tricks to a lighter car
 

i have a 95gt with all the goodies, now all i need is to make it somewhat lightweight, but at the same time i want to keep the stock appearance, just wondering what kind of little things i could do to drop a couple pounds.
ALREADY REMOVED
SPARE
EGR(AIR PUMP+ACCESSORIES)
ALL VACUUM LINES AND CANS IN FENDER

let me know what kind of little things you guys do to drop a little weight
thanks

Use the bathroom ;) Jk, well try a trunkmount battery if you already havent for disposition and a light battery. If you wanna go crazy also jack your back and passanger seats out.

1. Half inch drill

2. Half inch drill bit

3. Two cases beer

Drink beer, use drill till happy.

1. fiberglass hood and hatch, stock hight for sleeper
2. remove tar paper under carpet throughout entire car
3. remove all emissions stuff
4. alum. drive shaft
5. alum rear control arms ( steeda's are fine as it gets)
6. tubular k member
7. tubular control arms
8. coil over front kit
9. remove vibration damper from rear end housing
10. remove bumpers, or use alum mounts
11. composite valve covers
12. drag lite rims, skinnys up front
13. alum seats with covers
14. remove quad shocks and brackets
15. light weight starter
16. alum radiator
17. alum heads
18. a diet for the driver, I need too, 190#
there's more I lost on it though

88 work car got this right from top to bottom.

I like carbon hoods, doors, fenders, trunk lids. Lighter than aluminum or fiberglass and better for bodyworking and resisting warpage over time.

You need to know your rule book.

If you plan to autocross, road race, or drag, there are very specific weights and methodology that you must follow.

Look at my fender flairs on my street rod in my avatar. These put me in an "unlimited" class for slalom racing. Then I had to go against super charged and turbo charged engines, and against frankenstein cars that had space frames and optimized geometries. So I went from winning a bunch of races, to being down at the bottom of the pack. Geoffrey Brabham passed me in his Sprite powered by Mazda Rotary engine like I was standing completely still.

I built and ran a 500 horsepower Cleveland engine just to be competitive, and can you imagine what those headers in an early mustang looked like? It was not a pretty sight.

KNOW YOUR RULES for the class where you want to compete.

Hehe, for some reason that is pretty true. Mystically my 87 has a cheeseholed to heck under its hood. Meaning the whole engine area. We also dont know why, or why the thing is grounded to heck. I'll see if I can get some pics up.

I THINK IM RUNNING OUT OF THINGS TO DO

THINGS I ALREADY DID

trunk mount battery
fiberglass hood
aluminum heads/valve covers
aluminum driveshaft
aluminum upper and lower control arms
removed quad shocks and brackets
removed spare tire and jack
all trunk panels
back seat/brackets
all canisters inside the fenders
fuel cell
removed weight from rearend
IM ONLY 20 AND 160LBS SO MY WEIGHT ISNT A PROB

ordered tubular k member/a-arms/coilovers

thinking about removing front bumper(behind cover)
also rear bumper, dont know if its a good idea though.

JIM HOWARD
i dont race in any class, i go to street car races at the track and sometimes on the street ;)

Fiberglass trunk lid
Alum fly wheel
light starter
lexan front and rear glass replacement
light weight brackets for alt
remove all power steering parts
coil over kit
secound skin on inside of car (rear section)
manual brakes, and lightweight calipers
a chrome moly cage

I hope all this helps, what is your current weight

Dont forget to throw the fat chick out of the car before ya race.....hehe

Remove all unused wiring and etc. from the factory harnesses...

or do it the easy, Painless, way ;) Spaghetti Menders also sells a complete harness setup that is lighter and more efficient... for around $1500, so I'm told. Just tell them what accessories you use and they make you a custom harness.

I'm doing it the hard way, and have the entire interior stripped out of my car, again, going through all of the wiring... should be done in a couple months, lol. It's crazy how many wires are routed through our 'stangs that aren't even being used for anything...

....another thing, remove the heater core and all related components, ducting, etc.

....swap from an airbag to a tilt column if you have, what, a 90-93... I have an 89 tilt for my 93. Quite a few wires routed through the car just for the airbag setup too.

Not a real 'fun' way of lightening your car, but it's a necessary evil (wiring). And you're not going to lose a substantial amount either, obviously. Makes for a sanitary engine compartment and under dash area, that's for sure!

88 work car: i have no idea what my current weight is, all i know is that it could be lighter

I don't remember if I saw anything about removing gas tank for a little 8 gal fuel cell.

Drop front sway bar. and again trim fingernails, toenails, get haircut, shave, clean colon, and don't eat that week you plan on racing duh!:p