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Weight saving tips?

1762 Views 12 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  fin1
Seeing as some cars on the road can outpower the 05 GT due to the mustangs weight, I was thinking of maybe throwing on some carbon fiber on the hood or trying to strip some weight in other places....do you guys think it's worth it? I know every little bit helps.

I'm starting to ponder the thought of a S/Cer and SCT2 down the road, but I don't want to tinker with that until it's out of warranty.
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Wheels come to mind. Thinking some forged wheels will come out much lighter over the stocks. Admittedly, I don't know what the stocks weigh but I doubt that weight savings was a factor there from the factory. Could be wrong. This will also have the added benefit of better handling d/t the lower unsprung weight.


I think your idea of CF body parts will definitely take away weight but that can get co$tly.
I'd suggest a high fiber, low carb diet, and lots of exercise. Now, about the car...:smoke:

The hood is composite (read that: plastic), so you won't save a ton of weight there. You could do a carbon trunk lid (when somebody makes it), but I'd worry about screwing up the front-rear weight balance, and weight transfer on launch. Lighter weight weels are a good start, but don't go big - they weigh more. The most common weight loss is to gut the interior and lose the A/C, power windows, etc....

My personal opinion is for a street car, it is usually better to increase horsepower than decrease weight. On the other hand, if it's a dedicated racer, gut it! Nuthin says fast like sheetmetal floorboards and one seat!:laughlitt
Actually the hood is aluminum from the factory, I think you could better spending the money on some go fast parts that won't hurt your warranty, lot's more bang for the buck so to speak:wavey
ultraclyde said:
I'd suggest a high fiber, low carb diet, and lots of exercise. Now, about the car...:smoke:

The hood is composite (read that: plastic), so you won't save a ton of weight there. You could do a carbon trunk lid (when somebody makes it), but I'd worry about screwing up the front-rear weight balance, and weight transfer on launch. Lighter weight weels are a good start, but don't go big - they weigh more. The most common weight loss is to gut the interior and lose the A/C, power windows, etc....

My personal opinion is for a street car, it is usually better to increase horsepower than decrease weight. On the other hand, if it's a dedicated racer, gut it! Nuthin says fast like sheetmetal floorboards and one seat!:laughlitt
HAHAHA NICE! Any suggestions on some lighter wheels? Also, I was thinking about a CAI instead of the charger for now.
I think your really stretching it here, you would have to loose an awful lot of weight to gain anything. Turbocharge!
Increasing HP and cutting weight are both good ideas. I don't have the cash for a supercharger and with only 1/8th mile racing available locally it wouldn't pay off anyway. I'm eyeballing Nitrous to go with my CAI and Predator retune and some of the suspension and weight saving things here - http://www.bmrfabrication.com/The front sway bar delete and carbon fiber drive shaft look promising. Throw in a rear seat delete and the pony picks up ground on the competition.
Tastyone - I thought so too. i think I read that in a mag somewhere, but after hitting a deer, I had a long discussion with the body guy about it. He swears it's composite, and after much knocking and looking, I think I agree.Anybody cut a hole in one for the Shaker hood scoop? Is it aluminum or plastic? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Ont he original topic - check the steeda lightweight rims.
I drilled it to install my struts and hood scoop. It's definitely aluminum.
General rule of thumb is that every 100lbs you shave will gain you a tenth in the quarter mile.

That being said, I've seen some folks post about how they are getting into the 12's without doing much (tune, gears, stuff like that). Taking that as a reasonable goal, and assuming you are currently running mid-13's, I don't know if trying to find 500-600lbs of stuff to yank out of the vehicle would leave you with a car you'd be happy with for regular street driving. Just a thought!
Stoopy said:
General rule of thumb is that every 100lbs you shave will gain you a tenth in the quarter mile.

That being said, I've seen some folks post about how they are getting into the 12's without doing much (tune, gears, stuff like that). Taking that as a reasonable goal, and assuming you are currently running mid-13's, I don't know if trying to find 500-600lbs of stuff to yank out of the vehicle would leave you with a car you'd be happy with for regular street driving. Just a thought!
Yeah I hear ya. I can only think of maybe 50-60 pounds of stuff that I could do without it getting on my nerves for my daily driving. I think I'll just look towards engine mods like the CAI.

BTW, if you get a SCT2 tuner does that mean you have to tune it for premium gas, or can u still tune it and use regular?
G
CAI with matched Tune for 92 octane

3.73 (auto)/ 4.10 (stick) gear change

Underpullies

16" V6 rims or lightweight 15" Bogarts (mod work to rears involved)

Long Tube Headers with X-pipe

Charge Motion Deletes

Rear Seat Delete kit

That will put you at mid 12 second 1/4 mile with proper 'ET drags' or 'ET streets' rubber for a very low cost considering what you gain.
From there you could go with Lightweight front racing seats, fiberglass front end (hood is definitely Aluminum), and if all else fails to get you your goal time...

Supercharge to 400+rwhp for $6000 - $7000 installed.

Now you're into the 11's, better get that roll cage next...
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My recommendation:
Get the additional power to the wheels first (s/c, turbo, cia, tune). Get some drag radials since the street tires are crap @ the track for serious 0-60 foot times. Then do some runs and see what you put down. Worry about weight later (if at all), since as stated above you will have to go on a serious diet to shave noticeable time. The simple things for now are to remove the spare tire & jack and run with 1/4 tank of gas. You could even remove the back seat but it does not weigh much.
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