FURYIOUS lightening

30 hours on this door alone. A little over 10 pounds. 70 grams from trimming the thick shoulders on the upper hinge. I still need to lighten the bolts. The door brace was a bit over 7 pounds. 3138 pounds when it was last scaled in October 21.

Keep drilling cbodybob, hopefully you never hit oil! 440'

440Coronet500 said:

Keep drilling cbodybob, hopefully you never hit oil! 440'

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I did hit oil LOL

cbodybob said:

View attachment 1246594 30 hours on this door alone. A little over 10 pounds. 70 grams from trimming the thick shoulders on the upper hinge. I still need to lighten the bolts. The door brace was a bit over 7 pounds. 3138 pounds when it was last scaled in October 21. View attachment 1246592View attachment 1246593

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Hope you never wreck it. It will collapse around you like crumpled paper.

With a lighter door, the hinges don't need to be so 'hefty'. On my 65 Belvedere, the door hinges went from 6.2 lbs/pair to 3.4 lbs/pair including bolts. The pounds add up, look everywhere.
Elbow grease + saws = lightness.

Another place that is overlooked, cut off the dust shields from shock absorbers if they have them. I took them off my shocks, saved 1/2 pound per shock on the front and 1 1/2 pounds per shock on the rear, 4 pounds total.
Jus sayin......

Why not go they that hinge with a hole saw instead of all the little holes

wvmarv said:

Hope you never wreck it. It will collapse around you like crumpled paper.

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No

Bighouse said:

Why not go they that hinge with a hole saw instead of all the little holes

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I thought about that, but still would have needed to drill some small holes

Badvert65 said:

Another place that is overlooked, cut off the dust shields from shock absorbers if they have them. I took them off my shocks, saved 1/2 pound per shock on the front and 1 1/2 pounds per shock on the rear, 4 pounds total.
Jus sayin......

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My front shocks don’t have them but I think the rear does.

Badvert65 said:

With a lighter door, the hinges don't need to be so 'hefty'. On my 65 Belvedere, the door hinges went from 6.2 lbs/pair to 3.4 lbs/pair including bolts. The pounds add up, look everywhere.
Elbow grease + saws = lightness.

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This car left the factory at over 4000, it’s just over 3100 currently

3100 lbs is no small feat with the later cars. That is an amazing accomplishment.

Badvert65 said:

3100 lbs is no small feat with the later cars. That is an amazing accomplishment.

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Thank you. And that’s with a 10 pt cage & two drive shaft loops & a big block.

cbodybob said:

View attachment 1246594 30 hours on this door alone. A little over 10 pounds. 70 grams from trimming the thick shoulders on the upper hinge. I still need to lighten the bolts. The door brace was a bit over 7 pounds. 3138 pounds when it was last scaled in October 21. View attachment 1246592View attachment 1246593

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That is some serious weight reduction going on over there. Is that 3138 with the car in race form? A couple of months ago my hood hinges got similar treatment to your door hinges.

The hinges on my 65 Belvedere.

malex said:

—-
That is some serious weight reduction going on over there. Is that 3138 with the car in race form? A couple of months ago my hood hinges got similar treatment to your door hinges.
View attachment 1246723

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Yep that’s the scales at Galot Motorsports Park. Same one the Pro Mods roll across

Badvert65 said:

The hinges on my 65 Belvedere.
View attachment 1246808

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Nice

Uhhhh, Bob?
It almost feels like an intervention is needed here...
You're like a termite for metal.

No need for any hinges on a Glass lift off hood
& lift off trunk lid, dzues fastened

glass doors, alum pinned on hinges
(fully gutted steel at a min.)

glass bumpers & alum. brackets, alum bolts

Lexan, instead of glass all around

alum. or carbon-fiber driveshaft
alum center sections &/or cover etc.
drilled racing axles
all pricey, but will drop some good weight

get rid of the heavy k-member or cut the excess off
& reweld it at a min.
tubular control arms, K-member aren't a huge weight difference,
but every lil' bit helps & afford a bunch more room
for headers & oil pans
(take excess weight off the front of the car, aides in "real weight transfer")

lightweight aluminum or forged wheels even better
no steelies at all 'on any real racecar'
also can be pricey but well worth it getting rid of rotating mass
it will improve your ets/mph too

Hell it's already caged
gut the steel out of the car, floorplans, tubbs, tunnel, firewall
& replace with aluminum 40% of the weight in equal thickness
& welded in floor seat mounts, also 2x3" frame sections,
no more frame connectors & to get the stiffness back in

You can get rid of the "Heavy" leaf springs & go to coil overs & ladders
or 4 link, good adj. shocks
lots of fab time, not that expensive in the scheme of things
for how it works, if it is going to be a dedicated darg car/racecar
(you can get decent kits for something else & adapt it to your car
like Chassis Engineering or www.ChrisAltsonChassisworks.com etc.)

a good lightweight fuel cell, alum. fittings,
hard lines instead of hoses

seats are heavy, get a real racing seat

battery relocated in the pass side trunk
where it does you some good
it transfers that much weight to the rear, is like dbl'd value,
what you removed off the front/added to the rear

lightweight fasteners, where ever you can
all can add up in cost & weight too, you'd be surprised
what some hardware weighs

sounds like it's pretty well gutted already,
to be that light, with 'one of them tanks'

it's all about the power to weight ratio
a ton of it can be done in the garage at home in a couple of weekends
maybe quicker with some experienced help/ers
replace anything that's steel with aluminum
or fiberglass even where applicable

good luck have fun & go fast
how fast ?
depends on how much work & how much you want to spend ?
some of it is just sweat equity

moparedtn said:

Uhhhh, Bob?
It almost feels like an intervention is needed here...
You're like a termite for metal.

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Definitely should have been an intervention….30 years ago. 1992 to be exact LOL