Go fast or go home!

[Mike67]

I wonder if there is 5lbs worth of savings in a steering column swap???

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

I think so.I will also be changing the column.The column is the original 3 on the tree,so I can make a dif there and a tube shaft.

 

[dvw]

I think so.I will also be changing the column.The column is the original 3 on the tree,so I can make a dif there and a tube shaft.

The outer tube is light. The upper bowl is cast but can be gutted. You only need a bearing up top, not at the bottom. Make the shaft from chrome moly tube.
Doug

 

[bobtile]

I hole sawed my car where ever possible that is not visible once assembled, added light weight Kirkey seat & brackets, went with aluminum bolts where possible, etc but I refuse to go with Lexan or Fiberglass body parts (so, my car will never be no featherweight). I race with so many buddies & it is such a pain lifting hood off, lifting front clip off or removing door and putting everything back on their cars after every round.

View attachment 690220

Glass dashboard may be on next years diet plan.
35 lbs. for a stock dash frame and 6 for fiberglass.

 

[Cranky]

How did you get it to 2950? I've yet to see a stock floor pan, big block steel bodied, caged B body below 3000 with driver. In fact even w/o driver. Few are less than 3250 w/o driver.
Doug

It's not a big block car. Anyways, glass hood, no front bumper (kinda liked the Tri-five hot rod look of the 50's), cleaned off all the undercoat (and it had a LOT), pulled out the rear window regulators, back seat, and the torn up rubber floor mats. A hole punch was used on the doors and many other places. Also canned the original torn up front bench seat and a pair of Duster seats went in but I didn't weigh the old seat vs the new. The head liner was also crap and got pulled then one of the roof cross braces came out.

Next was to razor blade all the many coats of crap paint off and that alone filled up two 5 gallon buckets! That was a surprise. I weighed them but don't remember what the number was but now I know why they are picky about the paints used on airplanes. Keep in mind that the car still had it's factory working AC system in it. Yeah, the car still had it's original /6 with 904 but an 8 3/4 replaced the dinky 7 1/4.

Since blowing the car apart years ago, it's had a lot more work done on it. The 'new' K frame is 32 lbs and has lighter front suspension parts and most of the major fasteners were trimmed and gun drilled. Lots of work but every ounce counts. There are no fasteners that have excess threads showing on the back side of a nut. The last weigh in, the car had a full set of cop car wheels on it and the AC was still blowing cold. What does a 440 weigh with aluminum heads, water pump and housing, intake etc? A /6 is around 475. My goal was to try and keep the car in the 3000 lb range but now that I'm divorced, it's no telling what's going to happen to the car now because I don't have the cash available anymore to play with it.

 

[6PKRTSE]

The outer tube is light. The upper bowl is cast but can be gutted. You only need a bearing up top, not at the bottom. Make the shaft from chrome moly tube.
Doug

We did make a light weight tubular c.m. column for my car also & I adapted it with the quick release to the stock woodgrain steering wheel for the purists. Still use a stock seat belt buckle for my window net also....

 

[HEMI-ITIS]

The outer tube is light. The upper bowl is cast but can be gutted. You only need a bearing up top, not at the bottom. Make the shaft from chrome moly tube.
Doug

You have told me that,I want to keep the directional switch.Was going to do a removable steering wheel,but after moving the seat back it was much easier to get in & out.

 

[Cranky]

You have told me that,I want to keep the directional switch.Was going to do a removable steering wheel,but after moving the seat back it was much easier to get in & out.

That makes a big difference lol. Had a 71 Duster in the early 2000's and whoever installed the cage had the main hoop too far forward and made for tight seating. It would have been a major deal to change it and having a the funny car type cage, it wasn't going to be cheap so I sold it. As long as I was making an actual pass, it didn't matter but once I was off the gas, I couldn't wait to get out of the dang thing. Even got to where I didn't want to get in it until the last minute.

