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Old Jan 18, 2007 | 09:50 PM
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Question weight reduction-worth it?

my friend just started doing some weight reduction to his trans am and he said he lost around 200 lbs so far how much would this improve him in the 1/4 if he was consistent?

so thinking of trying to do some weight reduction to my SS what would be some good things to get rid of or change to get the weight down? is it worth it or not?
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Old Jan 18, 2007 | 09:59 PM
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Unless its alot (i.e.500lb+) i would say not worth it for a DD but if its a race car go for it..good way to tell put about 200lb of weight or a friend in you car and make a pass see how much you loose.
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Old Jan 18, 2007 | 10:06 PM
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i heard but not sure every 100 lbs lost is .1 off your time. also heard that when doing weight reduction reducing weight of parts that move has a considerable change oppose to like seats and inner fenders. parst that move would be leighter wheels, driveshaft axels.
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Old Jan 18, 2007 | 10:07 PM
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Originally Posted by CaMaRo67RS355
my friend just started doing some weight reduction to his trans am and he said he lost around 200 lbs so far how much would this improve him in the 1/4 if he was consistent?

so thinking of trying to do some weight reduction to my SS what would be some good things to get rid of or change to get the weight down? is it worth it or not?
the lighter you get the bigger a deal it becomes. If you are talking about 50lbs in 3800lb car well it might be worth 0.01 maybe but if its 50lbs in a 2000lb car its huge.
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Old Jan 18, 2007 | 10:12 PM
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see my friend changed his seats out, took out the rear seats, spare tire & jack, t-tops holders, air condition, and now he just ordered a carbon fiber driveshaft... it just doesnt seem like he's gaining alot through doing that to me...
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Old Jan 18, 2007 | 10:21 PM
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Weight is always good to get rid of, but it can become impractical for a DD (you gotta have seats, spare tire, jack, large fuel tank, stereo, accessories, ect.). For a race car, obviously strip it down as much as possible.
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Old Jan 18, 2007 | 10:22 PM
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Originally Posted by CaMaRo67RS355
see my friend changed his seats out, took out the rear seats, spare tire & jack, t-tops holders, air condition, and now he just ordered a carbon fiber driveshaft... it just doesnt seem like he's gaining alot through doing that to me...
here is the laymans ruile of thumb i have observed. Your observations may vary. a light fast car will be more wieght sensitive then a heavy fast car.

2 car both run 9.00 one wieghs 3800lbs the other wieghs 2500lbs.
You add 100lbs to each car.

the 3800lb monster drops 0.005 the 2500lb car drops 0.20. why you ask becuase the wieght added to the pighter car makes up a larger percentage of its overall weight. Now it takes alot less power to go 9.0 in a 2500lb car since the light car is already at a power disadvantage it gains more Et then the heavier car which has 30% more power so the small 1% change in wieght is negligable.
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Old Jan 18, 2007 | 10:58 PM
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As said before, rotational mass especially can help multi-fold compared to stagnant weight. For instance the average is around 2 tenths for skinnies, however if you took off 30 or so lbs from the interior its not nearly going to give you those kind of gains. If you're going to do serious weight reduction, do it where it counts.
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Old Jan 19, 2007 | 12:09 AM
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Originally Posted by not7fifteen
As said before, rotational mass especially can help multi-fold compared to stagnant weight. For instance the average is around 2 tenths for skinnies, however if you took off 30 or so lbs from the interior its not nearly going to give you those kind of gains. If you're going to do serious weight reduction, do it where it counts.
even that one is sometimes up in the air and this is why. Once you have the moment of inertia IE the wheel or shaft starts to spin the amount of force required to accelerate that mass after moment of intertia is massively lower. there are flywheel calculator out there for engineers if you want to calculate this stuff out.


A comprehensive plan of wieght reduction is the best method for sucess. Start finding 2-3 lbs here and there next thing you know you've dropp 400lbs without sacrificing much.
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Old Jan 19, 2007 | 12:50 AM
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i can say i was bittin by the weight reduction bug myself. Now mine isnt a daily driver so it dont bother me at all. So far i took out almost everything besides the dash, seats and the interior panals (carpet is out). No heat/ac, ps, abs, i mean its damn near gutted. So far its in the 400-450 lbs lost. Look at my front end in my sig, took so much weight off the front end it sits up a lot higher. Im a bicycle mechanic for a race team so i know a lot about rotating mass. If you have a light frame with heavy wheels, it still pedals like a tank. So yes, REMOVE the rotating weight! same with my motor. I deleted every acc. off the motor, all im spinning is a alternator. So with all the heavy pullies off and not spinning, my motor revs a lot faster because im not spinning all that mass. To put it in eaiser terms, think of it this way....

take rotating weight and times is by 2
standing weight... take a longer crap in the morning, lol.
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Old Jan 19, 2007 | 06:28 AM
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On motor my car only makes 400RWHP but it runs 10.79@123.62 in the 1/4. I think the car weights around 3170 with me in it. With weight reduction, some guys never see you coming!
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Old Jan 19, 2007 | 07:11 AM
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Most of my weight reduction was done to help offset the wieght of the BBC. Of course its not a DD but driven some during the spring-fall months anyway. So everything I've gotten rid of really didn't help much anyway.
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Old Jan 19, 2007 | 11:55 AM
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The accepted rule of thumb is 100lbs removed is worth 1 tenth and 1 mph.

Paul
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Old Jan 19, 2007 | 06:37 PM
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In regards to roational mass it depends IMO. Lighter flywheels allow the engine to rev faster but store less energy. A heavier flywheel will store more energy so when you shift the engine doesn't bog as much because of the rotational energy in the flywheel. This is a part that has an RPM going up and down. Now parts like the driveshaft, wheels, and tires you would want as light as possible because you never reclaim the energy. They just spin faster and faster, so the light they are the less HP they will consume in the process.
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Old Jan 19, 2007 | 06:58 PM
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Exactely imflyn. They sell heaver flywheels for dirtbikes so it doesnt stall at lower speeds because of the heaver mass it keeps the engine running. Thats all about your set-up with your car though. But yes, everything else get as light as poss.!
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Old Jan 19, 2007 | 07:53 PM
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IMO weigth reduction is worth it.
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Old Jan 19, 2007 | 08:11 PM
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Originally Posted by CaMaRo67RS355
my friend just started doing some weight reduction to his trans am and he said he lost around 200 lbs so far how much would this improve him in the 1/4 if he was consistent?

so thinking of trying to do some weight reduction to my SS what would be some good things to get rid of or change to get the weight down? is it worth it or not?
You claim to have a low 9 second 4th gen, yet you ask a question like this?
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Old Jan 19, 2007 | 11:37 PM
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i didnt build the drag car thats why it says newest edition my dads friend had it built by a shop and didnt ever run it so we got it for a steal basically.
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Old Jan 20, 2007 | 12:37 PM
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its well worth it to me, track prepped im at 3200 w/ driver. once i get the kmember and arms im looking to be 3150 w/ driver. im 140lbs.

on the street i put the carpet and interior panels back in, and the street tires.

-brandon
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Old Jan 21, 2007 | 05:01 PM
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Weight reduction was the best mod for my LT1 car.
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