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Our light weight project SS.

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Old 05-26-2005, 09:53 PM
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Default Our light weight project SS.

My Brother and I have been working on a project 1998 SS. When we started it was a wrecked body only. We repaired it then stripped it down and installed a stock internal 2000 LS1 and 4L60E, added a BMR K-member. We weighed the car about a month ago and it weighed 2880 with out driver and gas gauge about on E. We decided to do more weight reduction so we did manual brakes, ABS delete, light weight fan, & removed passenger seat, even removed seam sealer. Then we started on the wiring harness. The stock interior harness weighed 20 lb 4oz. we removed 16 lbs from the interior harness. It now has 0 power options. We still have all the factory gauges working and all the exterior lights work. We then started on the under hood harness. The stock under hood harness and fuse boxes weighed 12 lb 8oz. We removed 8lb 8oz. basically done away with the under hood harness and fuse boxes except for wires for the lights. I then made my own fuse box to run the engine. Car should weigh a little under 2800lbs now. I doubt we can get down to Magnus weight but we should be able to get close.

Future light weight mods
Light weight brakes
Light weight battery
Light weight Hood
Electric water pump
PS delete

Here’s some pictures.





Old 05-26-2005, 10:52 PM
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Tin can racing

Looks like quite a project!
Old 05-26-2005, 10:56 PM
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Welcome to wheelie country.
Old 05-26-2005, 10:58 PM
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Get that thing a grant steering wheel.

Peace,
Josh
Old 05-26-2005, 11:56 PM
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Is Jenny Craig your new sponsor? Or is it Oprah?
Old 05-27-2005, 01:54 AM
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I have a very good friend, his name is 3" hole saw!
Old 05-27-2005, 06:29 AM
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Nice job.
Old 05-27-2005, 07:52 AM
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The interior has been reinstalled. Other than the rear seats and the passenger seat being gone you wouldn't know the car has been stripped from looking at the interior. It still has all the plastic trim, door panels, console, dash and Light weight carpet. We did take it to the track last week, our best run was an 11.53 @115mph.
Old 05-27-2005, 09:18 AM
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Parking brake? Come on!
Old 05-27-2005, 11:34 AM
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There's a ton more weight that you can pull too.. kirley seat, all the under car heat shields off, catback gonzo, rear phb brace bye bye, all kinds of stuff. That's a hell of a job with the wiring, I can't imagine what kind of time it must have took to redo the car like you did, but excellent work.

Sounds like a project that I wanna do myself, rahter tehn messing up the car I have now.. but I'll start with a v6 car, as I should be able to find one for dirt cheap, hell if the motor's blown... who cares... it's all going in the junk heap anyway
Old 05-27-2005, 11:36 AM
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Oh, a fiberglass dash would also help you in your quest too.... not too stock looking though.. but at the point that you are already at, who cares.
Old 05-27-2005, 11:41 AM
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Bumper supports, front and rear, all the excess metal that isn't doing anything now that the bumper supports are gone... there's alot left you can do... get a small 1 gallon fuel cell, stick it under the hood where the battery used to be, and junk the entire stock fuel system... no rule saying you can't do that, and if it's a track only car ( I assume it is ) then that would save you a butload of weight, esp. if your car is a 1998, as those had the metal gas tank, which weigh's alot more then teh newer plastic tanks.

I'll bet that you caould get that car under 2700 if you get real creative, and really go all out.
Old 05-27-2005, 11:49 AM
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Awesome!

Need me to drive it? LOL. I only weigh 165 and need to do my own "reduction" to 160. If your driver is a big guy, I could be worth an extra tenth or so.
Old 05-27-2005, 05:53 PM
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The Project started out with a 1998 SS Camaro with six speed trans with all power option & leather seats with factory SS hood and spoiler. We put it up on stands and began stripping it down removing everything from front to the rear. Nearly everything that listed in the Weight reduction list!!! has been done. The SS has been converted to manual windows and mirrors. Even the gas tank has been changed to the lighter plastic tank.

The Project SS currently has
stock internal 2000 LS1 with all bolt ons and 4L60E with TCI 4400 stall
true duals with x-pipe dumps in front of rearend
BMR k-member
BMR LCA
HAL front shock & springs
3.73 10 bolt rear
Weld wheels 15x4 front and 15x10 rear
Old 05-27-2005, 05:58 PM
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Originally Posted by Reckless
Parking brake? Come on!
That's going to be removed when we do light weight brakes.
Old 05-27-2005, 07:30 PM
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The fuel cell... I'd still think about a 1 gallon in the engine bay, the lines and the tank alone would probably save another 20 lbs or so.

get some pic's of the underside.. probably can find more weight to get rid of for ya!
Old 05-27-2005, 08:18 PM
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Which Welds are they? If they are the aluma-lites or magnum drags, that's cool. If not, there's plenty lighter than pro-stars or draglites.

Have you lobbed off all the extranious seat brackets, heat shields, hangers, etc?

You can swiss cheese the layers of inner fenders under the outers, as well as a lot of the interior pieces covered by plastic.

If you are going to put in something more than a stock motor, you might as well ditch the x-pipe for some header extensions with race mufflers.

Parking brake, strange brakes, steering wheel, a-arms, phr, torque arm, driveshaft, 'glass/CF- hood, doors?, rear hatch, bumpers?, speed glass, etc, etc.
Old 05-27-2005, 08:33 PM
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Originally Posted by JL ws-6
The fuel cell... I'd still think about a 1 gallon in the engine bay, the lines and the tank alone would probably save another 20 lbs or so.

get some pic's of the underside.. probably can find more weight to get rid of for ya!
1 gal fuel cell is a little more than we want to do. All shields, hangers, etc have been removed from under the car. I really don't think there is anything else we can remove from under the car.
Old 05-27-2005, 08:46 PM
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Originally Posted by RyanJ
Which Welds are they? If they are the aluma-lites or magnum drags, that's cool. If not, there's plenty lighter than pro-stars or draglites.

Have you lobbed off all the extranious seat brackets, heat shields, hangers, etc?

You can swiss cheese the layers of inner fenders under the outers, as well as a lot of the interior pieces covered by plastic.

If you are going to put in something more than a stock motor, you might as well ditch the x-pipe for some header extensions with race mufflers.

Parking brake, strange brakes, steering wheel, a-arms, phr, torque arm, driveshaft, 'glass/CF- hood, doors?, rear hatch, bumpers?, speed glass, etc, etc.
The wheels are drag lites.

All of the unused brackets have been cut out of the car. We plan on doing the parking brake delete, and strange front brakes. I called Strange today and they said they do not have rear brakes that will work on a 10 bolt. I was hoping they had some for a 10 bolt that we could later use on a 12 bolt when we upgrade. From what I've read the A arms are not worth it for the $$ spent.

Is an aftermarket torque lighter than a stock one?
Old 05-27-2005, 08:48 PM
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did you cut the frame mounts off where the bumper supports were? That kind of stuff is what the ultra light cars did to get to the weights that they are at... and the fiberglass hood, hatch, and dash would pull a bunch more.. and plexiglass for windows would also make a big difference.

Can you tell I've been thinking about doing a car like this for a while.. LOL


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