 

[dvw]

It's not a big block car. Anyways, glass hood, no front bumper (kinda liked the Tri-five hot rod look of the 50's), cleaned off all the undercoat (and it had a LOT), pulled out the rear window regulators, back seat, and the torn up rubber flow mats. A hole punch was used on the doors and many other places. Also canned the original torn up front bench seat and a pair of Duster seats went in but I didn't weigh the old seat vs the new. The head liner was also crap and got pulled then one of the roof cross braces came out.

Next was to razor blade all the many coats of crap paint off and that alone filled up two 5 gallon buckets! That was a surprise. I weighed them but don't remember what the number was but now I know why they are picky about the paints used on airplanes. Keep in mind that the car still had it's factory working AC system in it. Yeah, the car still had it's original /6 with 904 but an 8 3/4 replaced the dinky 7 1/4.

Since blowing the car apart years ago, it's had a lot more work done on it. The 'new' K frame is 32 lbs and has lighter front suspension parts and most of the major fasteners were trimmed and gun drilled. Lots of work but every ounce counts. There are no fasteners that have excess threads showing on the back side of a nut. The last weigh in, the car had a full set of cop car wheels on it and the AC was still blowing cold. What does a 440 weigh with aluminum heads, water pump and housing, intake etc? A /6 is around 475. My goal was to try and keep the car in the 3000 lb range but now that I'm divorced, it's no telling what's going to happen to the car now because I don't have the cash available anymore to play with it.

Ah so no 727, cage, big block, Dana, or mega block. Mine can run as low as 3300 race ready with driver.
Doug

 

[Badvert65]

I wonder if there is 5lbs worth of savings in a steering column swap???

The original factory steering column in my 65 Belvedere (automatic column shift) weighed 26.5 lbs. I kept the turn signal/horn part, used parts from a 64 Dodge, 65 Plymouth, 75 Duster, and some aluminum tubing. The "new" column looks like a factory 65 floor shift column and weighs 10.6 lbs with the added bonus of a collapsible column shaft. Not a bad weight reduction.

 

[Mike67]

The original factory steering column in my 65 Belvedere (automatic column shift) weighed 26.5 lbs. I kept the turn signal/horn part, used parts from a 64 Dodge, 65 Plymouth, 75 Duster, and some aluminum tubing. The "new" column looks like a factory 65 floor shift column and weighs 10.6 lbs with the added bonus of a collapsible column shaft. Not a bad weight reduction.View attachment 690741

I thought there might be a fair ammount and saw that he still had the factory column....Thanks for the numbers, it's better than I thought!!!

 

[Cranky]

Ah so no 727, cage, big block, Dana, or mega block. Mine can run as low as 3300 race ready with driver.
Doug

Like I said, been working on the car over the years to take off even more weight.....but may not be able to stay below 3000. Hopefully, one day it'll be together again with the additional mods. A 727 weighs about 125 dry with no converter? Was planning on going stick but don't know which one yet but stick setups are usually heavier. Already have the light weight K-frame in it (32 lbs) and the stock rear bumper has yet to get tossed and the cop car wheels were still on it with that last weigh in....and stock AC stuff including the junk under the dash was still in it at the last weigh in. So, what did you do to yours to get it down to 3300?

 

[Badvert65]

FYI, the early style cop rims (15x7-no slots) weighs in at 25.6 lbs. with a poverty cap and trim ring (no tire).

 

[dvw]

Gutted doors and K frame. Moly tube for cage, steering shaft, steering column, strut rods, fender braces. Home made stock looking light seats. Aluminum motor plate, fuel cell, driveshaft, seat brackets, and radiator. 1/8" side and rear, 1/4" vent windows made from Lexan, no regulators. Light weight Willwood brakes, Carbon fiber bumper brackets. Fiberglass lift off hood. Removed hood hinges, heater, wipers, factory wiring. Scraped every bit of under coating, including the inner 1/4 panels all the way to the door jambs. Stuff that wasn't done and made it heavier; all steel body, floor pans,inner fenders, and bumpers, Stock windshield, 2 full size batteries, truck Dana, production dual late model Challenger fans, full size radiator, Mega block, (heavier than stock), fire system, old school American 200S, full interior and dash (no backseat). As stated above 3115lbs empty. With me and full fuel 3345lbs.

