frederic

I am restoring my '78 corvette. now that i am tking everything apart, I want to know what I can leave out in order to still get a confortable car. I want it as a daily driven car but with a sporty or even with a race feeling. I am going to put in an ls2 engine, with this I wil lose already some. anybody can give me some ideas?

BKarol

A few ideas in this thread.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...rb-weight.html

frederic

Thanks,
yeah, I am new here and I did not know there was already a toppic about losing weight

panic

There are some ideas here as well...

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...2-775-lbs.html

frederic

ok but that is really extreme, I do not want to go that far, it will take me too much money? But I got some more ideas now. I am going for an other suspesion and brakes. I will need them with this faster engine anyways. Any idea what they costs.
I will also take out the insulation materials, the heavy front and back bumpers, and put in an alu radiator.

panic

That's a good start, get rid of front and rear steel defences, fifth wheel and carrier, swap in new willwood lightweight calipers, rear composite spring and front transverse suspension. Alu radiator is a good idea if you're adding more power. Be sure the new engine has alu heads, headers and alu ancillaries/pumps. Swap in fixed lights, there is huge savings getting rid of the stock lights, you can get Eckler's.

With the above mods you're already down by at least 250 lbs, if not more.

aussiejohn

frederick,
Welcome to the Forum. Just remember, everything that was built into the car was put there for a purpose and it was made from the cheapest material possible that would do the job. Cast iron blocks, manifolds, water pumps, calipers, diff housing etc., can always be replaced with similar components made from aluminum, magnesium, plastic, carbon fibre, etc. Here is a simple formula to lessen the weight of your car:-

Lose a little weight = $$$$$

Lose more weight = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Lose a lot of weight = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Hope this works

Regards from Down Under

aussiejohn
7 months to go

L79racer

Were the wilwood calipers a bolt on swap? What was the part number? What did you use to support the nose of the car? Any pictures?

panic

Yep, the willwood calipers were a bolt on swap, forgot the part no. details/etc but i'll see if find the original invoice and will tell you.

I have an Ecklers one piece front end now, still working though on replacing every steel bit with an alu structure, like the rad support for example.

bruiser

Get some later model or race seats. They weigh at least half as much.

GrandSportC3

Here are a few ideas:

(1). Wheels
Stock wheels (steel) = 25lbs++ per wheel
Centerline Auto Drag, Convo Pro or Warrior wheels = 12.5 lbs/wheel.
That's a total of 50 lbs less rotating mass.

(2) Seats
Except for '78 Pace car or '80 - '82 seats, stock C3 seats have about 50 - 60 lbs each. Changing to '78 Pace car or '80 - '82 non power seats will save you at least 25 lbs/seat = 50 lbs savings. If you go with lightweight race seats, you will be saving 40 lbs/seat = 80 lbs savings

(3) Spare tire and carrier
A full weight spare tire (steel wheel and radial tire) weights about 50 lbs. The carrier is probably another 15 lbs

(4) Change Steel Spring to composite spring
That's about a 30+ lbs weight savings AND a better ride quality.

(5) Change Power windows (if you have them) to manual windows.. That'll save some weight too..

(6) If you have A/C, remove it.. There's about 30 lbs in A/C parts on a car

(7) Either remove the steel reinforcement in your doors or replace your doors with '68 or '69 doors as they don't have the steel reinforcement in them.. That's probably another 20 lbs or so.

(8) Tires
If you go with Bias-Ply tires (i.e. Mickey Thompson Sportsmen Tires), you'll save about 10 lbs/tire = 40 lbs weight savings. If you go with a narrower front wheel and tires, you can save an additional 20 lbs there

(9) Headlights
Replace your pop up headlights with a lightweight fixed light assembly.. That's about a 15 - 20 lbs weight saving.

(10) Brakes
Get lightweight Aerospace Brakes (Van Steel has those) front and rear and take another 70+ lbs off your car.

(11) Tubular or aluminum light weight a-arms

(12) Carbon Fiber or Aluminum Drive shaft and half shafts

(13) Aluminum Heads (if you have Iron heads now) (50 lbs saving)

(14) Aluminum Intake (if you have Iron Intake) (10 - 15 lbs saving)

Those are just a few ideas that reduce weight but won't hack up your car. It'll still look completely like a street car but will have a lot less weight.

69427

Drill out the parking brake pulley bolt. (When I hit a technical roadblock, I often just grab the drill and make holes while I'm trying to come up with a solution.)

69autoXr

Anyone know the weight of a power window motor?

panic

I didn't put them on the scale but i remember when i emptied the doors they were quite heavy and ridicously big...i'd say around 10 lbs each more or less.

69autoXr

Great! I am planning on switching to manual windows asap and was curious about approximately how much weight I'd lose.

Bee Jay

Hey, I need one of those round pulley thingamajigs for my e-brakes. Anybody got one? I traded my removeable trans mount crossmember for a tubular aftermarket one from Bowtie. I forget how much weight I saved. Check my signature for 100 lbs weight loss via my bumper mods. I also lost 44lbs by going to Wilwood brakes, and I just lost 35 lbs doing my batwing install. Has anyone removed the gaurd beams from the door? How hard is that?
Bee Jay

panic

I did and it's indeed a pain in that place, the steel bar is semi embedded into the fiberglass...

Van Steel

http://www.vansteel.com/index.cfm?fu...ps&Group=23009

elle88

on a 69 does it make sense to remove those arms at L and R supporting the L and R bolts of the front bumper?I think they are pretty heavy and ahead on the nose of the car.

I ask this because on my 69 , those arms are still there but the front bumper is held in place in the middle against a big metal plate and at L and R just to the fiberglass. so those 2 arms are there doing nothing ( actually I have a crack in the fiberglass at the R side where the bumper connects to the fiberglass , but because it's an old damage. I think I would have that crack anyway , even if the bumper is supported by those arms).
Does c3 68-72 race cars , where bumpers are usually removed , still those arms in place or removed?

L79racer

Thanks, Vinny