The Official Diet thread: Losing weight in your street Mustang

[Monkie]

Ok guys, I know alot of guys here want to lose weight in their car. So I figured we could all use this thread as a reference to look at to get some ideas on how to lose as much weight as possible and still drive around town comfortably. So far for my Cobra I have done these to shave weight off it.

Took out all the carpet/sides in the trunk so now all I have is metal trunk and wires. I will take a picture of it tomorrow. This was about 5lbs I would guess in all and it took me 10 mins to take it out and store it somewhere.

I also took off my tail pipes and put on turn downs. That shaved off a good 25lbs and it sounds better.

I installed a solid axle rear end that replaced my IRS rear. That was good for -150lbs I've heard.

My future weight loss mods are going to be the following...

Rear seats delete
2 front light weight racing seats
Tubular K member and A arms
Coilovers

Anyone else reply to this and give some info on how to shave weight off your car.

 

[Beau]

a/c delete


radio delete

pax airbag delete

 

[Roger_4.6_96]

You a hardcore racer or what ?

 

[Monkie]

You a hardcore racer or what ?

Well I'm turning the car into a road course car. So I'm going to lose as much weight possible but keep the car looking somewhat stock.

 

[HIGDON]

Front sway bar- like 25lbs- drag racers
Dyna-Bat
Fiberglass/CF hood-fenders
Spare tire/jack- should be out already
Aluminum D/S
ALUM. Rear control arms
Light weight wheels
Sound deadening material removal

 

[ADRENLN]

i was working on the same thing, but it always seems to average out. i do have a fiberglass hood, prob. saved about 15 pounds. i did the rear seat delete, and took out jack and spare. i havent removed the seatbelts yet in the back since there is no seat there, but i heard it was good for 5 lbs.

i got the light weight race wheels, but they got 265s and 275s so they actually ended up a little heavier.

i am still going to do the k member about 70 lbs.
aluminium d/s
and was contimplating removing the ac, but i dont know if i can handle that.

thats really about all i think unless you are really going to get serious, suck as new fenders and having to paint them.

 

[jadesville]

lose some weight too, you fatass

 

[HIGDON]

I also think that in the 94-98? Conv. there is a 25lb. "counter weight" in the pass. side wheel well.

 

[ADRENLN]

oh sorry, i forgot about race seats. i want them too but the ones i found that were cool looking and light were about 1600 bucks. one day i will get them if they save enough over stock. what do stockers weigh, anyone know?

 

[kj99]

Here's whats out of my car at the moment.

rear seat
Spare tire/ jack
carpet/board,sound deadening material
pass seat
dogbone on driveshaft

the sway bar is next along with A/D . There is basiclly nothing in my car except the drivers seat. ( I could take that out also)

 

[Blue 98 GT]

Hydrogen in the tires... Don't know how much weight that would free up. Hahahahaha.

On a serious note, reducing rotational weight is more valuable than reducing vehicle weight. This means that reducing 15 lbs. from the driveshaft and wheels will make the car much quicker than taking a 25lb. swaybar off. Also if you buy aftermarket axles, you can get the ones that have the cut-outs on the wheel end.

Areas to lower rotational weight:
*Aluminum flywheel
*Aluminum driveshaft
*15" aluminum wheels (my 15" mustang wheel with 275-50-15 drag radial weighs about 10 lbs less than my 17" in wheel with 275-40-17 street tire)
*Lighter, stronger axles
*5 speed transmission (or even 2 speed powerglide) vs. 6 speed. The 6 speed has that huge overdrive gear that must rotate along with the rest of the gears while you're racing! Also applies to t-45 vs. 3550/TKO- TKO has more rotational weight than a t-45 because of the heavy duty gears.
*smaller gears (larger numerically) have a smaller pinion gear
*spool vs. posi rear end. mini-spools weigh almost nothing compared to a limited slip.

Vehicle weight saving:
Less gas in tank!

 

[Joel's98GT]

http://users.adelphia.net/~mustang-92/Weight Reduction.htm

 

[2kyellowgt]

I weigh in at 3265 with a little more than a 1/4 tank of gas.
I removed/replaced
1. Rear seat delete
2. Lighweight racing front seats
3. Seatbelts
4. Front sway bar

I am looking to get to 3100 so I have alot to go. But remember every 100 lbs is a tenth in the quarter

 

[Caballo Salvaje]

Took out all the carpet/sides in the trunk so now all I have is metal trunk and wires. I will take a picture of it tomorrow. This was about 5lbs I would guess in all and it took me 10 mins to take it out and store it somewhere.

Did this increase your interior noise much? Ive considered this myself. thanks.

 

[8cyl]

KEEP THE TIRE AND JACK

Yeah it saves weight...but I just got my tire slashed and it's a good thing I still had mine in there!

 

[Monkie]

Did this increase your interior noise much? Ive considered this myself. thanks.

Haven't started the car up in over 6 days, so I don't know. I will let you know when I get done painting the inside of it.

 

[ponyguy]

paint is over rated, strip it off, that has to be 5 lbs or so.

 

[Monkie]

paint is over rated, strip it off, that has to be 5 lbs or so.

I thought about that, but then I thought about rust and losing car shows...

 

[2k2fourpointsix]

I don't know why you swapped out the IRS for a solid rear when you are building a road course car. The handling benefits of IRS far outweigh any weight savings over a solid rear. On a drag car I understand but for road racing?

 

[Monkie]

Well it was a drag racing car for a while. Any plus have you ever owned a Mustang with Ford's great IRS? If you did you would understand.