The Elephant In The Room: unloading the load from a B-body.

[fullmetaljacket]

Are those bolt heads shave down

Are you referring to the motor plate mounting bolts? If so, no. They are stock titanium from Med-Tec or Trick Titanium. Can't remember from which one.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Aluminum/plastic dual master cylinder is 2 Lbs compared to an iron one that weighs 6-1/2 Lbs.
Firewall mounting plate weighs 1/2 Lb compared to a steel type that weighs 1-1/2 Lbs.
Top lock nuts and washers are 0.45 of an oz compared to the stock 0.60.
The pair of bottom bolts and lock nuts are 1.00 compared to 1.40

 

[fullmetaljacket]

The T-2024 oil pan bolts, all 20 pieces of them were 5.50 ounces compared to 8.50 ounces.

 

[Badvert65]

It is beginning to look like there is not a single nut/bolt/washer made from steel left on your amazing car.
Very awe inspiring.
-Matt

 

[fullmetaljacket]

It is beginning to look like there is not a single nut/bolt/washer made from steel left on your amazing car.
Very awe inspiring.
-Matt

AAAAAAhhhh, there's still a few left but for good reasons and purposes of course.
These kinds of things one can not go in blindly without first investigating and understanding how things work with each other, against each other under stresses unseen and how they work harden in the long or short term.
I mean a good example is when I was underneath one time looking up at my fender dog leg areas and the various shims sandwiched in between to make good optic body alignment...........well, there's no stress there, why not make those shims out of aluminum? Same up on top between the fender inner aprons and the fender itself. Some cars have upwards of 20 shims in them just to make up for shoddy stampings and or challenged panel alignment men on the line on any given Monday or Friday.

There's so much stuff that's been unstuffed with this project that it would take up the whole forum. Region two makes region one look like a starters kit.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

I'll single file into region #2 when I get a chance next. A lot to cover within 12 square feet which is from the base of the windshield and firewall to the B-pillar/rear door jam. Maybe some of y'all can introduce some of your tricks.

 

[Mopar John]

So continuing down my weight loss list.
I removed the front sway as I didn't think I needed it drag racing.
This removed 12 pounds way up front!
Then I removed both of the quarter window regulators and
clamped the windows in the up position.
This removed another 10 pounds.
Not from an ideal area but still a big chunk gone!
MJ

 

[fullmetaljacket]

So continuing down my weight loss list.
I removed the front sway as I didn't think I needed it drag racing.
This removed 12 pounds way up front!
Then I removed both of the quarter window regulators and
clamped the windows in the up position.
This removed another 10 pounds.
Not from an ideal area but still a big chunk gone!
MJ

Yeah, that sway is way too heavy for a Dragway.
To a certain extent, removing weight out rearward isn't so bad as some may think. It just allows you to place the weight elsewhere in the rear for more distribution such as with weight bars.
The rear quarter windows are fixed as well on the '65 and the removal of the regulators is promising because it is weight removed mid height on the body. Now take that 10 pounds or so and secure it at the very rear lower trunk area and it starts to contribute to favorable returns.
I bet BITTER LIME has some hidden sweet tricks up its sleeves than it allows on the surface. I still can't fathom how light that thing is based on that platform.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Region #2 explores and reveals where even the Mysterious Mopars didn't. There's details in the details. Stay tuned.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Region #2
Starting at the very top all along the roof line there were a few things that the factory deleted in favor of deleting weight on the Super Stock cars early on. Things like the dome light were deleted along with its wiring and socketed door jam switches. The two coat hooks on the quarter section and sun visors up front also got the eviction notice. I guess most guys looked cooler wearing sunglasses while driving or racing.

The dome light and hardware shaved off 3/4 of a pound.
Both sun visors and hardware shaved off 3 Lbs.
Headliner insulator and coat hooks shaved off another 2 Lbs.
Going further and removing the roof cross brace that mounts the dome light assembly you are looking at around 1/2 pound.
Below is an example of a spartan A-990 interior headliner and roof.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the barest of them all?
If anyone knows a '64-'65 rearview mirror's actual shape, they'll know that a fair amount of fat has been trimmed off this one. The catch basins where the sun visors would latch onto are completely gone. The main bridge stem narrowed down to a pencil. There are plans to explore an aluminum one, but that will come later.
In the meanwhile it's amazing what a boring Saturday during Winter and a Dremel tool will do for a part. For now, the 7 ounces removed will fair enough.

 

[Badvert65]

Nice, I weighed the rear-view mirror in my 65 Belvedere and it came in at 1 lb. 2 oz. I hadn't considered shaving it down, but I was looking for something lighter. I removed the sun visors; those came in at 3 lb 7 oz for the pair. I was considering putting in a smaller driver side visor from a Volare wagon I used to have. It weighs in at one pound. I am uncertain how much I will actually use the visor, but I have that option.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Yeah, I took almost a half pound off the mirror at 7 oz. There are lighter ones out there, but I was being cheap and curious at figuring out how much I could trim.
Yes, the visors are in that range of 3 Lbs or so. As far as visors, there's always sunglasses or the hand in salute. LOL.

Nice, I weighed the rear-view mirror in my 65 Belvedere and it came in at 1 lb. 2 oz. I hadn't considered shaving it down, but I was looking for something lighter. I removed the sun visors; those came in at 3 lb 7 oz for the pair. I was considering putting in a smaller driver side visor from a Volare wagon I used to have. It weighs in at one pound. I am uncertain how much I will actually use the visor, but I have that option.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Here are the interior trim pieces that hold the headliner material in place as well as cover the raw A-pillar posts and close off the dashboard frame ends. The two B-pillar trim covers which were also metal were easily made of light gauge aluminum, so they are not shown here.
What y'all see here looking like cleaned and prepped for paint trimmings, are actually drying out after a few baths in baking soda followed by denatured alcohol. and then prep sol degreaser.
Why?
They are relieved of a few pounds of their own skins after a dunking in the acid Jacuzzi.

