fa63

The current iteration of the Z06 (actually the C5 version also) has always amazed me with its potential straight out of the box, but it also amazes me how easily the car can be customized and modified to make it that much better for relatively little money (relative to the exotics, I suppose).

So today as I was sitting in my office and finishing up a report, I decided to take a little break and see how much lighter a C6 Z06 can be made while at the same time addressing some of the cars "shortcomings" and keeping it completely streetable. I had made some rough estimates in a previous post, but this time I decided to get a little more diligent. Here is what I have came up with:

(Note: most of the items shown are the ones that give maximum weight savings; for example Hardbar's brake setup saves more weight than Stoptech, so that is what I have used in the calculations. And I am sure their setup works just as well. The seats are a different subject so I just took the somewhat popular Corbeau FX1 Pros that are known to fit C6s and used them since they are pretty light, nice seats and fairly inexpensive).

- Base 1LZ equipped C6 Z06: 505 hp, 3132 lbs (Chevy specs)
- Brakes: many people that track their car frequently complain about the brakes; especially the padlets. Hardbar two-piece rotors and calipers (front only) >> -26 lbs (unsprung weight), +0 hp. http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1440393
- Seats: once again, the stock seats seem to be lacking for high-performance track use. Corbeau FX1 Pro (16 lbs each, from Corbeau's web site), use Hardbar side mounts (~ +2 lbs), harnesses (~+2 lbs), and a harness bar (+6 pounds for C5 version, from Hardbar's website). Take stock seat out for HPDE and put new seat in. Stock driver's seat weighs ~50 lbs (see post #21), net savings = ~-25 lbs, +0 hp.
- Wheels and tires: most people go with 18" wheels all around for the track to be able to have a decent selection of tires. Forgeline's ZX3R wheels are supposed to be 10 lbs lighter all around (as per LG). Ditch the runflats for Hoosier R6 tires; another -28 lbs (as per Tire rack). Net savings: 38 lbs (unsprung and rotating), +0 hp.
- Long tube headers w/cats = these seem to save around 30 lbs compared to the stock iron manifolds (see post #18); plus you get about 50 hp when you combine them with a tune and a filter. Lose weight and gain hp; best of both worlds Just to stay emissions legal, lets use LTs with cats; -30 lbs, +50 hp (when combined with tune + filter)
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/showthread.php?t=984927
- Dry cell battery: -20 lbs over a conventional battery (Odyssey version); just use it for the track if afraid of cold-starting issues during daily use; +0 hp.
- Aluminum flywheel: -10 lbs (rotating mass)
http://www.jakelatham.com/C5/misc/faq.shtml

Adding up all of the above gives:
-144 lbs; +50 hp and at current prices; ~$15,000 (less if you install them yourself)

So we have:
2983 lbs, 555 hp, 5.4 lb/hp

Doing these, the car should be sub-3000 lbs at a HPDE without the driver. Lots of the weight saved is unsprung and/or rotating weight which is also great and reduces the stress put on the car around turns. There is no mention of a cage / roll bar since this is assuming HPDE use. And you can swap everything easily for stock parts after an event (well, except for the brakes, flywheel and LT headers; but those don't hurt street manners anyways).

If you want to spend more money to save more weight:

- Magnesium / carbon fiber wheels: ~10 lbs per corners (http://www.motortrend.com/features/a...n_fiber_wheels)
- Stoptech's new ceramic rotors: ~8 lbs per corner (http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...eramic+rotors), see post #7 and #25
- Replace passenger seat with a lightweight sport seat = ~-15 lbs
- Borla Touring catback = -12 lbs (see post #21); also probably good for a few hp.
- Carbon fiber hood: based on the weight saved by the C5 '04 Com. Ed. cf hood (33%), it should save around 10 lbs.
- Exedy pressure plate and disc, compared to stock = -10 to -15 lbs (see post #18 below)
- Aluminum bodied shocks: Penske etc.. (about 2 lbs per corner)
- Aluminum radiator (don't know how much it might save, maybe 5-10 lbs?)

With all of the above, you would be well below 2900 lbs w/out the driver. It is like having your own Blue Devil, without the potential for heat soak from the supercharger.

There you go, now hopefully a C6 Z06 owner gets inspired so I can live my fantasy vicariously through you!

Feel free to add if you have more weight reduction ideas that won't affect driveability.

