The Elephant In The Room: unloading the load from a B-body.

[fullmetaljacket]

Here's a really bad picture of a little modification that was done to the ashtray door skin since there's no smokers on board.
It was a fun rainy Saturday project with some extra aluminum sheet hanging around.
The original door skin was 3.95 ounces when removed by carefully drilling out the factory compression rivets. The fabricated aluminum skin was 1.38 of an oz. Checked off 2.57 ounces right there and used the original inner smoke cavern with a few pop (aluminum) rivets to hold it all firmly together. No welding needed.
There's more.......... put your gloves on.

 

[Badvert65]

That is pretty cool. I hadn't thought of recovering the ashtray. I use my ashtray to hide switches for the fuel pump and electric fans. I had a glove box door from a Belvedere II, with the fancy shiny aluminum trim. I found out that the aluminum panel is actually used in place of the steel glove box door skin, making it a little lighter by about 13 ounces.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

That is pretty cool. I hadn't thought of recovering the ashtray. I use my ashtray to hide switches for the fuel pump and electric fans. I had a glove box door from a Belvedere II, the fancy shiny aluminum trim. I found out that the aluminum panel is actually used in place of the steel glove box door skin, making it a little lighter by about 13 ounces.

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That there is cooler than mine. I also have my fuel pump and electric fan switches underneath, but they are toggles and hidden and not as easily accessible as yours. I like that. 13 ounces is 3 ounces away from a pound. I'll take it.
Alright, you guys have your gloves on??????????????

 

[Badvert65]

That there is cooler than mine. I also have my fuel pump and electric fan switches underneath, but they are toggles and hidden and not as easily accessible as yours. I like that.
Alright, you guys have your gloves on??????????????

Thanks for the complement. I first did that on my 65 Sport Fury drag car as I liked the idea of keeping things stock and 'unassuming' then surprising people when it runs like hell.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Handle with kids gloves fellas. Who thinks about glove box doors. I mean, it's just there for the ride aside from concealing a few papers and bubble gum.
The original steel door weighed 3 Lbs stock.

Years ago I removed it and pretty much gutted it out on the backside while leaving the front face intact. This proceedure netted me a 1-1/4 Lbs savings by deleting 1-3/4 Lbs. The original door is attached below and one can see how the hinge braces were trimmed and then the ends were spot welded back onto the face's rear. A little body work to fix the little distortion from the heat and there it was, it was lighter. BUT WAIT, there's more.........................

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Years after that, it went even further with a little time and effort. Yeah, it's aluminum and it weighs in a little over 1/2 Lb.
The construction on the backside resembles the recent gutted steel door and the locking mechanism works flawlessly. Closing or opening it is like pushing a feather. So over 2-1/4 Lbs removed at the dashboard level. BUT WAIT! there's more................

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Here's a sh!++y picture of the whole enchilada, sealed, painted and ready to ride. Aluminum 2024 bolts and screws mount it to interior frame. It has the proper non glare flat black finish on the top side and then satin trim black on the rest.
It weighs 10-1/2 Lbs and a few ounces complete from a poultry 20-1/4 Lbs as a result of the diet. Note the aluminum ash and glove box doors. Inner cardboard glove compartment is STOCK, I promise.........BUT WAIT! There's more...........

 

[Badvert65]

Wow, 10 pounds difference. I am envious. And no obvious clues, GREAT job there.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Wow, 10 pounds difference. I am envious. And no obvious clues, GREAT job there.

Thank you Sir. there's more to this cat though. Think cast pot metal.... more of that to come if I find photos. But in the meanwhile while I was under there changing and trimming things, I've removed about a pound of access wiring and connectors alone. There's more......................

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Doesn't this remind y'all of a Iowa class WW2 battleship on the horizon. Perhaps the USS Missouri.

The picture was snatched from the web because pictures could not be found for the one in discussion. It's a surprisingly heavy piece of pot metal ( all 3 Lbs of it) hidden inside the bowels of the dashboards hull.
How to put it on a strict diet is up to the beholder, but aside from the usual removals of common items such as clocks, heater control bunker, etc, there is the pot metal chassis itself.
Careful hole sawing holes along the top and bottom side walls removed an astounding 1 pound of dead pot metal material.
There after, good quality duct tape was applied to cover the holes and then the inside of the bowl area was spray painted flat white to help mask the surgery, but to also help the light bulbs illuminate better and brighter. So actually when all the math was said and done, the dash frame in whole was relieved of 11-3/4 Lbs from its stock 22-1/4 Lbs. Trick.
There's another trick switch and bait that is planned, but it will take this Winter to materialize.

 

[Badvert65]

I have two spare instrument panel pot metal frames. I was going to cut and modify one of them to see how much could be removed and still look 'normal' from the outside. It does seem to be over engineered.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

I have two spare instrument panel pot metal frames. I was going to cut and modify one of them to see how much could be removed and still look 'normal' from the outside. It does seem to be over engineered.

They are a little over engineered. If there's a chance, I'll crawl underneath and flick a pic. IIRC, the heater bunker was hogged out to make way for one of the 2-1/4" autometer gauges. After all the hole sawing, the thing was still as strong as a battleship.

 

[Budnicks]

View attachment 1467960

 

[Budnicks]

I built a nice gauge panel for my 68 RR
never installed it
I did the same (except no angle pods) on another 68 RR I sold back in 2007
it wasn't really light, wasn't as heavy as the OE was either
actual gauges for everything & I spent like $700 2010-ish $$$s

Someday maybe, I changed the direction of the car midstream
I don't recommend doing that, gets expensive 2 x 3-3/8", 5 x 2-1/16"
Autometer Chrome bezel classics, full sweep mechanical or analog stuff,
LEDs for L/R blinkers, High Beams & couple OE warning lights, and different colors

 

[fullmetaljacket]

I built a nice gauge panel for my 68 RR
never installed it
I did the same (except no angle pods) on another 68 RR I sold back in 2007
it wasn't really light, wasn't as heavy as the OE was either
actual gauges for everything & I spent like $700 2010-ish $$$s

Someday maybe, I changed the direction of the car midstream
I don't recommend doing that, gets expensive 2 x 3-3/8", 5 x 2-1/16"
Autometer Chrome bezel classics, full sweep mechanical or analog stuff,
LEDs for L/R blinkers, High Beams & couple OE warning lights, and different colors

View attachment 1516968

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View attachment 1516973

I used the Autometer ultra light series gauges that were lighter than the standard series of gauges.

 

[33 IMP]

I used the Autometer ultra light series gauges that were lighter than the standard series of gauges.

Of COURSE you did!, lol!

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Of COURSE you did!, lol!

and the smallest ones too so as to fit in the factory port holes. LOL.
Only the 5" tach is the largest clock on the instrument panel. I send pics soon.

 

[dvw]

Since mine is a racecar the casting is eliminated. 1/8" aluminum now houses everything. And yes I added weight with a 5th gauge.
Doug

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Since mine is a racecar the casting is eliminated. 1/8" aluminum now houses everything. And yes I added weight with a 5th gauge.
Doug

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View attachment 1517295

Doug. Beautiful line up of the usual suspects.

 

[RemCharger]

I'm going to get **** on for this one. How to lighten, and unlighten a hood lol