weight reduction ideas.

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jcmmurray

jcmmurray

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Was pretty disappointed when my 75 dart hit the scales. Just wanted to see if there are any good diets for a 3500 lb A bodie. (without me)I started with my front bumper and got 38 lbs out of that thing. Next will be a hood and a spool in my 83/4. Maybe cut my doors apart, Please share your weight reduction ideas and how significant the weight loss was, cause I have a long way to go..... goal is 3200 lbs or less.
 
Remove all undercoating and not needed parts.
Use aluminum or lighter parts where possible.
Shorten all bolts that have more than two threads
extra length.
Drill holes, lots of holes.
 
Race or street?

A/C, PS system, booster, heater-box,exhaust( it's surprising how heavy dual 3 inch pipes and dual Dynomaxers are), rear seat, Steel wheels(these are about 2X the equivalent in aluminums) , interior, factory buckets(heavy suckers), console,

400 pounds is a pretty big diet for a 75Dart. Coulda started with a Scamp; 3 inches less wheelbase.
 
There is a ton of weight in the rear bumper on the 73 and up A bodies. The factory bumper mounts and the huge steel bracket that is attached to it. That can all be taken out.
 
I have a 74 Duster, and just lost about 60 lbs by cutting up the gigantic inner brace on the rear bumper. I cut it so only the part where the 3 mounting bolts go in. I also took apart the bumper dampners and cut off the inner shaft and drained the fluid out of them. Doing that allowed me to get rid of the plastic filler panels around the rear bumper and push the bumper in a couple inches so it looks much better. I drilled and tapped some holes in the dampners to install bolts to keep in place.

A lot of people have gotten rid of the stock mounts and brackets and cusom made their own, or even fitted a '73 bumer and brackets, but I chose to keep it simple for now.

Door braces and window regulators are also a lot of weight, but you might want to keep the regulators.
 
Fiberglass hood, fenders, deck lid. Bumpers maybe, depends how far you want to go.
 
Ill tell you what I have done so far:
Fiberglas fenders
No A/C
Wiper motor windings are out. No wipers needed. ( just need motor for street class)
Front bumper hacked apart. Just saved the 3 bolts for the front frame bracket. Eliminated the shock absorbing bumper mounts completely . Need to do rear.
Kirky Aluminum front seats. Kept the rear seats for looks and driver compartment isolation. (rear seats weighed less than I thought they would)
Weld racing rims.
Fuel tank out. Fuel cell in trunk
Jerico 4 speed. At least 20-30 lbs lighter than any other trans
That's really about it so far. I'm sure there is about 60 lbs of bondoe and paint on it. Lol. But that kinda has to stay
Keep the tips coming. There all good ones and thanks
 
I think the mid 70's cars also had crash beams in the doors that added weight.
 
On my car I have removed the following items:

Rear seat
Heater
Radio, speakers, and wiring
Insulation under carpeting
Spare tire and jack
Rear armrests
Factory shoulder belts
Factory bucket seats
Hood hinges, latch mechanism, and latch tray
All wiper parts, including arms, linkages, pivots, motor, switch, etc.
Assorted "unnecessary" brackets and bolts

I replaced all of the front sheetmetal with fiberglass, including the bumper. Lightweight aluminum bumper brackets. Lightweight bucket seats with aluminum mounts. 15"x3 1/2" Center Line wheels on the front.

I also have lightened up some parts like the ashtray, glove box door, window cranks, other assorted parts.

My goal is to have a very light car while maintaining the illusion of a complete "legit" car.
 
I would like to find a second set of doors to chop up, and remove the regulators from. Lexan windows for the doors. I only cut up parts for my car if I have a nice replacement part. And as much as I want to, I have not cut anything on the body itself, because it's a numbers matching car in really nice shape.
 
Is there a replacement for stock front disk caliper that is aluminum?
 
Do you really need front brakes? :)

If you have the money then go to aluminum heads and any other aluminum engine component you can find. If I wanted to put my dart on a big diet I would focus on the front of the car as much as possible!
 
jcmmurray said:
Ill tell you what I have done so far:
Fiberglas fenders
No A/C
Wiper motor windings are out. No wipers needed. ( just need motor for street class)
Front bumper hacked apart. Just saved the 3 bolts for the front frame bracket. Eliminated the shock absorbing bumper mounts completely . Need to do rear.
Kirky Aluminum front seats. Kept the rear seats for looks and driver compartment isolation. (rear seats weighed less than I thought they would)
Weld racing rims.
Fuel tank out. Fuel cell in trunk
Jerico 4 speed. At least 20-30 lbs lighter than any other trans
That's really about it so far. I'm sure there is about 60 lbs of bondoe and paint on it. Lol. But that kinda has to stay
Keep the tips coming. There all good ones and thanks
Click to expand...

You're at 3500 after all of this? Or have you come up with a new weight?
 
The "chrome bumper" is a cover to the steel bumper behind it. Loose that heavy steel and the brackets that hold it all up when you do the fiberglass bumpers. A member here makes aluminum brackets to replace the super heavy factory units.

Under the carpet sound material? The carpet itself?
 
bobtile said:
Do you have sound deadener in it? I removed almost 40 lbs. Of dynamat!
Click to expand...

Bare metal. Took all the carpet, sound deadner, seat belts. All that is out. Your right. It was close to maybe more than 40 with the carpet
 
rumblefish360 said:
The "chrome bumper" is a cover to the steel bumper behind it. Loose that heavy steel and the brackets that hold it all up when you do the fiberglass bumpers. A member here makes aluminum brackets to replace the super heavy factory units.

Under the carpet sound material? The carpet itself?
Click to expand...

Bad Sport said:
You're at 3500 after all of this? Or have you come up with a new weight?
Click to expand...

Yup. I'm at 3500 after all of this. I've also added a 8 point roll bar, frame rail connectors, etc to the car. I forgot to mention I have manual steering in the car as well. This thing is a tank
 
300 lbs. to go.
It can be done the expensive way or the cheaper hard way.
Buy a lighter part to replace the heavier part your running now.
Or you could labor 300 lbs off the car with wrenches, scrapers cutoff wheels and drills.
Its when you do both that you end up with a light car.
 
I use felt for carpeting and also just glue it on the inside door edges after removeing door panels,quarter panels also.Easy,cheap,and simple to go back to stock.Over 30lbs.
 
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