Getting weight out of our cars for racing UPDATED FINAL WEIGHT page 3

[joelster]

Has anyone got any significant weight out? I did long tube headers and saved 18lbs total. Also removed the washer bottle and a few extra bolts. I figure my car is probably around 3770-ish.

1. I'm looking into getting some seats, like Kirkeys. Curious if anyone has tricks as to how to mount them to the factory brackets.

2. Lightweight battery, I already purchased a Deka but haven't mounted it yet. Probably drop 20lbs right there.

3. Steering wheel? Any ideas there?

4. Rear seats and belts? I thought the Z/28's came with lighter rear seats?

5. I looked into the 5th gen drag racing area but those guys just gut the shit out of their cars and remove everything. I need the chassis stiff.

[Rons1le]

Here is one of the newer threads on car weights..

1LE - stripping weight (list/comparison)
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/top...ink_source=app


1LE - stripping weight (list/comparison)

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[olblue75]

The rear seat seat belt bar is a structural part if you remove need to make something to replace it.

[2SSRS@Gen5diy]

Replacing front and rear crash bars will save you 18 lb, but what are you trying to do, if you think your going to get to a 3200 lb car, sale it now and start with a car that's only 3220 lb, this car is not going to make it down that low.

[Biergut]

Originally Posted by 2SSRS@Gen5diy

Replacing front and rear crash bars will save you 18 lb, but what are you trying to do, if you think your going to get to a 3200 lb car, sale it now and start with a car that's only 3220 lb, this car is not going to make it down that low.

I think it could be close with a "herculean" effort, but you wouldn't have a Z/28 any longer, but rather a hollowed out track rat that wouldn't be eligible for any sectioning race body AND would lack some very important race car safety bits and pieces. (The link from above showed it theoretically can be done)

There are SO MANY other cars to start with to achieve the goal... namely a C5 FRC with a built LSx engine plus all other racy bits if you wanted to remain with a Chevy product. (plus you'd certainly have killed any intrinsic value the limited production Z/28 has)

IMHO -- go buy a properly sorted race car.

[APR_ZL1]

Building track cars is fun! A forum member Russ got a z28 under 3400lbs. I think his thread is labeled with SP2.

[pat_t]

Originally Posted by joelster

Has anyone got any significant weight out?

Have you read my project thread? I've done quite a lot: Sparco seats, crash bar mods, fibreglass front fenders, fibreglass bumper, remove plastic engine covers, remove coil brackets and get Holley valve covers which mount the coils directly (and lower for better CoG), remove all trim from the trunk, lightened hood and trunk hinges, carbon steering wheel, remove airbags, remove sunvisors, remove OnStar shark fin from roof, American racing headers, lighten dry sump tank brackets, Moreno V2 Camber plates are lighter than OEM top mounts, Titanium and aluminium fasteners wherever I can, Anderson Composites carbon radiator cover, Pfadt lightweight rear suspension arms (kept the Z28 bushes), braided brake lines (lighter and better than OEM rubber ones).

I still have a Lithium Ion battery on my to-do list.

I haven't weighed my car but I think it's about 3530 lbs based on what I weighed that I've added and removed. I'll try to weigh it soon.

[pat_t]

Originally Posted by BuckeyeROC

Does the Sparco seat provide more headroom than stock? If so, how much more?

Yep, I would estimate maybe as much as 4 inches if you do what I've done and remove the sliding subframe. So my driver's seat is fixed to get me as low as possible in the car, seat mounted on side mounts.

Passenger seat is a couple of inches higher as I retained the factory sliding subframe as I take various different passengers and it still allows access to the rear seats for little people!

Pretty sure I did a full explanation with pics in my thread. Here's a few anyway:

[2SSRS@Gen5diy]

Originally Posted by pat_t

Have you read my project thread? I've done quite a lot: Sparco seats, crash bar mods, fibreglass front fenders, fibreglass bumper, remove plastic engine covers, remove coil brackets and get Holley valve covers which mount the coils directly (and lower for better CoG), remove all trim from the trunk, lightened hood and trunk hinges, carbon steering wheel, remove airbags, remove sunvisors, remove OnStar shark fin from roof, American racing headers, lighten dry sump tank brackets, Moreno V2 Camber plates are lighter than OEM top mounts, Titanium and aluminium fasteners wherever I can, Anderson Composites carbon radiator cover, Pfadt lightweight rear suspension arms (kept the Z28 bushes), braided brake lines (lighter and better than OEM rubber ones).

I still have a Lithium Ion battery on my to-do list.

I haven't weighed my car but I think it's about 3530 lbs based on what I weighed that I've added and removed. I'll try to weigh it soon.

Can't wait to see what it comes back at.
I think your at 3660.

[AustexaSS]

Originally Posted by joelster

Has anyone got any significant weight out? I did long tube headers and saved 18lbs total. Also removed the washer bottle and a few extra bolts. I figure my car is probably around 3770-ish.

1. I'm looking into getting some seats, like Kirkeys. Curious if anyone has tricks as to how to mount them to the factory brackets.

2. Lightweight battery, I already purchased a Deka but haven't mounted it yet. Probably drop 20lbs right there.

3. Steering wheel? Any ideas there?

4. Rear seats and belts? I thought the Z/28's came with lighter rear seats?

5. I looked into the 5th gen drag racing area but those guys just gut the shit out of their cars and remove everything. I need the chassis stiff.

For item #01:

https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showt...&highlight=Omp

[Biergut]

Originally Posted by AustexaSS

For item #01:

https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showt...&highlight=Omp

I can attest to how well this works! AustexaSS has it worked out! Gained a couple of inches when I installed a Sparco seat following his directions precisely.

[ariZona28]

You'll probably drop a few pounds by chiseling away at this and that but you've got to accept that these are just heavy cars by design. Probably easier to add HP than lose significant weight. If you're serious about advancing in this hobby via weight loss it may be time to change vehicles. Just for example C6 Z06s weigh less than 3200 lbs and still have that wonderful LS7.

[joelster]

Thank you for all the replies! I realize it’s a heavy car and my end goal is not to get it down to 3200 lol. That’s ridiculous! I’d like to get it down in the 3500 range though. I really think that is acceptable without a ton of effort. I had no idea that there were companies that made lighter suspension stuff like those pfadt arms. The class I race in has a minimum weight of 3300.

[joelster]

Just for a quick update I went and got a Deka battery and made a custom bracket for the install. It saved roughly 23-25lbs total. But this battery absolutely does NOT like to crank the car over when it’s hot. After the car has sat for a bit it’s fine. But doing 3 runs in autocross and shutting the car off each time it gets harder and harder to start. I usually leave it running now just to avoid having to bring my jump box up to the grid. Has anyone else had any issues?