Jhim Posted November 6, 2006 Posted November 6, 2006 Hey Guys, I have a few questions about weight I’m hoping you can help me ballpark. The drivers of the car we’re building will be about 180 lbs so I’m shooting for a car weight of 2420 or less. I won’t have a set of scales for another couple of months so I’m trying to get as close as possible but am planning on adding ballast weight. So far I have dumped everything in the interior including all insulation (three hours of scraping with a heat gun), removed the glove box, heat and AC controls (box, evaporator, heater core), center console, AC condenser, AC lines, AC Compressor, headlight motor & bracket, useless wiring, wipers & motor and the car is a manual steering car so no PS Pump. I plan on running two seats. The car has two coats of paint on it now and I will be painting it again so figure 70# extra in paint over a stock paint job. The power window motors remain but I’m hoping to dump those as well (provided I can figure out a manual system) and install lexan door windows (I’m going to cut them myself). Where do you guys think I’m sitting currently with all of the appropriate safety equipment in place and where else can I pick up some additional weight loss? I only want to build this car once. I’m not a fan of removing bumpers, door bars, and other items that affect safety. Thanks for your help, Jeremy Quote
944-Spec#94 Posted November 6, 2006 Posted November 6, 2006 The chassis is an 83 right? That means it should be a little lighter to start with. My 84 chassis came in at 2587 with me in the car low fuel and 20 lbs of ballast. Oops So I added in 20 lbs more ballast. In my car I removed everything that did not make the car go. For me I pulled the headlights too since it will not be street driven. I have stock glass in the doors with pull strap system to pull the windows up. Norman actually pulls his stock windows out of the car for racing. I just lower mine. I still have most all my under coating and some of my heater system. The car also has a passenger's seat with rather solid mouting system. My advice is to ditch the pop-up lights and make them manual. Figure a way to raise & lower the lights manually, but ditch the motor & light bar. You already have less weight do to no powersteering so that is good. Late set of tube headers saves weight also. Interior if it un bolts pull it out. Leave the upper dash in place to have a more finished look. I would pull the entire heater system put put the box back in or fab up some way to force air to the windshield. In the rare case of rain it is nice to have air blowing on the inside of the glass. I have my blower motor still, but it has not worked in years. Some sort of electric issue. Also keep the wiper motor, but you can pull the pass side arm. I run with just the driver's side wiper and have great vision. You may want to keep the pass side for instructed DE in the rain however. If you have time drop by Firebird this weekend and check out the cars. We can point out alot more stuff we have removed to make weight. Quote
Tim Comeau Posted November 9, 2006 Posted November 9, 2006 Headlight motor = 5 lbs Headlight in bucket assy = 5 lbs per side Stock early cast iron headers = 20 lbs BUT THEY WILL NEVER CRACK! Stock 2nd and 3rd generation tubular headers = 7 lbs Check for cracks on the 2nd gen headers at the 1-4 junction, under the gusset. Window glass, scissor lifts, window lift motors = 15 lbs per side, 30 lbs total. I still don't know exactly where the extra weight in the chassis is, but the later cars seem to be heavier than the early ones. I stripped my 87 924S (early chassis) the same way as I have my 86 944, but the 944 is considerably heavier. Does anybody know of any factory literature covering chassis construction evolution in our cars? I have a bunch of other factory pubs to share or trade. Quote
PeanutinCA Posted November 9, 2006 Posted November 9, 2006 Sunroofs, not sure of only some (model years) or all, have bars in them. Can't remember the weight but it's over 5 pounds. From memory it 1 bar each 'door' side of the sunroof and then 2 bars (width is longer, they use 2 short bars to cover length) each front/rear end of the sunroof. "From memory". Quote
944-Spec#94 Posted November 9, 2006 Posted November 9, 2006 Jermey, Come out too Firebird this weekend and you can poke around my 944 and take notes as long as you want (except of course when I am on track). I have no secrets in car prep or build. Quote
Apex SPG.com Posted November 9, 2006 Posted November 9, 2006 Tim, I just finished stripping a '88 924s and have previously prepared a '83 944. Could it be that the front valence and rear spoiler are lighter on the 924? Quote
944-Spec#94 Posted November 9, 2006 Posted November 9, 2006 Tim, I just finished stripping a '88 924s and have previously prepared a '83 944. Could it be that the front valence and rear spoiler are lighter on the 924? on an 924S the rear spoiler = smaller = lighter. Same goes for front/rear fenders. Front valance vs spoiler well steel vs ployurethane. May be a wash. Of course in the end min class weight is the same. I think the issue hear is the 83-85 tubs (924S tubs as well) seem to lighter than the 85.5-88 tubs. Not sure why, but maybe they added extra metal to accomodate the 944 Turbo. I would think a bare 87 tub would work on 944 NA, 944S or 951. Clearly Vin's are different, but I think the structure is the same. Maybe that is what does it? Hard to say. Quote
Tim Comeau Posted November 16, 2006 Posted November 16, 2006 In the sunroofs(ves) here's what I've found. Early cars have 2 steel rods running transverse, late cars have 2 aluminum "angle iron"- shaped bars running the same way. I haven't seen any reinforcing on the sides of the sunroof. Quote
PeanutinCA Posted November 16, 2006 Posted November 16, 2006 My '88 and David's (Hirsch) '87 have the same 'amgleiron' bars on the side. And I looked at David's yesterday, it's 2 half bars front and back so it's 6 in total. Quote
Tim Comeau Posted November 17, 2006 Posted November 17, 2006 Yep. You're right. I see them now on an 86. 6 pieces total. How much do they weigh? Quote
PeanutinCA Posted November 17, 2006 Posted November 17, 2006 ahhhh, guessing from memory, 6-8 pounds? Quote
DavidH Posted November 17, 2006 Posted November 17, 2006 I have not pulled those parts, but I just removed my door bars (I have NASCAR bars on my cage, both sides) and they weigh 8-10 pounds total. When I pull the roof bars, I will weigh them (and my baggy of ganja) Quote
schwank Posted November 18, 2006 Posted November 18, 2006 6-8 lbs of the funky stuff will buy you a DAMN nice 944 spec car Quote
Packfill Posted November 18, 2006 Posted November 18, 2006 I am currently building an 86 for a POC customer... If it woul be of any help, I can post some pics as I go? The car is mostly stripped, and the cage is mostly in... will be cutting off all the excess brackets, etc today and making the sunroof and headlight cover brackets.... I can weight the sunroof brackets when they come off, but all this type of nonsense should come off a propery prepared car... just strip the car and look at it... if it isnt needed, cut it off..... Quote
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