

[jayb]

Back when I was trying to lighten up my Galaxie I cut a whole bunch of oval plates out of the sides of the frame, using my plasma cutter.  I think there were 20 of them altogether, probably 6" X 4" in size.  Took a couple hours, saved 14 pounds.  I'd never do it again.  On the other hand, fiberglass bumpers and trunk lid and hood took over 200 pounds out of the Galaxie.  Fiberglass fenders, inner fenders, and core support were only another 30! Go figure...

[cjshaker]

14 lbs isn't bad for a couple hours work. I'll bet you have 10x that (probably way more) to lose the 30 in the bumpers.

I've been watching Rusty's Fairlane build and seeing many of the ideas that save weight. Noticing little things like keeping switching and wiring as neat and short as possible saves a bunch of wire weight, and the bigger gauge wire isn't light. I'm just not a big fan of fiberglass though because of all the issues it develops over time.

And I'd just add that lighter weight does nothing for a bracket car (90% of the racers out there), unless you're trying to get into a faster bracket.

[Drew Pojedinec]

Get me to drive your car..... in three months I can get down to 130lbs.

[shady]

I did look at Crites 64 gal glass doors at Carlisle & they were very nice. you can bolt all the stock internals & glass in them. as far as seats, 64XL buckets are nice & light. My 62 XL seats seem to be twice as heavy. I always liked looking for HP. 1 here & 1 there plus shedding weight 1 here & 1 there. It all adds up in the end.

[Falcon67]

My Falcon was right at 3300 - then went to a fiberglass hood and bumper, removed all the back seats and frames, put in fiberglass race seats on home made mounts, removed all heating and air equipment, 15 aluminum gallon fuel cell, changed exhaust from full 2 1/2" with muffs to 18" collectors and bullets.  Now at 3050.  At that point, I gave up LOL.  I keep threatening to ask the track manger for one pass with all four doors off the car. 

[Qikbbstang]

Trying hard to recall what Ford race cars had a strap to raise & lower the door window glass?....... Not sure where the lift mechanism and window tracks stop/start on Mustang but there's some weight in metal there..

[Qikbbstang]

You'll could borrow several dozen pounds of gold from Fort Knox and get some custom lightweight glass:

Love the mm stuff: ...the new glass has shaved 12 pounds from the GT helped lower the center of gravity by 3 millimeters..

http://www.forbes.com/sites/samabuelsamid/2015/12/16/corning-smartphone-glass-shaves-mass-from-all-new-ford-gt/?utm_campaign=yahootix&partner=yahootix

[427Fastback]

On my 67 Mustang T/A coupe I did the following
no hood latch just pins
shock towers cut back
radio and heater delete(oem stuff)
door locks mechanism removed
no trunk lock (pinned)no ignition switch
front bumper brackets swiss cheese'd
no rear seat,belts,carpet or interior panels, does have metal bulk head and package tray
no quarter window mechanisms and window frames trimmed to a minimum...windows are locked in place.
no tail pipes to speak of
no sound deadener.
no back up lights or wiring
no name plates,badges or trim other than the front and rear glass mouldings
Probably more that I cant think of.All the weather strip and glass is in is place as the car is street legal..
I too have thought about lexan windows..

[FERoadster]

Sorry if this is sarcastic,  but I'm a runner 67 years old and have run approximately a marathon each year since I was 45. (did skip a few when I moved to Oregon from SE Michigan but made it up in exercise)
 I run about 600 miles a year in training.  When I was working full time in Michigan I ran about 1200 miles a year, a lot of evening-night runs and lunchtime runs because I had that freedom with my job.
Heart rate still low 40's, BP very low,  somewhat vegetarian only eat seafood (not see food)
Current weight just below 140#  and 6 ft. tall

Cheap and healthy way to loose car and driver weight. It does take dedication and devotion as well as monitoring  injuries and pain.
Again apologize if this is inappropriate.

