mobird

Alright so I've been trying to lose as much weight as possible from my pig-heavy 1979 L-48. Most of what I've done, I've gotten from Beejays weight loss threads. Here's what I've done so far:


Converted from Auto to Manual transmission (no idea if this saved anything, did it cause I wanted a 4-speed)


Aluminum Brodix Heads


Doug's Headers and Side pipes


Aluminum intake manifold (Performer RPM)


Composite Rear Spring


Removed Spare tire and carrier


18" wheels (not sure that these saved much weight over the stock 15")


Removed Steel bumper support in rear (50 pounds)


Remove front vacuum reservoir (35 pounds)


C5 Seats with all power motors removed


Removed AC


I think that's it. Stock the car weighed something like 3600 pounds. Any guesses on what I'm at now? I hope to go get it weighed in the next week or so.

71VetteLover

And you're doing this for what reason?

mobird

Haters gonna hate

mobird

Ever driven a lightweight car before? A few hundred pounds makes a world of difference. Lighter weight means shorter stopping distances, better acceleration, better handling, better fuel economy.


Especially when many of the weight-loss mods I've done also add performance.


Our cars are pig heavy for what they are, so getting them down to a respectable 3200 ish pound weight helps. I'm not sure how light mine is, but it is noticeably nicer to drive now, even with stock steering and brakes!

theandies

I'd say between 3300-3400.
How much heavier/lighter are the new seats? Did they feel different from the stock seats when installing?

Bloodzone

3175

Bigeddie

i say 3100!

I didn't do it for weight saving but i like the idea of shedding a few pounds and upgrading while I'm at it. easier than losing weight myself lol
1)Ive done aluminum heads(albeit its a stroker engine)
2)got rid of the stock brake master and booster and went with hydroboost and wilwood brake master
3)tubular control arms
4)Aluminum radiator
5)went with a fixed headlight(FIA/L88 STYLE)
6)composite rear spring
7)borgeson steering conversion
8)vansteel strut rods
9)removed spare tire
10) c5 seats
11)replaced ac system with a vintage air one.
12)side pipes
13)t56 trans(130 wet with bell housing vs th400 140 dry and no converter)
14)aluminum intake manifold
15)optima battery
things to do: remove the front vacuum reservoir
upgrade to 18 inch wheels
wilwood brake calipers
The things that i have added that increased weight is add a sub,amp and a small box made for the c3.

Bigeddie

75 corvette curb weight was 3690!

mobird

Man I hope it's lighter than that! If I get a 32xx number I'll be pretty happy.


The only other weight loss mods I have planned are: lighter battery, aluminum radiator, and (eventually) Willwood brakes when I can stomach that much cash.


I actually weighed them when I got them, but now I can't remember what the difference was! The C5 were a bit lighter after all the power motors were removed. Plus they are bolted directly to the floor so I don't have the weight of the seat tracks that were originally in the car. So probably 10-20 pounds different total there.

mobird

I like that number



Man you've done ALOT of the stuff I want to do on mine! Mostly Willwood brakes! And stroker motor. I'm planning to build either a 383 or 406 this winter if money allows.


Have you happened to weigh yours to see where you're at?

mobird

Holy.Cow. I've read differing numbers for my 79, but all seem to be anywhere between 3550 and 3650. Either way, that's crazy how heavy a 2 seater car with no airbags or other modern safety equipment came from the factory!


Eventually I'd love to have a 31xx or 30xx pound car, but I still want to enjoy driving it as well, so I think there's a line there where it isn't worth crossing it to lose weight. But so far nothing I've done has sacrificed driveability! When I got my car it didn't have working AC so rather than fix it, I just removed all of it (car is a good weather hot rod, I rarely want AC)


I plan to keep the power windows even though the motors weigh a ton, it's worth it for that creature comfort.


I think with 3200 pounds and a 383 or 406 motor and modern Wilwood brakes and my upgraded suspension the car should handle stop and go way better than it did from factory (heck it already does, and it just keeps getting better!)


I love this car.

Big2Bird

Probably the obvious one.

Bigeddie

Man you've done ALOT of the stuff I want to do on mine! Mostly Willwood brakes! And stroker motor. I'm planning to build either a 383 or 406 this winter if money allows.


Have you happened to weigh yours to see where you're at?[/QUOTE]
i have not weighed the car but the weight loss hasn't ended(nor is it running yet I'm about two weeks out, installed engine and trans last weekend). That being said i haven't done the wilwood brakes just the master, however I'm on the lookout for a set on craigslist or ebay. how did you remove the front air reservoir and braced the front end or whatever. along with the back bumper support.i still got about 120-200 worth of weight savings and 100 off he driver is happening too

mobird

i have not weighed the car but the weight loss hasn't ended(nor is it running yet I'm about two weeks out, installed engine and trans last weekend). That being said i haven't done the wilwood brakes just the master, however I'm on the lookout for a set on craigslist or ebay. how did you remove the front air reservoir and braced the front end or whatever. along with the back bumper support.i still got about 120-200 worth of weight savings and 100 off he driver is happening too[/QUOTE]


Nice! Do you have a build thread? That thing is gonna be a blast when it's running!


I took some pictures on the front reservoir removal, when I get time I'll upload them for you. I took the chicken way out: Sawzall. I cut the vacuum reservoir all the way at the end on either side (leaving the main frame supports on either side of the radiator support). And then I cut the brackets off of the reservoir and bolted them back which connected the radiator support with the front bumper support just like stock. It's solid as a rock, no structural rigidity lost from what I can tell. You can push down as hard as you want on the front bumper and the only thing that moves is suspension.


The cleaner way to do it is probably to remove the front bumper and supports, but I had just removed the rear bumper steel and was in no mood to do that same thing with the front bumper, so out came the sawzall. It worked really well! And I lost almost 40 pounds (scale verified) right off the front of the car.

Backstop

That's why so many cars don't have body-on-frame now and the motor is aluminum-plastic-everything.

cv67

...and still can weigh over 4000 lbs thats nuts
if you can get it down to 32-3300 and drop in a 406 it will feel like 3000 lol
3690...wow thats pretty porky. These cars need cubes to make em run

mobird

For sure. My little brother just bought a 2016 Subaru STI. Thing weighs 3250 with AWD, a billion airbags, air conditioning, leather seats, stereo, speakers, etc... and still weighs roughly the same as my fiberglass 2 seater with no creature comforts and some chunks of weight removed.


But for now at least, mine is a good chunk faster

71VetteLover

If you let the air out of your tires you can reduce the weight by another .00001 ounce.

mobird

Again, Haters gonna hate, potatoes gonna potate

mobird

Actually, your cynical nature just gave me a great idea, nitrogen filled tires! That must be worth an ounce or two!