Light weight diet...where to start?

[TurboManiacal]

I'm wondering where the weight to be saved is in a syclone...without compromising the stock looks. I like the progress being made with a CF Tailgate...what about a Lexan type of rear window...What are some of the bigger weight savings to be had? What are some other ways to get down around 3000lbs? Thoughts?

 

[warmpancakes]

Fiberglass fenders, doors, hood, ditch the spare,A/c,abs,heavy stock wheels, lighter seats, cut the bottom of the bed out, just depends on how far you are willing to go?

 

[Falco]

Ryan,

Some ideas: spare tire, jack, speakers, heater core, mufflers 8)

If underhood stock looking not an issue: ABS, A/C, Cruise controll, EGR(huge gains with the later two :lol

And carbon or fiber stuff around. Hood, fenders, tail gate (wont open down IMHO).

You can also reduce the unspring weight with alu rear drums, wilwood sets, Al's coil over, flex-a-forms etc...

Later,

 

[sy2185]

CF tailgate? What's that cost? For +/- $500 AutoFab here in SD sells a 2 piece set of fiberglass bedsides. Ditch the whole bed.Though most of their buisness is the 5" flared fender off road crowd, their suppliers make the other stuff too.
Any welding shop will have no problem fabricating the 6-8 mounts needed per side. Just align the bedside to the cab and make sure all the angles are square. A suctioned cupped body shop door alignment stand is almost required to hold it in place for measurement.After the mounting rods are done mark and drill the mounting points in the bedside and attach using 1/4 turn dzus fasteners.run the stock bed cover(w/o a frame would be lighter)and the cladding couldn't fit any worse than it did stock,shouldn't be bad. You don't get to run any tailgate.Lights, roll pan/rear bumper bolt right up.
To really finish it off have a sheetmetal fabricator line it with thin aluminum panels. Can't support any weight, but they in turn weigh nothing and keep rocks from breaking the rear window and bedcover. The mounts should form a V shape if looking forward from the rear,from the top/bottom of bedside to the frame rails. Sweet cradle for a trans cooler/fan setup.
That should be a huge weight savings.Figure w/o the bed cover's frame, with cladding(no roll pan reinforcement panel)mounts and al. bed panels, maybe 100, 125 lbs. No shit. Hell the stock rear bumper and tailgate together weigh a hundred pounds.
A Damn fine setup and a great deal in a real race quality setup.
Oh, get the gelcoat fenders- paint weighs alot when your talking about mult. clearcoats, etc. And rotate the gas filler neck to inside the bed or in the wheelwell to avoid cutting a hole in the side.
I've been thinking about it enough to where I don't think it'll have the stock bed, fornt fenders or hood on it when painted. Skipping a show quality finish will keep the weight down and keep the costs comparable between using the 'glass or slick paint/CF stuff.
Only comparable areas for trimming are flexaforms instead of steel(but caltracs would probably offset their own weight gain which isn't too expensive, and the Dustan suspension kits.
That's all I got.
Jeremy

 

[ttdolson]

Al Dustans suspention kit takes about 3-400 pounds off of the truck...

The big bonus to this is that it's unsprung wieght. The other is that you gain a better ride and handling.

 

[Falco]

An other idea could be the to replace the stock tank with a much smaller fuel cell. You should use some kinda external pump, but you could go racing with like 2-3 gallons of gas. Anybody who have done this?

Later,

 

[SY732]

Small list I put together

135 Als front
10 Alu drums
10 bumper F
5 bumper R
20 Cat
35 CF hood
27 DynaBatt
55 Flex a forms
16 Fender wells
80 Gas
25 Jack
20 Muffler
25 Sway bar
50 Spare
5 Spare holder
35 Tailgate
60 Wheels
10 Wipers
623

or with Als rear 70
638


BTW I weighed all the items I could on a $60 digital bathroom scale.
Some Items are from memory, or other people.

 

[SY732]

Al Dustans suspention kit takes about 3-400 pounds off of the truck...

The big bonus to this is that it's unsprung wieght. The other is that you gain a better ride and handling.

Where did you get 3-400 I thought it was 130 front 5 tie rods and 70 rear?

 

[myclone]

Easy stuff:

spare tire and jack{free}

spare tire "winch" and cross member{free}

fender wells (dont get caught in the rain){free}

tail gate (too ugly to leave it off all the time IMO though){free}

clean out the console{free}

ditto on the glove box{free}

alum water pump (big diff in weight of it and a stocker){~170 bucks}

remove the front bumper braces (connect the outside of the bumper to the frame on each side){free}

alum drums for the rear{~75 bucks}


Not so easy stuff:

take out rear overload springs (they weigh a TON){10 bucks and skinned knuckles}

anti lock module (if its dead it aint doin nothin and its a PIA to bleed){~10 bucks for brake lines from the bone yard and new brake fluid}

remove the shims in the body panel mounting locations and fab new ones out of alum{free but a big PIA}

Als suspension for the front{not free but big time diff in weight}

remove AC (aint gonna happen in my truck){free}

 

[SY732]

Easy stuff:

spare tire "winch" and cross member{free}

How much does the cross member weigh?