-FA

stingray427

How about Dymag carbon fiber wheels, saving maybe 10 pounds per corner of unsprung weight compared to aluminum wheels? A little spendy, but this is a dreaming exercise, right?

07WhiteDevilZ

factory manifolds on the z06 are tubular and actual very light weight and make good power

tires were the same weight i had both weight hoosier vs goodyear

electric water pump weights more then stock pump

george

Mako7

george: The LG Long tubes and high flow cats weigh much, much less that the stock stuff. I would say actually MORE than a 20lbs difference. I checked it out when my car was at the shop.

StreetRacingGuy

well, if you looking at weight, that is one thing, if your looking at actual performance, then $15K is just silly for the 2-3 tenths you would be gaining in acceleration with the above mentioned mods....

Stock Z06, do cam, head work (porting, valvetrain), headers/exhaust, port TB and intake, better tires, and maybe brakes.....go a LOT faster than focusing on just weight reduction...

SRG

fa63

HPDE stands for "High Performance Driving Event"; this wasn't meant to be a weight reduction list for quarter-mile folks but for those that like to attend such events. If you want to fast in the 1/4, just slap on some bolt-ons and some nitrous and you can run 9s all day long.

sparco

Oh so right. My stock seats weighed about 80# and my exhaust, manifolds back 120#. My car will be weighed shortly and we can see what difference the replacement parts make.

0Louis @ LG Motorsports

That was Lous 2LZ car, stoptechs, headers, and an Exedy Twin clutch were the only mods.

If the current car was not a 3LZ car, we could probably get it well below 2950, and still have ALL of the street car creature comforts

fa63

I was going by what tire rack gave for the tire weights to make my comparison; I guess Tire Rack's numbers could be wrong.

I will take the EWC off the list, thanks.

NORTY

3LZ? Hmmm...
I think the best performance mod would be CF wheels and carbon/ceramic rotors. The dymags are 14lbs per corner. The C/C rotors gotta be lighter than the cast iron slugs...

Now, add light seat(s) and pull the AC system...

Steve Theodore

Great thread!

Don't forget that Chevy's claim of 3132 pounds is with a full tank of fuel. Just by draining the tank or comparing with 'after' numbers that don't have a full tank, you'll skew the results.

I love to see people concerned with weight reduction in the name of performance, but it's also super impressive how much time and effort that GM went to in order to achieve it.

fa63

Louis,

How much lighter is the Exedy twin disk setup (w/flywheel) compared to the stock LS7 setup (w/ flywheel also)?

And, can you shed some light onto how much weight savings are seen from your LT headers setup compared to the stock manifolds?

Lastly, is there any weight savings to be had by switching to an aftermarket cat-back setup? Thanks!

AU N EGL

Adding in the drivers wt is important for corner balancing.

fa63

Thanks, I now included it in the list.

stingray427

And because the weight reduction is in spinning mass, the effect is much more pronounced on performance than other sprung or even unsprung weight reductions.

Here's a quote from Dymag:

The effect on the car however, is much more than the static weight saving. The moment of inertia calculation is based on the ratio of the mass multiplied by the square of the radius, meaning that as the diameter of the wheel increases then the greater the energy consumption of increased weight becomes. Therefore with the Dymag carbon/magnesium wheel the much reduced rim weight has the effect of at least 5 times the static weight reduction, meaning that the feel on the car performance is of taking out 3 adult passengers!!

Pretty cool, huh?

GN1270

How much does it throw off the 50/50 balance?

Not having run flats or a spare does not constitute a DD to me.

AU N EGL

that is what corner balancing does. Car + Driver + fuel. Then ballest is added to a corner(s) of the car to balance the weight as close as possible.

0Louis @ LG Motorsports

The headers reduce weight by around 30#s

The clutch is about 25#s

There are a lot of catbacks out there- A stock catback weighs 52#s I will weigh a borla and corsa catbacks tonight, but I know there has to be some good savings there

If you guys want anything weighed, let me know. I probably have it off the car

Thanks

Louis

fa63

Thanks a lot Louis

Since you asked , could you weigh the stock driver's and passenger seats, the stock hood, and the stock radiator? Also, is there any weight to be saved with LG's aluminum radiator for the Z06, and how much less do the aluminum-bodied shocks weigh?

Thanks!

TeddyFreddy

Other brands provide a small tire repair kit with a compressor and sealant. It works, I would use it. The benefits of stickier tires in a traction limited car like ours it's huge.