Made it look as stock and period correct as I could.
Doug

 

[Badvert65]

How about this?

• Water: 8lbs/gal
• Antifreeze concentrate: 9.8lbs/gal
• 50/50 mix: 8.9lbs/gal

 

[Cranky]

Gutted doors and K frame. Moly tube for cage, steering shaft, steering column, strut rods, fender braces. Home made stock looking light seats. Aluminum motor plate, fuel cell, driveshaft, seat brackets, and radiator. 1/8" side and rear, 1/4" vent windows made from Lexan, no regulators. Light weight Willwood brakes, Carbon fiber bumper brackets. Fiberglass lift off hood. Removed hood hinges, heater, wipers, factory wiring. Scraped every bit of under coating, including the inner 1/4 panels all the way to the door jambs. Stuff that wasn't done and made it heavier; all steel body, floor pans,inner fenders, and bumpers, Stock windshield, 2 full size batteries, truck Dana, production dual late model Challenger fans, full size radiator, Mega block, (heavier than stock), fire system, old school American 200S, full interior and dash (no backseat). As stated above 3115lbs empty. With me and full fuel 3345lbs. View attachment 690925 View attachment 690927 Made it look as stock and period correct as I could.
Doug

Nice looking car too! My race weight was 3185....yup, was 235 but at 5' 9" it wasn't feeling all that comfortable on me so I decided to take it off and lately, my weight has been between 190-195 but would like see 180. Lost some weight, cut back on my drinking and yet the old lady left anyways.

How about this?

• Water: 8lbs/gal
• Antifreeze concentrate: 9.8lbs/gal
• 50/50 mix: 8.9lbs/gal

How bout run water with water pump lube and corrosion inhibitor? Most tracks don't like cleaning up antifreeze if your system fails....

 

[64HEMI330SEDAN]

Gutted doors and K frame. Moly tube for cage, steering shaft, steering column, strut rods, fender braces. Home made stock looking light seats. Aluminum motor plate, fuel cell, driveshaft, seat brackets, and radiator. 1/8" side and rear, 1/4" vent windows made from Lexan, no regulators. Light weight Willwood brakes, Carbon fiber bumper brackets. Fiberglass lift off hood. Removed hood hinges, heater, wipers, factory wiring. Scraped every bit of under coating, including the inner 1/4 panels all the way to the door jambs. Stuff that wasn't done and made it heavier; all steel body, floor pans,inner fenders, and bumpers, Stock windshield, 2 full size batteries, truck Dana, production dual late model Challenger fans, full size radiator, Mega block, (heavier than stock), fire system, old school American 200S, full interior and dash (no backseat). As stated above 3115lbs empty. With me and full fuel 3345lbs. View attachment 690925 View attachment 690927 Made it look as stock and period correct as I could.
Doug

doug mine is at 3383 with me in it race ready. It was a lot of work but well worth it. i like you like the stock look. mine is a little slower than your though. 9.891 at 136and change. but I have a small cid engine .

 

[dvw]

Were doing another N/SS 64 Dodge Polara 500 right now. All glass forward of the doors, Aluminum 572, Lexan side windows, std steel cage, Dana. Motors done and dynoed. Body is on final prime. it'll be interesting to weigh it.
Doug

 

[Dan64]

Anybody know what a stock 64 Polara weights?[ v-8,auto ] i've been looking around on the internet but see all kinds of different numbers and never the same one twice.

 

[Cranky]

Anybody know what a stock 64 Polara weights?[ v-8,auto ] i've been looking around on the internet but see all kinds of different numbers and never the same one twice.

Depends on how it's optioned, under coating (and how much of that is under there) and insulation and sound deadening is sprayed onto the inner panels etc.