Recommended Weight Reduction for GT's

fiberglass hoods are about 20-30 pounds lighter i believe.

you can also remove the battery, smog pump, ac, aluminum heads, k-member, arms, coilovers, just to name a few.

88SC_GT said:

fiberglass hoods are about 20-30 pounds lighter i believe.

you can also remove the battery, smog pump, ac, aluminum heads, k-member, arms, coilovers, just to name a few.

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only problem is you'll end up with a GT that sits 1 inch higher in the front after all that. Sucks, now i need to get some lowering springs

yeah, i just did a good majority of that list to mine and it sits higher.

im hoping going from my 306 to 331 and some other changes will add a bit more weight. otherwards i suppose ill have to get coilovers

i'm just gonna go with C springs since they give cars a raked look. Figure with my lil predicament the car should sit level

aluminum radiator and manual rack save some more weight in addition to above, as well as no back seat, jack or spare, no stereo.

ive done this to mine so far, what do you think its worth?

corbeau trs seats
rear bumper bracket delete
dogbone delete
foglights and bracket delete
no spare/tirejack
no rear seatback, belts, vinyl cover
no smog equipment
no ac
aluminum heads
fiberglass hood

some other misc things also i cant think of off my head. 88 gt hatch weighs around 3300 stock right?

subscribing to thread...I curious too b/c I have plans later next year for k-member, coil overs, a-arms, smog delete, fiberglass hood, rear U/L control arms, aluminum driveshaft, centerline wheels, and a TKO tranny to see how fast stock 225hp motor will go here. Then, eventually drop in a 408-418W.

Id pull all of the insulation from under the carpet. Fiberglass hood and hatch, aluminum front and rear bumpers. You can keep the fogs and loose the bracket by drinlling holes into your 5mph bumper .

Weight reduction!!! Something often overlooked is location and what part of the weight as well.

Rotational weight has probally the greatest effect. This includes the manual fan and fan clutch, pulleys, dampener, accesories, engine internals, flyweel trans intarnals, clutch, driveshaft, rear end internals, rotors, spindles, wheels, tires, I am sure I am forgetting something. This all has a huge effect. When you move an object, it doesn't matter if it's in a straight line or in a circle, whatever, it takes energy to move it a distance, no matter which direction.

Unsprung weight should get second priority. It's hard for the suspension to work when it is hauling around alot of mass.

Weight location - Of course our car's have a weight bias. It's really bad on a fox body. By transfering wieght to the rear such as in a battery relocation, you balance it out more. Try to reduce weight the most on the front, it helps weight transfer the most.

Then there is the bulk itself. SO much weight can be reduced. My newer philosipy: If it doesn't make it go faster, or nessasary to hold the car in one peice, then that makes it dead weight.

My weight reductions to date: (in progress)
Bumper core and bumper shocks
Air bag sensors and brackets
Fog lights and support bar
A/C, P/S, A/P, w/ all components
Pullies
Washer bottle
Cruise controll unit
sway bar
OMG I could go on and on because that is only the front 1/8th of the car, and that isn't everything!!!

Lets say you have identical engines making 300RWHP. One car comes in around 3300lbs giving it a 11:1 LBS to HP ratio, the other car comes in at 2800lbs, about 16% lighter giving it a (correction) 9.3:1 LBS to HP ratio. The 3300lbs car will need 348RWHP to tie up the 2800lbs car, but the lighter car will probally get off the line a lot harder due to not having such a bulky front end.

After busting my knuckles all night, I need to add a few things I deleted tonight. I never thought there was so much weight under the dash and in the carpet that can be removed.

I took apart the dash and center collum. OMG does the carpet with all that padding behind it carry some bulk. The HVAC system weights a good bit also, as well as took up a lot of room. That includes the heater core and A/C evaporator. The Dash frame isn't nessasary, the dash will hold up fine without it, I already put it back temparally and it's sits decently firm. There was another one of those mats in front to the passenger floorboard that is similar to the one under the back seat, reminds me of the lead jacket you have to wear when getting x-rayed. Some stuff behind the HVAC. Now I am going to get the heat gun and get all the sound deadening material off the firewall area and center collum. I am going to put in some race seats, and some lighter carpet in when it I am done. No stereo or HVAC systems. Who needs a stereo when you have full exaust on a built motor and a nice cam, and who needs HVAC when you have lots of power.