Weight difference between glass and steel bumpers on 71 duster/scamp

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mshred

mshred

The Green Manalishi
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Does anybody happen to know the weight differences between front and rear glass bumpers and steel bumpers for a 70-71 duster or scamp? How about the weight of the brackets front and rear?

Trying to put this pig on a diet and wondering if glass bumpers are worth it.
 
big wt. gain,,and make your own brakets,If memory sereves me I think it will save you 30lb.with race wt.glass and the fender aren't wrth the touble the hood will be your biggest gain if this helps......and theres a big deference between race wt.and street glass...................Artie
 
godfatherofchry said:
big wt. gain,,and make your own brakets,If memory sereves me I think it will save you 30lb.with race wt.glass and the fender aren't wrth the touble the hood will be your biggest gain if this helps......and theres a big deference between race wt.and street glass...................Artie
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I already have a glass bolt on hood, but am looking to change to a different one over the winter, although it will still have to be bolt on since this is a street car and a pin on would be a real PITA for it. As for the bumpers, im looking for some concrete numbers if anyone has some...Although 30lbs sounds real good...what is the difference between race weight and street weight glass for bumpers?

PoisonDart74 said:
Take them off when your race, easy.
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No way, I think that looks really goofy, especially on my car...plus I race in street car classes that require that kind of stuff be on the car and not have it look like a hacked up hick-machine
 
no real numbers here but the weight lose is huge.
the bumper and brackets are a huge amount of weight lost. like said there is also a big difference in street and race weights. that being said not so much difference in the fenders though. the brackets can be made out of a single piece a .060" aluminum easy for the fronts or you can use two pieces and style them like the factory ones. the back ones a single piece. this is a huge difference too. I was able to find a front splash pan for the front also so my front end is entirely glass with aluminum bolts holding it on. my hood is a hinge type because when I first built the demon it was on the street for the most part. now with the supercharger sticking out it's a lift off. it's a tad heavy but I can manage it by myself if need be. the race weight hood are also a huge difference and you will be able to get it off and on by yourself. going to fiberglass you won't be disappointed in your dollar investment. another weight lose program is using holesaws in everything that gets covered up with a pane. I have two used glass doors with a lot of hardware if you're interested.
 
I don't know for your car, although I read it somewhere on Moparts a year or 2 ago for a 70's duster, I just can't remember....

For my 67 Barracuda the front bumper with brackets is 33lbs. I also know if I pull this off the car usually picks up a tenth (thanks to the better weight transfer). I would leave the rear bumper stock to keep the weight on the rear to help plant the tire...just my 2 cents.
 
mshred said:
Does anybody happen to know the weight differences between front and rear glass bumpers and steel bumpers for a 70-71 duster or scamp? How about the weight of the brackets front and rear?

Trying to put this pig on a diet and wondering if glass bumpers are worth it.
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glass bumpers are worth it....changed out the ones on 71 Duster earlier this year...
 
Yes worth it et wise I don't know . I swissed out my bracket and didn't use the outer frt just alu
 
mshred said:
im looking for some concrete numbers if anyone has some...Although 30lbs sounds real good...what is the difference between race weight and street weight glass for bumpers?
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Big block dart.com go to tech section. weights are there.

Even with steel bumpers you can shave weight out of those bulky heavy brackets. 15 minutes with a plasma cutter and a hole saw.
 
bOb shingler said:
no real numbers here but the weight lose is huge.
the bumper and brackets are a huge amount of weight lost. like said there is also a big difference in street and race weights. that being said not so much difference in the fenders though. the brackets can be made out of a single piece a .060" aluminum easy for the fronts or you can use two pieces and style them like the factory ones. the back ones a single piece. this is a huge difference too. I was able to find a front splash pan for the front also so my front end is entirely glass with aluminum bolts holding it on. my hood is a hinge type because when I first built the demon it was on the street for the most part. now with the supercharger sticking out it's a lift off. it's a tad heavy but I can manage it by myself if need be. the race weight hood are also a huge difference and you will be able to get it off and on by yourself. going to fiberglass you won't be disappointed in your dollar investment. another weight lose program is using holesaws in everything that gets covered up with a pane. I have two used glass doors with a lot of hardware if you're interested.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the insight Bob! For some reason I never got any notifications about this thread and just saw responses now while browsing, but definitely some great ideas here. I am probably going to hole saw whats behind my door panels, my package tray area as well, remove the heater box, glass bumpers (and brackets) and maybe go aluminum heads if I upgrade this winter...aluminum rad, electric fans and possibly even an electric pump might not lighten things up much, but might help free up power that was getting eaten up before.

