LT1-LT4 Modifications 1993-97 Gen II Small Block V8

'95 Camaro On a Diet

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Old Nov 19, 2012 | 01:41 PM
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Default '95 Camaro On a Diet

They salted the roads around here last week so my car got tucked away for the winter. During the off season I'm going to get some weight out of it.

The plans are as follows: MWC bumper supports front and rear, pin-on Glasstek SS hood, Racecraft Dzus rails, removing the HVAC system, and lots of grinding and cutting.

I have my plan for the interior, but am not really sure what everyone is cutting and drilling on the front of our cars.

I started pulling the front end apart last night and have the bumper support off. I will be pulling the fenders this week and working on getting the headlight harness out of the car to trim some wiring (fog lights, abs, air pump, and everything thats no longer there). And I'll work on getting the dash out next weekend. Then the radio will come out, all of the speakers, ebrake stuff, and all of the brackets will go away

So what is everyone cutting off the front? Where are you drilling holes and what doesn't need to be there anymore?

Last edited by Turnin20s; Feb 22, 2013 at 07:05 PM.
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Old Nov 19, 2012 | 02:00 PM
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if u need the racecraft rails let me know i have some for sale.
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Old Nov 19, 2012 | 02:30 PM
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That giant windshield washer reservoir comes to mind.
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Old Nov 19, 2012 | 02:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Mike.
That giant windshield washer reservoir comes to mind.
That's gone
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Old Nov 19, 2012 | 02:43 PM
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Originally Posted by CamaroRacing12
if u need the racecraft rails let me know i have some for sale.
Eric @ MWC is gonna hook me up with a deal. Thanks for the offer though
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Old Nov 19, 2012 | 05:07 PM
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Check out studderin's thread and the thread tin can shootin for 9s
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Old Nov 20, 2012 | 01:59 AM
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Originally Posted by bufmatmuslepants
Check out studderin's thread and the thread tin can shootin for 9s
I have been keeping an eye on both. I need to go back through the tin can build though and refresh my memory haha
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Old Nov 21, 2012 | 12:49 PM
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So basically I can cut off the excess fender metal, remove the bumper support, cut off the front frame rails, trim down the rad support metal, and trim the cowl. I was hoping for some more creative ways like drilling some holes in parts and so on. I won't be removing the cowl yet, I like the use of my wipers just in case I get caught in the rain.

This weekend I'm going to work on pulling the dash so I can get the HVAC system out and start cutting excess wires out. I need to pull the Fuse box/headlight/ABS harness so I can cut all of the excess plugs and wires off of that. Then I'm going to wire my EWP into the factory fuse box for a cleaner setup. Then the engine harness needs to come out so I can remove some of those wires.

So far I have removed:
Front bumper support & fog lights
A/C condenser
A/C pump & lines
ABS block
AIR pump
EGR
Rear ebrake cables
Driver side air bag & air bag sensors
Spare tire & jack
Rear seats

Whats left to remove:
Excess wiring
Stereo & speakers
Ebrake from interior
Interior brackets
Rear bumper support
Stock hood & hinges
Hood latch & cable
All insulation from the interior
HVAC from under the dash
Passenger air bag
Padding from under the carpet
And more....
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Old Nov 21, 2012 | 01:06 PM
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Now if Harbor Freight would ship my damn order. Placed it on Saturday afternoon and it still hasn't left Hopefully when I order my jack it comes a little faster than that
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Old Nov 22, 2012 | 10:22 AM
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That's about it for free removal. A k-member with lightweight a-arms, upper arms, lightweight brakes, power steering delete, etc., will lop off another 100# easy.
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Old Nov 22, 2012 | 10:31 AM
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How about a mini starter?
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Old Nov 22, 2012 | 11:55 PM
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Originally Posted by RamAir95TA
That's about it for free removal. A k-member with lightweight a-arms, upper arms, lightweight brakes, power steering delete, etc., will lop off another 100# easy.
I have a UMI kmember and their chromoly lower arms. I'm not going to delete the PS and won't do light brakes. I did get a madman ALT bracket and have a aluminum PS pump with small aluminum bracket so that part of the setup is pretty light

I guess I will have to get creative with the rest of the weight reduction. I'm either going to build or buy a dimple die set so I can cut holes in brackets but still have them be plenty strong.
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Old Nov 22, 2012 | 11:56 PM
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Originally Posted by 93Z2871805
How about a mini starter?
LT1s already have a "mini" starter compared to the gen1 motors
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Old Nov 23, 2012 | 10:11 AM
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Originally Posted by Turnin20s
LT1s already have a "mini" starter compared to the gen1 motors
True, the only reason I mention it is because the one I put on mine is about 1lb lighter compared to the stock unit. However, it was economic for me as I didn't have an OEM one and built it from the ground up. I was just throwing it out there as food for thought.

Also as a consideration, any of the sub-structure or sheet metal that you want to take drills or hole-saws to, I would dimple with a hammer flare to maintain rigidity.
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Old Nov 23, 2012 | 11:11 AM
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Originally Posted by 93Z2871805
True, the only reason I mention it is because the one I put on mine is about 1lb lighter compared to the stock unit. However, it was economic for me as I didn't have an OEM one and built it from the ground up. I was just throwing it out there as food for thought.

Also as a consideration, any of the sub-structure or sheet metal that you want to take drills or hole-saws to, I would dimple with a hammer flare to maintain rigidity.
I'm one step ahead of you, been looking up dimple dies for a few days

I'm also going to get a light weight battery, those should save about 15#s off the front in itself

Last edited by Turnin20s; Nov 24, 2012 at 01:12 PM.
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Old Nov 24, 2012 | 01:11 PM
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Dash is out, HVAC is out, & passenger air bag is out. Now I need to pull the seats and center console and yank the carpet and start pulling wires out. There is a ton of rubber matting under the dash and I'm going to get rid of all of that while I have everything apart.


Now I need to get some breakdowns of the wiring and components under the dash so I can safely remove everything and still have my car run and have all of the lights work
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Old Nov 25, 2012 | 12:02 PM
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What I have out so far




And I think this is why I had such a bad dash vibration, I "clearanced" this tube but I guess I didn't quite get enough




Going to pull the seats and carpet next and start removing all of the extra padding
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Old Nov 30, 2012 | 12:28 AM
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Spot weld cutters showed up today.....FINALLY so I might be able to get some
brackets cut out this weekend if I get a chance to pull the carpet. Tomorrow
my floor jack should be here so I can pull the front wheels and remove the front
fenders to get to the metal under them

So hopefully I'll get some more pics up this weekend

Last edited by Turnin20s; Nov 30, 2012 at 11:22 AM.
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Old Nov 30, 2012 | 07:45 AM
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i would die without a floor jack
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Old Nov 30, 2012 | 11:19 AM
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Originally Posted by draggin97s10
i would die without a floor jack
Ya I hear that. I normally do most of my work at my parents shop, but this winter there are too
many projects taking place out there so I decided to work out of my garage and get some some
new tools over the winter.

But I have a small jack, but it won't even come close to fitting under my car haha. Harbor Freight
had a cyber Monday sale so I picked up a 2.5 ton low pro jack for $70. Now to see how it holds up
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