removing excess weight?

Guys, after 9 years, I'm finally at the stage where I've gotten rid of all the ghosts in the closet I've had with this car since buying it.

First the electricals, then sagging suspension, then leaking saginaw, then leaking tranny, ohh, and then blowing up the engine, then more useable diff gears (was 4.11), then brakes which didn't brake, then rattles, then some rust. Changing the trunk floor was my last ghost.

This is about as good as it's going to get with mine.

good from 10 feet away...

(as long as you're squinting and the sun is in your eyes!)

Once I finish off this tail light led project, I'm looking at smarter ways to "improve the car", (I mean without the bank manager bitch-slapping me again), like removing excess weight whilst still keeping the "Henry" look. Is there any dead weight I can remove?

(other than the Mrs of course!)

What about nitrogen in the tyres? what's all that about? does it work?

They charge about $10-15 bucks per tyre here.

Or is it just because they know Aussies will fall for anything?

cheers to all... and to those going through the process, I do feel your pain brother...

The theory behind the nitrogen is it will not lose pressure like regular air will. If your running a 4 speed I have an aluminum bell housing.

Weight reduction is an aid to performance, but the cost in terms of comfort is very high.

Among the many things that are done to reduce overall weight are to go to aluminum heads and intake manifold and the new lighter aluminum carbs, go to headers in place of stock exhausts. You can remove power steering, remove AC, remove radio and speakers remove all sound deadening and insulation under the carpets and behind the inner panels, take a hole saw and swiss cheese all non exposed inner panels that will be covered to remove a little more weight. Lighten frame and supports where you can in the same manner, shave off any unused brackets such as tie downs. Remove springs from inside seats that aren't used regularly, remove all unused wiring. Use an aluminum bell housing, and aluminum flywheel(if running a manual), replace differential center section with aluminum, have gears undercut to lighten them, if running a C-6 get a C-4 if running a toploader, rebuild it with an aluminum case, go to aluminum driveshaft, gun drill rear axles, go to lighter wheels and tires, cut tailpipes for side exit, use lightest mufflers possible, acid dip brackets and body panels to thin the metal, repaint with minimum amount of paint to obtain coverage, scrape off undercoating, replace windows with lexan, replace roll up mechanisms with nylon straps and snaps, replace plastic interior with thin aluminum panels, ditch the fold down rear seat if you have one-hell ditch the entire rear seat either way. Drop the gas tank, go to a smaller fuel cell, replace rear leaf springs with fiberglass springs,

Most of these are not worth the trouble, and most don't save a lot of weight individually. I bet the whole list doesn't save you more than 450 pounds, which is a bunch on the race track and not so much on the street. Even worse most of these modifications reduce weight over the rear axle, where the car is already light.

the practical ones in my point of view are

replace rear leaf springs with fiberglass springs and go to an aluminum driveshaft. Not only do you reduce weight, you reduce it where it makes the biggest difference, in reciprocating mass and in sprung weight.

Aluminum heads and intake-expensive but big gains up front

Aluminum radiator better cooling but only minor weight savings

Use an aluminum bell housing probably saves you 15 pounds, but in the scheme of lightening that is a big savings

so for about 2500 in parts plus labor you could save 150 pounds or so. It isn't worth it. When replacing things on the list choose the lighter options if they offer equal or superior utility at a comparable cost. Otherwise enjoy the car as it is, you give up way too much comfort in a street car to do very much actual lightening.


oh yeah, anti sway bars are dead weight you can remove too if you really want to live without them.

What are your intended goals for the car. A fun weekend cruiser or driver / road car would have different requirements than a track / drag car. For me refining the suspension with shocks, sway bars, tires, wheels and alignment would enhance the fun of driving the car. Of course that's just my opinion.

oh yeah, anti sway bars are dead weight you can remove too if you really want to live without them. Fiberglass hoods without springs save close to a hundred pounds, ditch those hood locks, they are dead weight. Fiberglass fenders save about 20 pounds a side, what do you need dual horns for? get an ultra light battery and a modern light weight gear drive starter

a modern light weight gear drive starter is my only serious addition to the list of practical weight saving measures

BTW I looked at your car. . . I wouldn't change a thing

I've got aluminum intake manifold, bell housing, newer aluminum front/rear calipers.

Hadn't even heard of fibreglass leafs!

I think tailshaft and heads are the go for me if Santa is listening...

thank you for your wisdom!

Both "Jeffs" hit this one out of the park!

The key REALLY is your intended usage for your Mustang, Jim. For the most part, building any car is about "compromises", unless you are putting an awful lot of money into it.

It has been drummed into me over the years by some very "smart" folks that one has to be BRUTALLY honest relative to what they want from their car MOST of the time. It is nice to have a 9-second car to "bust bubbles" sometime but such a car is usually not very tractable "on the street." That is why I am putting together TWO~!

BT

The cheapest way to lose weight in the car is to stop eating Pizza and stop drinking beer to lose a few pounds! ::beer::

The cheapest way to lose weight in the car is to stop eating Pizza and stop drinking beer to lose a few pounds! ::beer::

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On the other hand weight makes the car more stable...at least that's what I tell myself as I indulge in pizza and beer. Actually I recently added about 60lbs to mine by putting in sound deading material and I enjoy the car much more on those long cruises.

