In addition to what vette427 says - there are a few other advantages
less mass to accelerate and stop -
to get a car to stick its corners better - use air (wings, splitters, etc) to make the turn happen faster

 

Good questions! as others have noted generally a lighter car will be faster, obviously, in terms of acceleration and braking ability. Balance becomes much more of an issue in situations where load transfer is important such as high speed directional transitions or at lateral weight limits. Reading BeeJays narrative on the subject, he seems to have removed weight all over his 79, not in one particular area, so my guess is his basic overall balance is still pretty good. As long as the weight reduction is not drastic in either the front or rear, overall balance should be fairly decent. Sway bar sizes and spring rates can easily help balance the changes. The classic example of a very unbalanced car on the street that is now an excellent handling vehicle is the rear heavy Porsche 911/911 Turbo's-the early Turbos with much more power were known to swap ends easily-not today.

As for the 78/79 C3, the stock weight distribution according to GM was 52% R: 48% front-I have also seen 51%R : 49% F-which is pretty darn good, especially in the 70's and better than most of the other C3's, especially the big blocks. All C3's including the 78/79's were setup from the factory to understeer or push at the limit-remember Ralph Nader from the 60's and the corvair. I too have owned my 78 L-82 4 speed forever and have had it on a weight diet of sorts for a long time but no where near Beejay's. First big one was in 1986 with a 360 composite rear spring (still on the car and perfect) and shortly after that the AC removal to balance off the 42 lbs reduction in the rear. I have done the big things like McJacks shorty header versus cast iron manifolds, lighter battery, removal of all smog equipment including monster CAT and AIR pump and hardware, lighter aftermarket 17 inch rims instead of OEM Aluminum RIMS, aluminum radiator/water pump (has L-82 aluminum intake). I wonder what it weighs with no spare and no T-Tops on it?

Beejays 3040 lbs is very impressive. Weight it without the tops on!! As I recall, the Tops weight about 17 lbs each. Those 34 lbs would get you really close to that magical 3,000 lbs number.

What about the 79 seats? I can tell you that those suckers are really heavy-took them out a few years ago to do the carpet and remember they were really heavy. As I recall, the C5/C6 seats and some aftermarket ones are much lighter! Are you going to switch seats any time soon?

 

Yesterday's WSJ had a write up on the Caymen S, not the Boxster, and the weight was listed as 3,000 lbs!

 

Last I checked, my 80' weighed in at 3,180. Glass T-Tops on, 1/2 tank of gas, no spare tire/carrier, and no one it. One of these days I want to swap the heads and brake calipers for aluminum. Also, a set of brake rotors with aluminum hats.

 

Also, I have the heavier T56 trans instead of the original 4 speed.

 

My opinion is that the '79 seats are pretty light, as they're just foam in a fiberglass bucket. I got a pair of '79 seats in a parts swap a few years ago. They're about 10-12 pounds lighter (each) than my stock '69 seats. I then welded up some custom brackets to adapt them to the '69 floor panel, and took another six pounds out of the system, for about a 30 pound reduction in vehicle weight.

 

Good to know thanks! My 78 seats seemed really heavy for what they are and I have read that the C5/C6 seats are lighter than the 78's!

 

BeeJay, please clean your PM inbox since it's full. ��

 

BJ Inspired ........ Thanks

1980, Who has a correct oem curb weight for this year ?

Followed a lot of what BJ has done here is my list
hood and nose from oem to after market 35 pounds
head lights 24 pounds
full aero space component breaks 88 lbs
control arms TRZ 12 lbs
lighter rims 12 lbs
spare tire and carrier 49 lbs
cross member 5 lbs
AC delete 50 lbs
Rear spring 50lbs
starter 8 lbs
aluminum heads 35 lbs .
Aluminum intake 12lbs



377lbs total

Lets be fair and add 50 for 3" dual exhaust and stainless headers over the factory pipes and manifolds / also add 38lbs for the 4L80e

377 minus 88 leaves 289 pound loss over all.

new sbc 427
584hp / 567tq
3.92 rear gears

 

Vettenet 3282, Car & Driver road test 3330, Corvette Action Center 3282

 

Are you posting weights for a 1980 ?

If so Thank you and those weights seam correct I was hoping to get to 3000 with my in it 175lbs .. Might have to toss that extra seat out of her LOL .

 

Did some playing around with my corner balance weights. Moving my 36# DieHard from LR to RF would take me from a 47.5/52.5 F/R to 48.5/51.5. It doesn't get any lighter but moves a little more to neutral. Appears to be plenty of room to put the battery up there. Anybody?

Thing is, playing with sway bars and shock tuning probably achieves the handling benefits without the aggravation.

 

Respectfully, I don't see the wisdom of doing that. Most of our cars have more power than rear grip, so increased rear weight bias helps with corner exit acceleration, and as most of us have noticed with brake pad wear, the rear brakes are woefully under-utilized compared to the front.
(FWIW, I moved my battery to the RR compartment, and reduced the front brake bias slightly, to get the rear brakes to "earn their keep" a bit more.)

 

Please don't pm me there, I never check it. My email is:
beejay.jones@gmail.com

 

So a year has passed, did you get under 3000?

 

I weighed my 80 years ago on a scale at the local transfer station. At the time I had removed the AC unit because it didn't work anyway, and the spare tire/carrier. I think everything else was still there....If I remember correctly it was 3250 with me and a half tank of gas.

Since then I have removed lots of things, put on the Weld Draglites,L88 hood, converted to manual brakes and steering, aluminum heads, yada yada ...the list goes on.

Problem is I remarried and gained a ton.............so it's pretty much a wash.

 

Wow! This thread is still going? Thank goodness for email notification.
I spun a bearing in the old L-82 350. I spent over six months trying to obtain an aluminum block and gave up. I had the stock block machined and bored .030 over and clearanced for a 383 crank. Putting the engine together now. While the engine is out, I'm going to a Borgeson power steering setup. I've been driving an LT1 C4 in the mean time, great car, and cheap! Stay tuned.

BTW I was down to 3000lbs when the engine died. Once the car is up and running, I'll start trimming the pounds again.
Hey, How is everybody? Gkull? Paul Dana? 69427? 427-sbc? Justin? You all good?
Bee Jay

 

Hey Brother!!! Miss seeing you here!

happy to see your still at it...

 

What up skinny vette

 

Nice to hear from you again! I was starting to wonder what happened to you.
Things are going reasonably well here. Just trying to improve my aluminum TIG skills. My car was 2815# two years ago (at Heartland Park Topeka's scales). They were shutdown last year (bankruptcy), but are reported to be planning operations this year. Can't wait. Did a few more mods to the car last year and over the winter so far, and I'm hoping for 2790#.