No, you can do it with stock system(or headers with bung), make your own blocking plates or get them from Thunder Racing.

 

Some good tips out there.

 

Thanks!

 

Losing 60lbs sounds really hard to me. I haven't figured out how to pay someone to do my exercising for me.... That's awesome that you did though

 

thanks for all the info guys....

so i think i am going to get a lightweight battery..... but....?\

i only drive the car on the weekends.... do you think that would be a problem?

second, id like some info on lightweight rotors.
how much weight savings is there going to the 2-piece eradispeeds?
i heard like 10lbs each? is that right?

 

Check out a Rock Racing battery, they make a 24 pound version with 700CCA for only about $140. I have used one for about a year and am very happy with it. Rotors will get you maybe 2-3 pounds each, 10 pounds is equivilant sprung weight reduction. 4x for rotational is a guide.

 

take out the carpet and speakers. between those two that could be 40 to 60 lbs of weight savings.

 

TSP header kit just saved 20lbs over stock....
and the a.i.r system was 7 lbs.

TSP was 50lbs
stock was 70lbs.

 

Nice!

Thanks for documenting that weight reduction too. I assume you need to be re-tuned after removing the A.I.R. system, right? Is there any way to pass emissions with that system removed?

Steve T.

 

I don't know why you all are trying to lose weight so bad, 100lb is about a 10th of a sec. Your best way to lose a big # is the seats, and the Carpet you can make a carpet out of the same material they make sub boxes out of you will lose 30+ lbs. The seats are good for 10-20 ea matters what you change them over to. But to be dead honest if your looking for that 10th of a sec be my guest but its not really worth it. Ohh and that other carpet I was telling you about it is very easy to F#ck it up a cig or something like that you will really mess it up.

 

I don't know why you all are trying to lose weight so bad, 100lb is about a 10th of a sec. Your best way to lose a big # is the seats, and the Carpet you can make a carpet out of the same material they make sub boxes out of you will lose 30+ lbs. The seats are good for 10-20 ea matters what you change them over to. But to be dead honest if your looking for that 10th of a sec be my guest but its not really worth it. Ohh and that other carpet I was telling you about it is very easy to F#ck it up a cig or something like that you will really mess it up.

 

The better question might be why are you concerned about how and why others choose to modify their Corvettes?

 

hmmmmmm, maybe he's right. You know what, the more i think about it, i hate the 200lbs im missing in my vette. Anybody know of some safe weight i can add to my car?, cast iron wheels, fenders,hood.
The better braking, acceleration, cornering, gas mileage, engine/ drivetrain/brake/tire longevity just doesnt compare to the all encompassing logic
of ....
"But to be dead honest if your looking for that 10th of a sec be my guest but its not really worth it"

 

Did the TSP's come with cats or offroad pipes?

 

(-) winshield washer stuff
(-) AIR/EGR crap
(-) tire fixer kit
(-) stock exhaust system (TSP headers, 3'' X, no cats)
(+) B&B Route 66 (traded off titanium)

Future plans: lighter rotors, lightweight flywheel, maybe a different driver's seat/frame. Offsetting plans might include 18x12 rears, but with a 335 competition type (hopefully lighter) tire.

My wife thinks if I would shave and not put any gel in my hair I could delete 5 lbs! (she did get me a titanium wedding ring, but I still don't wear it)

 

I agree completely with this thread. I don't think adding much more HP is the answer. The Z06 already performs well because of it's low weight.

If you're going to go with aftermarket wheels (rotational mass is key) I'd seriously check out the Carbon Fiber wheels Callaway is selling. They're made by Dymag. I picked up a 20 x 12.5 wheel at Carlisle and it weighed only 14lbs. To compare with an HRE that costs roughly the same as the Dymag, the HRE weighs 28lbs. That is significant weight savings. They run about $1700 - 2000 each, close to an HRE or Fikse, but half the weight.

There are also aftermarket two piece rotors that are listed here on the forum (not Baer) that also save about 7 lbs? each (fronts) and 1lb (rear - still have e-brake capabilities so not much weight savings).

CF racing seats would definitely cut weight. Carravaggio sells the Porsche GT3 seats (with Vette logos). You can get these seats from other sources. They have much better support than our stock seats. I've sat in a CGT and they are the same seats that are being used in the new GT3s in Europe.