Jim

as I pop chocolate in my mouth for my mid morning snack lol!

Actually personal weight loss is far easier than shaving the last few pounds off of a car.

Keep in mind that the weight is not the only issue Center of gravity and contact patch under motion are really big issues. Many of the weight reduction items are very low on the car and will raise the center of gravity a little bit.

Here is my practical list of mods that I believe are worthwhile for a streetable car without too much in the way of compromises

Smaller gear reduction starter (15+ pound savings off the front end and better starting all for under 200 bucks!)

fiberglass leaf springs (Cost about 350.00 weight savings vs 5 leaf springs of the same rate . . . 90+ pounds)

aluminum driveshaft ($350.00, reduced reciprocating mass, better harmonics and reduced vibrations in some applications)

Aluminum intake (cost varies, weight savings of appx 20 pounds)

Aluminum heads (Big weight savings on a Cleveland, but they do have their drawbacks. A pair will cost over $1000.00 ready to go and will save appx 80 pounds off the engine.)

Aluminum water pump (150.00 higher flow, for better cooling, good looks, less than 10 pounds weight saving)

Aluminum pulleys Total weigh savings is fairly low, but a pound or two and with underdrive, you can save some horsepower (assuming you have adequate cooling)

The following really are very minimal savings, but have their own benefits.

Aluminum radiator

Aluminum calipers

disc brake conversion of the rear axles as opposed to the drums (it is a very minor weight savings but has other benefits)

additionally I would look at tire and wheel weight when selecting replacements, but I would still choose quality over light weight here.

At no point will I suggest gutting doors or removing anything that compromises the integrity of the passenger compartment.

The absolutely best place to remove weight from any car is right down the middle of the car in the rotating assembly. Crank,rods, clutch, flywheel, driveshaft, etc. The less power it takes to spin the driveline the more power available to move the car. Go from an automatic (approx. 70 hp) to a manual (approx 10 hp) transmission and get a big (approx 60 hp) boost in power.

The absolutely best place to remove weight from any car is right down the middle of the car in the rotating assembly. Crank,rods, clutch, flywheel, driveshaft, etc. The less power it takes to spin the driveline the more power available to move the car. Go from an automatic (approx. 70 hp) to a manual (approx 10 hp) transmission and get a big (approx 60 hp) boost in power.

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Amen To that!

So in a nutshell, the general consensus is if we want a better power to weight ratio, then the best bang for buck is to concentrate on increasing power rather than finding elaborate ways to decrease weight. It makes perfect sense to me now.

One of the things I like about this generation of car is that is is considerably wider and just a little longer wheelbase than all the prior mustangs. Because Trans Am racing sort of died out, these cars were never prepped and tuned by racers. If you were to dedicate a race preparation program to one comparable to what was done with 69 and 70 Boss 302 cars, they would have been very competitive. (even though the 1970 Camaro chassis was in fact a very, very good handling chassis) the "Shelby drop" isn't necessary on our cars,it is designed in. The power steering boxes are much improved (BTW did you know that the saginaw steering boxes on these are internally the same as the same generation Corvette and most parts swap to make a better ratio box for our cars) and the engine compartments and ram air set up really were great for stuffing huge engines into.

I like my car for what it is, I like making it what is in my mind the best of what I see it as being. I don't want a 'pony car" I want muscle, and I don't always want finesse, I want tail wagging, tire smoking, exhaust wailing acceleration that is so obnoxious that anyone witnessing just has to shake their head and wonder.

Figure out what you want your car to be and your answers will become obvious.

one thing i did was, replace those super heavy stock seats with some kirkey seats.

i move around my oem seats in the shed at times and they are super heavy. my new kirkey seats are only like 5lbs each.

one nice addition is moving the battery to the trunk. move that 30lbs off the nose and move it to the rear will shift a 60lbs swing in weight dist.

Now I know why we're not liked by the others. I'm suspecting most of us are just petrol heads at heart who just want to have some exhilirating fun with our toys. What's wrong with that? Anyway, you know what they say: If you haven't grown up by the time you're 50, then you don't have to. Long live the mighty clevo.

If you haven't grown up by the time you're 50, then you don't have to.

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WOW is that GREAT news! Not sure the wife will buy into it though.

"I like my car for what it is, I like making it what is in my mind the best of what I see it as being. I don't want a 'pony car" I want muscle, and I don't always want finesse, I want tail wagging, tire smoking, exhaust wailing acceleration that is so obnoxious that anyone witnessing just has to shake their head and wonder."

HA! HA! Well said, Jeff.

Now I know why we're not liked by the others. I'm suspecting most of us are just petrol heads at heart who just want to have some exhilirating fun with our toys. What's wrong with that? Anyway, you know what they say: If you haven't grown up by the time you're 50, then you don't have to. Long live the mighty clevo.

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When I turned 50 almost 4 years ago I just had to kick the theory to a higher gear. Remember: " You never know how fast you can go until you crash or the wife punches you!"