My New 1993 Z28 Project
03-21-2008, 08:00 PM
#84
I was going to try and head down early today, but overslept yet again. I didn't get much signifigant done today, but it was all little stuff I had to do any ways.
I started drilling all the spot welds out of the interior to remove the interior brackets. I started drilling out the rear passenger arm rests, but had to give up the air hose. I couldn't believe how many spot welds are in those things.
Drilling:
If anyone tries to cut them out in the future definetly drill the spot welds first. I tried to cut out the bottom bracket for the rear seats without drilling the spot welds out and wish I had. Without drilling them out there doesn't look like they would do much damage:
... but here's what happens if you keep cutting with them still attached:
A big hole in the floor. It's going to be easy to fix, but something that would have been easily avoidable. I then moved on to removing all the rest of the heat shields, nuts, bolts, exhaust hangers, and random brackets from the rest of the car. Here's what I removed:
Front Bumper Support = 25.375 lbs
Fog lights and brackets = 4.0625 lbs
Cruise control, cable, and throttle cable cover = 4.4375 lbs
Air pump and brass fittings = 5.9375 lbs
Stock horns = 1.875 lbs
Stupid siren and loud horn = 2.5 lbs
Stock Y pipe and single cat = 21.1875 lbs
Frame horns = 5.125 lbs
Fender metal = 1.25 lbs
Rear Seatbelts = 4.1375 lbs
Aftermarket Speaker Wiring (will be added to considering there is a ton more of it) = .25 lbs
Carpet = 29.0375 lbs
Windshield washer fluid resevoir with water = 8.0625 lbs
Heat shields beneath the car = 2.1875
Soon to be useless exhaust hangers = 2.00 lbs
Rear Seats = 22.4375 lbs
Random exhaust hangers, brackets, nuts, and bolts = 9.25 lbs
Interior brackets including (rear seat brackets, rear passenger arm rests, antenna bracket, rear seat belt brackets) = Have to weigh
Stock catback = Have to weigh
Speakers = Have to weigh
Grand total to this point = 149.1125 lbs + all the stuff I still have to either cut out or weigh.
I started removing the wiring for the alarm that was in the car. It's kind of scared me away from attacking the wiring harness. I may just cut the pigtails off in the engine bay and leave everything else. Some people mentioned if you are color blind to avoid it all together. I just may take their advice at this point. We'll see though. I know I can take a ton of them out or at least clean it up some.
I removed the extra hood lock and this box that connected all the wiring and the key for the hood lock together into one box. I traced the wiring backwards and started cutting. If any of you remember me asking what these random yellow connectors were:
They are part of the alarm system. They are connected to a, "purple" wire. That wire is the starter. The way it's wired the alarm will kill the starter if it's set off. I accidently cut the starter wire, but I'll stick it back together on Tuesday. I couldn't get the box all the way out because the extra hood latch was too large to fit through the hole in the firewall. I'll get a picture of it later and show you what it looks like. It's ridiculously large and should have a signifigant amount of weight to it.
I started drilling all the spot welds out of the interior to remove the interior brackets. I started drilling out the rear passenger arm rests, but had to give up the air hose. I couldn't believe how many spot welds are in those things.
Drilling:
If anyone tries to cut them out in the future definetly drill the spot welds first. I tried to cut out the bottom bracket for the rear seats without drilling the spot welds out and wish I had. Without drilling them out there doesn't look like they would do much damage:
... but here's what happens if you keep cutting with them still attached:
A big hole in the floor. It's going to be easy to fix, but something that would have been easily avoidable. I then moved on to removing all the rest of the heat shields, nuts, bolts, exhaust hangers, and random brackets from the rest of the car. Here's what I removed:
Front Bumper Support = 25.375 lbs
Fog lights and brackets = 4.0625 lbs
Cruise control, cable, and throttle cable cover = 4.4375 lbs
Air pump and brass fittings = 5.9375 lbs
Stock horns = 1.875 lbs
Stupid siren and loud horn = 2.5 lbs
Stock Y pipe and single cat = 21.1875 lbs
Frame horns = 5.125 lbs
Fender metal = 1.25 lbs
Rear Seatbelts = 4.1375 lbs
Aftermarket Speaker Wiring (will be added to considering there is a ton more of it) = .25 lbs
Carpet = 29.0375 lbs
Windshield washer fluid resevoir with water = 8.0625 lbs
Heat shields beneath the car = 2.1875
Soon to be useless exhaust hangers = 2.00 lbs
Rear Seats = 22.4375 lbs
Random exhaust hangers, brackets, nuts, and bolts = 9.25 lbs
Interior brackets including (rear seat brackets, rear passenger arm rests, antenna bracket, rear seat belt brackets) = Have to weigh
Stock catback = Have to weigh
Speakers = Have to weigh
Grand total to this point = 149.1125 lbs + all the stuff I still have to either cut out or weigh.