This may be costly (weight reduction always is when you're buying components), but if you add these components to the removal of the other parts specified earlier, you may come close to 3000lbs.

 

If all you do is run 1320's, maybe so.

For those of us who open track the car, 100 lbs is a TON of weight. Depending on the track, that can show up as a significant lap time reduction.

One of the major reasons that attracted me to getting a used C5 Z, is the curb weight. In a era where sports cars are getting rather portly (3950 lb GT500? get real Ford) the Z06 is a fantastically fast (lap time)car due to it's rather low mass.

It's amazing to me that it's one of the most overlooked aspects (even by OEM's) of performance, and yet is one of the most important.

 

Very much so in regards to rotational mass, but another (perhaps MORE) important regard is the location of said weight. Ie, in a rotational item (flywheel/wheel and tire) when talking about spinning an item up to speed (tire/wheel or FW) it's more important to have less mass farther away from the centerline (crank, or axle). Ie, not all 15 lb alum flywheels and not all 50 lb tire/wheel combo's are the same. I'd rather have a 30 lb wheel and a 20 lb tire than a 20 lb wheel and a 30 lb tire. Same for a flywheel, many of the lightened aftermarket units shave weight, but also concentrate most of even that mass towards the crank centerline. The centrifugal effect is increased.

Same goes for car weight, "where" can be as imporant as "how much". Low on the car (CG) so reducing weight up high helps more than down low. Keeping weight tucked inside the wheelbase (not hanging off the "ends") etc.

This is why all 600 kg F1 cars aren't the same, the top teams build lighter components, and are able to add the ballast back in where they WANT to (skid plates on the bottom, etc). From what I've read, many of the top F1 builders are building the car so light, they are putting as much as 75-80 kg on the bottom plates as ballast. Better CG than the car's running in the back of the pack, yet they "weigh the same" on the FIA scales.

To the brake question, Wilwood's BSL6 13x1.25" front kit for the Z06 is approx 4 lbs lighter than stock (from my research, I haven't verified myself). They also make a kit that uses the stock Z06 calipers, but their 2 pc rotors, SS lines and WW pad selection. Weight savings should be decent for that.

The funny thing about a lot of this, is most folks don't think 5 lbs here, 7 lbs there is worth much. But it's just like a personal budget, if you watch where your money goes, and your **** like me, you can make the biggest impact in your spending habits by changing a lot of little things, instead of a couple of big things. The little stuff adds up. 20 lbs headers here, 10 lb lighter brakes there, 3 lb lighter tires, 4 lb lighter wheels, 20 lb lighter seats (stock power is 40, passenger is 30), etc. Do that 10 times for a 10 lb "upgrade" and that's 100 lbs. That's significant. 3% increase in performance in all aspects without making 1 more hp.

 

About 25 lbs with headers.

I wouldn't go out of the way just to try and remove 100 lbs for a street car (a 13 HP increase will compensate for that.) A race only car should be stripped of all creature comfort/flammable items anyway. But spending hundreds and possibly thousands of dollars for lightweight items and tearing out comfort items that make the car noisy and uncomfortable doesn't make sense to me.

But then again, differing opinions are what make us all individuals.

 

I think that was Ford's philosophy for the new GT500. Start with a 3500 lb Mustang GT, make it heavier, and add hp to compensate So you end up with a fast straight line 2 ton turd that won't change direction to save it's life.

[/QUOTE] But spending hundreds and possibly thousands of dollars for lightweight items and tearing out comfort items that make the car noisy and uncomfortable doesn't make sense to me. [/QUOTE]

I agree, and in my own case, the weight savings of the parts isn't the (only) reason I'm putting them on or spending $$, it's a side benefit though, and a big one. I want a fully functional Z06 (not interested in tearing anything out) that when I go to the track, is as light as possible. Bigger front brakes for more rotor torque/thermal effenciency, track seats (put in for track days only) because the stock ones are terrible on the track, headers for more power, wider rims for the track (that are lighter)etc. The side benefit of most of these is saving weight though. Things like the battery, etc are weight savings only, but fairly cheap to do.

While I suppose everybody has "their thing", and some would snub their nose at paying attention to keeping the car light, I personally think it's hilarious when somebody rips the Ti exhaust out to put in one that weighs 22 lbs more and makes 2 more hp, slaps on heavier than OEM rims/tires, and 75 lbs of speakers and subs in the rear area Nothing like spending $$ to make it go slower...