 

[myclone]

Easy stuff:

spare tire "winch" and cross member{free}

How much does the cross member weigh?

Dunno the exact figure but not much. Maybe a lb or two. It unbolts and is easily removed so I figure every little bit helps.

 

[SyTyJedi]

The driver (you).

 

[tyndago]

Fiberglass cladding.... the front bumper and support are intergrated as one piece. The other parts are probably only +/- a few lbs each way..


Get rid of the stock seats- James had the Magic Mountain plastic seats in his truck.

Cut the insides of the door panels out. Cut out the door bars. Lexan windows riveted in place. Otherwise non -power window doors. Get rid of the power door locks.

Take out the headliner , the carpet , the center console.

Get rid of the dash and fabricate a sheet metal one....

Aluminum block 75 vs 150 lbs
Aluminum heads
Aluminum driveshaft.
Lightweight starter


Get rid of the all wheel drive and go rear wheel drive only - front axles , front diff , transfer case , front propshaft.

I can't stand to lose that much weight myself....

 

[Boostn]

might as well just buy a S-10 rather than gutting a nice Syclone if you are gonna go with only rear wheel drive.

 

[TurboManiacal]

might as well just buy a S-10 rather than gutting a nice Syclone if you are gonna go with only rear wheel drive.

Don't got to worry about that from me...

I am mainly trying to consider options on effectively reducing the weight of the Sy to assist in the gains of acceleration and handling.

Oddly enough my limits are not easily quantified. I think if I were to pick out one person that was closest to my goals I'd have to say Myclone hit the nail on the head while Sean was way too extreme for me.

I remember reading about a year ago in Turbo magazine about some improvements in a Lexan TYPE of material that was as good as glass...moldable like glass and very lightweight, resistant to scratches. I was thinking this would be a start for a replacement rear glass. I'd like to keep stock appearance outside as much as possible...but would be willing to give up Cruise control, AC & ABS. These things are not necessary. However, a nice sound system is...which is counterproductive to weight loss.

Al's front suspension increases handling capability and decreases rotating mass...this is a very good thing. I'm just getting thoughts out there seeing what people have to say. Trying to feel out the flab...hehe pun.

 

[Loeryder]

Al's front suspension increases handling capability and decreases rotating mass

I think you mean unsprung weight, as no part of the coilovers replaces anything that is rotational mass.
I know because mine are laid out in 10 or 20 pieces on my driveway...

Let's see rotational mass...
Halfshafts, outer hub race, brake rotors, wheels and tires.

Unsprung weight...
upper and lower control arms, torsion bars (stock setup), sway bar... etc...

 

[GM TURBO]

You can lower rotating mass by taking out some of the air in the tires. I dropped mine from 35 pounds to 30 pounds. That is 20 pounds of rotational mass It made a huge difference










I thought wheels were considered unsprung weight.

 

[tyndago]

Oddly enough my limits are not easily quantified. I think if I were to pick out one person that was closest to my goals I'd have to say Myclone hit the nail on the head while Sean was way too extreme for me.

I remember reading about a year ago in Turbo magazine about some improvements in a Lexan TYPE of material that was as good as glass...moldable like glass and very lightweight, resistant to scratches.

I was extreme because everyone else had taken all the good easy stuff....so I thought a little harder about the more extreme things you could do...

The place that makes the lexan is Percys . Its called Speedglass. Its a scratch resistant type of Lexan. They make it to fit cars - and you can buy it and shape /cut it yourself. Its in the Summit and Jegs catalogs.

I was speaking to a guy from Percys when he was out earlier this year for a Import Drag Race event... A friends shop was a distrbutor for them..

 

[TurboManiacal]

Al's front suspension increases handling capability and decreases rotating mass

I think you mean unsprung weight, as no part of the coilovers replaces anything that is rotational mass.
I know because mine are laid out in 10 or 20 pieces on my driveway...

Let's see rotational mass...
Halfshafts, outer hub race, brake rotors, wheels and tires.

Unsprung weight...
upper and lower control arms, torsion bars (stock setup), sway bar... etc...

welp! Yeah that's what I meant.

Naw...sean you were pointing out some great weight savers...but definately made me realize that's not the goal for me. Anything that makes it not look like a stockish Syclone anymore is to much for me.

 

[E-Rue]

hahahahaha

hey dave, if you keep letting turbo girl cook those potatos, your gonna have to put your truck on a diet to offset your own weight gain.


CHUBBY!

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