I started removing the wiring for the alarm that was in the car. It's kind of scared me away from attacking the wiring harness. I may just cut the pigtails off in the engine bay and leave everything else. Some people mentioned if you are color blind to avoid it all together. I just may take their advice at this point. We'll see though. I know I can take a ton of them out or at least clean it up some.
I removed the extra hood lock and this box that connected all the wiring and the key for the hood lock together into one box. I traced the wiring backwards and started cutting. If any of you remember me asking what these random yellow connectors were:
They are part of the alarm system. They are connected to a, "purple" wire. That wire is the starter. The way it's wired the alarm will kill the starter if it's set off. I accidently cut the starter wire, but I'll stick it back together on Tuesday. I couldn't get the box all the way out because the extra hood latch was too large to fit through the hole in the firewall. I'll get a picture of it later and show you what it looks like. It's ridiculously large and should have a signifigant amount of weight to it.
03-22-2008, 12:09 AM
#86
Yes, I am. The thing looks like a 4x4 now with all the weight taken out of it. The way it is now with no interior in it it's really easy to push. I popped it in neutral and gave it one quick shove and it rolled up hill easily. I'll be interested in seeing how much it weighs when I'm done. I don't think I'm going to hit my original weight goal of a 3200lb raceweight especially with all the turbo stuff. If I had some money I know I could make this thing really light. I'd love to stick a 6 point rollbar in it with some of the seats I originally posted. That way I could put in 5 point harnesses and a steering wheel that gets rid of the airbags. I'd love to do it now as it's the perfect time with everything ripped out of the car. Then, I could rip out the door bars, airbags, airbag sensors, front seat belts, front seat belt brackets, and the heavy stock leather seats. I just can't see spending close to $1000 (That I don't have) on all that when I'm trying to do this on a budget. We'll see how long this drags out though. By then I may have some more money.
If anyone sees anything that I've taken out so far that they want I'll sell it to you really cheaply or trade for parts. I need to make a for sale thread of all the random stuff I have around the house, shop, and in the back of my 95. That would help finance this along.
03-24-2008, 08:16 AM
#87
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Jacksonville, FL
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Yaaaay!!!! Its all coming together. Yay!!! Hey I am cutting weight too. Not! This is going to be pretty sweet when it is finished. not to much longer...just a little time. Then comes the Formula. Yay!
Oh yeah, giant Freakin' cannons rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dee Deee Deeeeeeee!!!!!
Oh yeah, giant Freakin' cannons rule!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dee Deee Deeeeeeee!!!!!
Last edited by SSFreak; 03-24-2008 at 08:21 AM. Reason: Dee Deee Deeeeeeee
03-24-2008, 10:57 AM
#89
I've taken out 149.1125 lbs so far plus probably another 75lbs total. I have to add back in the carpet +10lbs, the new leather seats +20lbs, and the turbo system. The turbo by itself weighs about 45lbs and all the other stuff is going to add a lot of weight, lets say another 40lbs. -224.113 + 10 + 20 + 45 + 40 = 115lbs = -109lbs. Then you have to add me to the equation and I weigh 155lbs. That puts me 46lbs over what these things weigh stock which is what I'm lacking. I know for sure though they don't weigh 3154lbs though. I'm going to remove a lot of extra things now to try and make up for the turbo setup.It'll be interesting to see what it comes out as.
03-24-2008, 01:48 PM
#91
^ If I had some extra money I know I could make this thing really light. K member, brakes, seats, steering wheel, roll bar, shocks, springs, moly suspension pieces etc... I might splurge a little and get a k member so I can fit the 4 inch downpipe over the k member rather than under it. I know I could spend everything I'm making on it, but then it's putting me even further behind on getting my Formula done.
I've got time to figure it out so we'll see. Once I get my formula operational I'll put some more money into this one and get it completely set up like I want it to be other than spending big bucks on the engine.
I've got time to figure it out so we'll see. Once I get my formula operational I'll put some more money into this one and get it completely set up like I want it to be other than spending big bucks on the engine.