Yeaaap, that sh!t still happens. You see, a number of years ago on one of my trips to Detroit, I was introduced by the ever so generous Dave Dudek of F.A.S.T fame to a gentleman that I appropriately named "Kulasa The Dipper" This Dipper guy was in the business of etching and texture forming interior plastic and metal panels, so in between he could moonlight as a Jack LaLanne alchemist for weight conscious crazies.
Based on that professional experience and depending on the density of the part, he would scientifically figure out the amount of time and solution strength needed to rid the clean metal parts of a few ounces and in most cases, even pounds. Timing was everything because without it, things could literally disappear like a Wiley Coyote experiment gone bad. Needless to say, he got the nod to dunk these pieces.
They all went in the vat weighing a factory 6-1/2 Lbs, but when they emerged, 3-3/4 Lbs was their new scale numbers. Right there 2-3/4 Lbs had fallen off.

Here they are ready for the first coats of Zero-Rust epoxy primer before wearing a final coat of Sem's #39143 trim satin black.
Any good epoxy primer will work as well as a good satin black such as Rust-Oleums, but I find that SEM Trim black is where its at.

I thought I was special and getting exclusiveness for my elusiveness, LOL (I really was getting special attention) but it turns out he was dipping everyones toes into the baths. I witnessed hoods, fenders, bumpers, brackets and various other parts being dunked for '62-'64 Impalas, Ford Fairlanes and Pontiac Venturas, so be skeptic of those HEAVY behemoths in the next lane that might just be a little feathery.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Breaking away in taboo fashion for a moment and off the cuff showing some interesting stuff.
Little is known about these strange naughty cars, only because they were not supposed to exist but their realness screams of notice and recognition. Only a little over 500 of these were made in secrecy against company police protocol and only a handful were lightweight post cars. Super light compared to their hardtop coupe siblings. The old guys at Olds were younger than what we thought after all.

 

[Badvert65]

So, these are 'Cut-weight Cutlasses'?

 

[fullmetaljacket]

So, these are 'Cut-weight Cutlasses'?

Not all of them were. there were at most 50 post cars from a batch of about 500 or so and 2 of those with 3 pedals which made them even lighter. IIRC, there was repordedly some without radios and heaters and came through with plastic inner wheel wells, but a massive 455 ringer in any midsized car back then was basically a ground version of a Japanese A6M Zero. Light and ready for flight.

 

[bearman]

I believe I have seen one of those here in phoenix. Inner fenders wells are plastic and red in color. This one was a bucket seat car and fitted with white paint and gold stripe. At first I thought it was one of the Hurst Olds cars but had no emblems on from Hurst. But maybe clone didn't get to talk to the owner so don't know for sure.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

I believe I have seen one of those here in phoenix. Inner fenders wells are plastic and red in color. This one was a bucket seat car and fitted with white paint and gold stripe. At first I thought it was one of the Hurst Olds cars but had no emblems on from Hurst. But maybe clone didn't get to talk to the owner so don't know for sure.

The '69 and '70's Hurst Olds had the white bodies with gold stripes. The '68's Hurst Olds were all Silver with blacked out trunks and black stripes on the sides and hood. Nice looking package if you asked me. Depending on the packages available within the W series for the '69s and '70's, the plastic inner fenders, ram air fiberglass hoods were included and even aluminum rear end center sections among other things.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Being that we're on the subjects that are in the vicinity or part of the dash frame itself, here's a little something on dashes.

For some time now, I have been in awe of what is probably one of the holy grail parts to emerge from camp Chrysler in the 60's; the coveted but elusive aluminum dash frames that were allegedly installed on the 1964 2% and some 1965 2% AFX cars.

Like a needle in a needle stack, these things are hard to distinguish from your production line pieces other than that most were made out of steel and the others of the light alloy. I happened to see one at the Nationals for sale years ago as part of a broader package and because I could not afford it, I miss fired and it slipped away into obscurity. Since then I've made peace that I will never find or see another one of those pieces which brought me to this, lighten what you've got.
Obviously, I've never had the opportunity to lay an aluminum one on a scale, but I would bet that since a steel unit weighs in at 17 Lbs bare skin, that an aluminum one should weigh in the neighborhood of 7 - 8 Lbs.

Making one out of aluminum is like trying to have a regular horse give birth to a Unicorn, almost impossible without all the right tools, measurements and long winded patience, so the next best thing was to investigate chemical milling.

Immediately, a realistic conversation with Kulasa The Dipper went into affect about how much could be extracted from a steel dash without compromising its integrity and how much would it weigh?
Thereafter, a perfectly preserved and stock dash was found at the swaps for about 50.00 bucks and away it went with a prayer to the summer jacuzzi day camp. Kulasa assured me that it would be a successful dip.
When the day came to go fetch it, I was floored. He preserved all the structural and mounting points and handed it to me with one hand balancing. He had removed a fair amount of material in the larger plains.

From its original 17 Lbs, it was now 10 Lbs. It had lost 7 Lbs and we were being conservative.
Here it is after several neutralizing baths, washes and anxiously waiting for its first coat of epoxy primer sealer. Keep in mind there were other additions that actually lightened it even more. Stay tuned.