How much weight can you shave off of an A-Body...and still have it look/drive like an A-Body?
Shedding weight takes a bit of thought.
I liked the idea of cutting down some of the fasteners that are longer than they need to be.
When you look at what the factories did with the Feather Duster and Dart Lite, you see that they reduced the weights of those cars by 200+ lbs with no adverse effects on driveability.
Aluminum is a great substitute for intake manifolds, radiators, brackets and other things but there comes a point where shedding weight becomes a costly effort. The batteries we use weigh around 40 lbs but a same size Lithium titanate battery is 7. That is great but that Lithium battry costs around $500.
In 2022 I had the engine out of my Charger. I used a car lift and engine/trans dolly to do the removal and installation from underneath. At that time I changed from the tried and true 12" Cordoba brakes to a Dr Diff 13" "Cobra" setup. That shed 14 lbs and provided better stopping force. The Borgeson steering box was 12 lbs lighter. A late model spacesaver spare was 30 lbs lighter too. The lug pattern isn't exact but would work for getting the car off the side of the road and to a safe place.
Aftermarket seats can be lighter. I have Neon SRT 4 seats which are non power but do recline. They were 11 lbs lighter each compared to my stock 1970 High back buckets.
Chew on this fact: Those that relocated the battery to the trunk for better weight distribution did so at the expense of all the extra weight from the longer cables and wiring that run from the trunk back forward to the engine. I have the battery in the trunk and figure that If I can find a narrower Lithium battery to put up front, I could save 50 lbs. The battery alone would be 33-34 lbs less, then add in all the 1/0 starter cable, the 4 ga ground cable front to rear, the battery box, the solenoid, the trunk ground cable too.
Fiberglass body parts are a trade-off. They rarely fit right so for a street car, you're sacrificing appearance for a weight reduction.
For a time, I wondered if I was spending too much time searching for weight loss ideas. I don't drag race the car but I might autocross it. What is a few extra pounds on an autocross car anyway?