Richard

[cjshaker]

Sorry if this is sarcastic,  but I'm a runner 67 years old and have run approximately a marathon each year since I was 45. (did skip a few when I moved to Oregon from SE Michigan but made it up in exercise)
 I run about 600 miles a year in training.  When I was working full time in Michigan I ran about 1200 miles a year, a lot of evening-night runs and lunchtime runs because I had that freedom with my job.
Heart rate still low 40's, BP very low,  somewhat vegetarian only eat seafood (not see food)
Current weight just below 140#  and 6 ft. tall

Cheap and healthy way to loose car and driver weight. It does take dedication and devotion as well as monitoring  injuries and pain.
Again apologize if this is inappropriate.

Richard

Ha, I always thought that too. And we are the same, I'm 6' 140. I figure that gives me about 75-100 lb advantage right off the bat

[turbohunter]

I hate you both

[TomP]

Sounds like a unanimous decision, Jay (aka: Fatso) needs to get down to 140 lbs and leave the chrome bumpers. 

If he stops eating right now he could be down to that by next DragWeek... if he lives.

[jayb]

Sheesh, this thread is beginning to look like a post on Facebook, not the FE Power forum...

[Drew Pojedinec]

Hey, all I did was offer to drive a car......  sheesh, someone ought to benefit from my diminutive stature.

[jayb]

You're dreamin', buddy    Besides, I tried letting other people drive my cars in the lead up to Drag Week 2012.  Result was two broken cars.  Not going there again...

[machoneman]

Sheesh, this thread is beginning to look like a post on Facebook, not the FE Power forum...

LOL, now that's funny!

[Barry_R]

I'll drive one of your's   

I'll even volunteer a centrally located repair and preparation facility...

[cjshaker]

I hate you both

Don't hate the player, hate the game 

[babybolt]

Here's a link to a thread about weight reduction on 69stang:

http://1969stang.com/forum/index.php?/topic/48440-69-mustang-coupe-lexan-windows-and-lightweight-mods/?hl=weight

This website used to have a link to a list of 69/70 Mustang component weights, but it disappeared when they upgraded the website hosting site.

[TomP]

You also need to consider the requirements of the class or the car will get thrown in Unlimited which may take a bit more tweaking on the engine.

Lots of weight can be saved by replacing little things. Make aluminum brackets instead of steel, etc. Joel probably knows all about that stuff. I think the car could shed a hundred of so fairly easily. I took 75 pounds off the front of my Fairlane after it was already finished and it still has all the stock heavy brakes and all the same body parts as it had before. I made the hood prop rod from aluminum tube instead of solid steel rod, mini starter, mini alternator, aluminum center ATI damper, aluminum alternator brackets, plastic sealed beams, fewer and lighter fender bolts, etc.

100 places to take a pound out.

[FE Jonny]

I did some doors and a truck bed by cutting out the metal and laminating with carbon fiber sheet. I smoothed it all out with glass, I also did the back of the cab and front fenders that way. I lost a few hundred pounds of metal all together with sheeting out the whole truck in .032 carbon sheeting and cutting out the large flat areas of the body. I also did an aluminum floor and lost a lot of weight there. The nice thing about sheeting with carbon fiber is you keep the integrity of the steel frame but loose a lot of weight with the removal of the lage flat area. Once I was done you could not even tell it was cut out and sheeted.

[babybolt]

Thread on Yellowbullet about fasteners:

http://www.yellowbullet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1588770

[Redstrat]

Trying hard to recall what Ford race cars had a strap to raise & lower the door window glass?....... Not sure where the lift mechanism and window tracks stop/start on Mustang but there's some weight in metal there..

This is my first post here. I'm assembling a 390 for my brother-in-law. Anyway... I have done upholstery work for a living. Several years back I worked on a Olds where I remove the window regulators, notched and rolled a slot in the interior trim, and used seat belts to fasten the windows in the up position. I think we took about 30lbs off the car. I saw this done on super stock cars back in the 70's.

[cjshaker]

Chrysler actually did this to a few of their super lightweight cars back in the '60s. If I remember right, they only made about 10 of them, but then again it seems that they made about 10,000 1of10 cars.
They just used 2 button snaps on the door panel, one for up and one for down. Seems like a really good way to save weight. But to be fair, Ford was doing this 50 years before Chrysler

[turbohunter]

but then again it seems that they made about 10,000 1of10 cars.

Funny as hell and true.