I am really thinking about going to a pin on hood...I just feel like it would be a PITA for a street car, not because I pop the hood at carshows, but because I might not always have a solid place to rest it and am worried it could possibly blow away lol
 
flyfish said:
I don't know for your car, although I read it somewhere on Moparts a year or 2 ago for a 70's duster, I just can't remember....

For my 67 Barracuda the front bumper with brackets is 33lbs. I also know if I pull this off the car usually picks up a tenth (thanks to the better weight transfer). I would leave the rear bumper stock to keep the weight on the rear to help plant the tire...just my 2 cents.
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I thought about leaving the steel one in back for the reason you mentioned...but honestly, this thing is so damn heavy it needs all the weight loss it can get in my opinion.
 
70aarcuda said:
glass bumpers are worth it....changed out the ones on 71 Duster earlier this year...
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Tony, where did you get your bumpers from? Did you also go to glass bumper brackets front and rear as well? Looking to order these up soon

LETSRACE said:
I am going thru the process of replacing the steel for all fiberglass parts on a 72 as we speak. I found this on line, it helped me jump on board with switching to fiberglass.

http://www.hotrod.com/howto/113_0310_weight_reduction/viewall.html
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Thats a great article! Something I try to do is always keep as little gas as nescessary in the car when I run it at the track, usually a 1/4 tank at most. Going to lightweight brakes front and back (and getting rid of the heavy stock 87 fifth ave front discs and rear 11" drums) is something I have thought of for a while now...but its definitely expensive, and it seems drag brakes really aren't the best idea for a street/strip car like my own

scamp 408 said:
Yes worth it et wise I don't know . I swissed out my bracket and didn't use the outer frt just alu
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I figure at this point that even if the car doesn't pick up E/T im putting less stress on the drivetrain by lightening this pig up...thats gotta be worth reliability atleast lol

roccodart440 said:
Big block dart.com go to tech section. weights are there.

Even with steel bumpers you can shave weight out of those bulky heavy brackets. 15 minutes with a plasma cutter and a hole saw.
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I ended up actually remembering about that page yesterday and taking a look at it...Looks like I can save about 60lbs in bumpers alone which is HUGE.

Would be interesting to see how much I can save by pulling out my heater box, hoses, heater core and controls for a non a/c setup...Don't want to bother if its not going to net me atleast 25lbs, but if its more than that im thinking im going to remove it.
 
mshred said:
Would be interesting to see how much I can save by pulling out my heater box, hoses, heater core and controls for a non a/c setup...Don't want to bother if its not going to net me atleast 25lbs, but if its more than that im thinking im going to remove it.
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That is def. the wrong way to look at it. My all steel, all cast iron motor, full stock interior, full exhaust, roll bar, subframe connectored 71 Duster is much lighter than my 71 Scamp that has an aluminum intake, headers, short exhaust, gutted interior and fiberglass hood and front and rear bumpers. It's all about looking at the whole picture and getting alittle out of everything....
 
mshred said:
I am really thinking about going to a pin on hood...I just feel like it would be a PITA for a street car, not because I pop the hood at carshows, but because I might not always have a solid place to rest it and am worried it could possibly blow away lol
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mshred said:
Would be interesting to see how much I can save by pulling out my heater box, hoses, heater core and controls for a non a/c setup...Don't want to bother if its not going to net me atleast 25lbs, but if its more than that im thinking im going to remove it.
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I can't see the advantage of a pin on hood. When you have a glass hod there is nothing left of the hinges and it doesn't restrict and access to underhood.

