74 Duster weight loss program

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tyrone, did you get the converter made for your engine, as a 8'' may possibly be too ''loose'' or have a too higher stall, if you only have a warm/mild 360?

whats your car running down the strip?
 
-removal of all undercoat and sound deadener (been known to be 50lbs)
-glass hood
-glass deck lid
-glass bumpers
-aluminum bumper brackets
-race seats
-70-72 doors as they dont have bar inside
-heater delete
-can do a hdk k member which will cut weight and perform alot better than stock
-aluminum heads
-can ditch the stock steering column and get a race one
-wilwood drag brakes
-rear disc conversion
-lightweight drive shaft



the list goes on just depends how far you want to take it..
 
My friends have 400 Chevys and stroked 408 fords, I'm trying to beat them with 40 less cubes to make it bitter for them! I know I could have used. Lighter car to start with but I scored this one foe $250 so I bought it and built an engine and tranny for it and threw gears in the 8.25 that was already in the car.
 
I'm running at 5000ft elevation so the 3500 pounder ran 12.66 with the 3500 stall that I had in it before. I had frank spec this converter out for my engine and it loves it. It will flash 4800 so it is about pirfect. The track closed for winter before I got the converter in so no et yet.
 
Not a fan of NOS, but spray it with a 150 shot and you'll run 10's.....
 
I agree NOS is not for me! If that was the way to go I would have built a stealth 408 with 14 to 1 and a set of w2's with. Giant solid roller cam and plum the NOS under a stock intake modified to fit w2's and made it look like a stock 318 and lied about it like the wannabeese we all see at the track and street races.
 
might consider Wilwoods up front at least...they are a good investment.

if you have a factory disc brake package....they weight a ton.....the calipers alone are bricks...all hanging up front where the weight has the least advantage.
 
tyrone said:
I agree NOS is not for me! If that was the way to go I would have built a stealth 408 with 14 to 1 and a set of w2's with. Giant solid roller cam and plum the NOS under a stock intake modified to fit w2's and made it look like a stock 318 and lied about it like the wannabeese we all see at the track and street races.
Click to expand...

you could put NOS on it and it still be 100% streetable when not in use. although a 14.1 motor wouldnt be.. NOS is the cheapest hp you can do..

our dragster with a 358" sbm went from running low 9s with a 10.7.1 w2 engine to a 7.21 with just nitrous added.. id throw a 150 shot on the thing and have fun with it..
 
We'll the problem is that it is a cheap Keith black silvolight hypereutectic piston with tight ring end gaps so it would have to be a small shot and not worth it.
 
If I were to use a power a adder it would be a turbo like I have on my mustang but this car will never use a power adder.
 
Tyrone I have the factory aluminum bumper supports that came on the feather lite duster. Racers love them.The front one is in excellent condition. They go behind the chrome and shave off a lot of weight. I would sell them to you, but I want big money!
 
You can run the front bumper without any support behind it, steel or aluminum
 
not something you'll probably do but a 904 is about 35 lbs lighter and saves about 20 less hp due to parasitic losses verses a 727
 
I had a 340 Duster 71 that I got done to 2950. Had 8 pt roll bar rear tubbed glass hood and front bumper. For me the best weight loss was going Wilwood front disc I also ran tubular upper control arms and strut not sure if those were saving though. You can go to fuel cell I played with different sizes for weight. Caltrac rear suspension not sure if that was a plus. Shifting weight rearward helps. I ran 11.30s at 118mph with 340 and mild X heads. I even put the stock bench back in my preference. It didn't change weight that much from the factory buckets. I wish I still had that car.
 
A lighter K member gets weight out of where it matters real quick. Not sure of anyone's budget but that and wilwoods is where I would start if I were to do it again. Fiberglass parts are a pain the A$$. I am strongly considering sheet metal again

Here is a thread on this topic over at MoParts...

http://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/1353186/8.html
 
what is the weight saving diff over factory brackets and is there any way you could use them with factory bumper thanks
 
Tyrone, are you running it in Douglas?

I took the rear bumper shocks apart and cut the internal rod off so i could slide the bumper in more for a little better look (but still sticks out on the sides). When I got the bumper in as far as I wanted, I drilled and tapped a couple holes in the shock and put bolts in to hold it in place. I also cut the brace in the rear bumper apart so all that's left is the part where it bolts to the bumper. That brace is heavy--I probably shaved somewhere around 50 lbs just with that.

I also ditched everything that had to do with the heater, removed the outer brackets for the front bumper, took out the wipers and wiper motor (not for a street car), and swapped the power steering out for manual steering. I also removed the factory tank and put in an 8 gallon cell. In all, I've probably dropped 150-200 lbs.

Another thing that won't lose any weight, but will redistribute it is to move the battery to the trunk to put the weight over the rear tire.

Drag shocks up front also help more than I thought they would. I'm just using the Competition Engineering 3-way shocks.
 
Is anyone but me paying attention to the dates on this thread ?
take a look at the last time the op has posted or even been active....
 
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