03-24-2008, 10:37 PM
#94
My personal opinion is as long as it runs on 93, has air conditioning, and power steering it's a street car. I already have plans of putting an alcohol big block in my 95 and making it into a drag car. Then, I want to buy a bike. Finally, at some point I'm not going to have anything to drive, but 500+hp cars and a 200+mph crotch rocket. In all actuality I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all the cars. It doesn't make sense for me to have three of them. They're straight money pits even when I try to build them on a budget, it takes a ton of my time, and I never do my school work because I'm always thinking about doing something to them or working on lists. I've never had more than one of them working at a time and I have no place to park them at my house once they are all running (if that ever happens). Yet, I deter that reality, substitute my own disillusioned version that I need three fbodies, and make it logical that I should make them all ridiculously fast.
I'll never selling my Formula because I love that car and it took so much for me to get it. I could see myself selling this one (93) and my 95, but I'm not sure yet. I've put so much work into this one (93) so far and my 95 my brother bought brand new so it's kind of a family thing that I really don't want to get rid of. I want something nice to drive around in all the time as sometimes my 95 drives me insane! The thing is all I really want to drive around is either another another Fbody or Corvette. Which in turn results in something I won't be able to stop myself from modding to all hell and the vicious cycle repeats itself all over again.
03-24-2008, 10:40 PM
#95
03-25-2008, 07:29 PM
#98
I didn't head down to the shop today because I was feeling sick last night and I ended up majorly oversleeping until about 4:30pm.
Well, I checked out the drag racing section and found my next major project once the interior is done. This thing is definetly going to hit 3200lbs or less with minimal money invested.
Here's a general idea of what my next step is going to be once the interior is done: https://ls1tech.com/forums/drag-racing-tech/889165-drop-50-more-lbs-off-front-pics.html
I have to buy a new radiator anyways and stand it up so this will work any ways. The nice thing is I can still keep my AC and I'll have a ton of room to work with the turbo system. I'm also looking into a fiberglass hatch and speedglass, but that's decently expensive $750ish+ so I'll probably wait on that.
My ozite came today. It's pretty nice and weighs in at 10lbs including all the plastic it's wrapped in. Tomorrow, I'm going to get my fuel system all figured out as I get paid on Friday. Thursday, I'm going head down to the shop to try and get all the rest of the interior brackets hacked off, fix the small hole I accidently ripped in the floor, finish removing the alarm, and start on taking the dash out. Friday, I'll be ordering my fuel system. I might try to head down on Saturday if I wake up early enough and Jason is at the shop.
I figure I'm about half way done with this thing as it sits now. Putting everything back in the interior won't take long, maybe a day or two. The only thing that I foresee taking a while is hacking off the front end and setting up the turbo system. I'd like to get this thing running by the end of April, but my deadlines so far have been way off.
Here's a general idea of what my next step is going to be once the interior is done: https://ls1tech.com/forums/drag-racing-tech/889165-drop-50-more-lbs-off-front-pics.html
I have to buy a new radiator anyways and stand it up so this will work any ways. The nice thing is I can still keep my AC and I'll have a ton of room to work with the turbo system. I'm also looking into a fiberglass hatch and speedglass, but that's decently expensive $750ish+ so I'll probably wait on that.
My ozite came today. It's pretty nice and weighs in at 10lbs including all the plastic it's wrapped in. Tomorrow, I'm going to get my fuel system all figured out as I get paid on Friday. Thursday, I'm going head down to the shop to try and get all the rest of the interior brackets hacked off, fix the small hole I accidently ripped in the floor, finish removing the alarm, and start on taking the dash out. Friday, I'll be ordering my fuel system. I might try to head down on Saturday if I wake up early enough and Jason is at the shop.
I figure I'm about half way done with this thing as it sits now. Putting everything back in the interior won't take long, maybe a day or two. The only thing that I foresee taking a while is hacking off the front end and setting up the turbo system. I'd like to get this thing running by the end of April, but my deadlines so far have been way off.
03-25-2008, 10:47 PM
#100
It's going to be a completely different car once I'm finished with it. I'm going to leave it looking like it does on the outside though. I might send the stock salad shooters or get some five spoke firebird 16x8s out to get widened. I want it look like a sleeper although the fiberglass hatch and hood I plan on getting at some point shorty after it's running might give it away some. Eventually, it's going to get painted the same color it currently is.