The heater box weighs a ton... not to mention the liquid in it.
 
One thing you need to remember about glass bumpers is that you don't need jack squat of a bumper bracket to hold them on.

So replace your bumper brackets too, while you are in there. Fab up something.

That's more weight savings off the nose of the car.
 
Scampin said:
That is def. the wrong way to look at it. My all steel, all cast iron motor, full stock interior, full exhaust, roll bar, subframe connectored 71 Duster is much lighter than my 71 Scamp that has an aluminum intake, headers, short exhaust, gutted interior and fiberglass hood and front and rear bumpers. It's all about looking at the whole picture and getting alittle out of everything....
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Not exactly sure what your getting at with your comparison?

My reasoning is just for the fact that I do tend to drive this car in the colder months of fall, and having the heater in the car is nice...If its not much weight savings, im not sure its worth it for me to pull it out.

Although its getting pretty cold here lately and im not driving the car much anymore. Going to take it for a drive tonight and see if I can survive without the heat...if I can, then its quite possible it will also get tossed.
 
roccodart440 said:
I can't see the advantage of a pin on hood. When you have a glass hod there is nothing left of the hinges and it doesn't restrict and access to underhood.

The heater box weighs a ton... not to mention the liquid in it.
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The beauty of the pin on's though is they don't have a ton of extra bracing in them like the bolt on hoods do. One thing I was thinking of though since my bolt on hood has two hood pins at the front is removing the front latch mechanism and support assembly. That ought to shed some weight, although Im not sure if its a good idea since the hood could fly up? Or are the 2 pins enough to keep it down ya think?

As for the heater box assembly, it would be interesting to see what it actually weighs...im sure someone has weighed it.
 
1968FormulaS340 said:
One thing you need to remember about glass bumpers is that you don't need jack squat of a bumper bracket to hold them on.

So replace your bumper brackets too, while you are in there. Fab up something.

That's more weight savings off the nose of the car.
Click to expand...

Yes, I will either be making or buying glass brackets for front and rear when I do the swap. If I can lose 100-150lbs off this thing I will be happy.
 
mshred said:
Not exactly sure what your getting at with your comparison?

My reasoning is just for the fact that I do tend to drive this car in the colder months of fall, and having the heater in the car is nice...If its not much weight savings, im not sure its worth it for me to pull it out.

Although its getting pretty cold here lately and im not driving the car much anymore. Going to take it for a drive tonight and see if I can survive without the heat...if I can, then its quite possible it will also get tossed.
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Sorry, the duster I tried to take every little ounce out of while using all the stock components and it turned out lighter than my 71 scamp which has a whole bunch of "lighter" things in it. You can't say "this will only save me x amount, so I won't do it". Every little bit adds up.
As far as the heater box debate goes, they sell nice little heater blowers that plug into the cigarette lighter outlet that work great for defrosting windshield and keeping it tolerable when you take the heater box out, and are a whole lot lighter, plus they can be put in the trunk while racing. Used one for a few years now.
 
Put glass bumper and mounts on the front of my Demon. Was 24 lb in weight savings. Would think the rear should be around the same.
 
Scampin said:
Sorry, the duster I tried to take every little ounce out of while using all the stock components and it turned out lighter than my 71 scamp which has a whole bunch of "lighter" things in it. You can't say "this will only save me x amount, so I won't do it". Every little bit adds up.
As far as the heater box debate goes, they sell nice little heater blowers that plug into the cigarette lighter outlet that work great for defrosting windshield and keeping it tolerable when you take the heater box out, and are a whole lot lighter, plus they can be put in the trunk while racing. Used one for a few years now.
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I understand what you mean that every little bit does add up...but I still do drive this thing ALOT, even in the cooler months, so its just a bit of a debate for me is all

Unfortunately I have no more cigarette lighter....thats where my nitrous controls are hidden now lol
 
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