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

[bearman]

Some great work you have going on.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Some great work you have going on.

Thank you.
Winter projects add up to results during the summer time.
Summer time adds up to the plans for Winter.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

To not divert away from the dash, note that the factory AM radio such as the one that once resided here was a whopping 6-1/2 Lbs alone so it had to go off the air. This wasn't even taking into account the speaker up front just under the dash. For some reason, I never got a chance to weigh the speaker, but muscle memory bets it was somewhere near 4 Lbs.

The dashboard heater controls are gone and so is the heater blower and housing assembly underneath the dash. Who needs heat when header pipes just underneath provide it. It all shaved 30 Lbs.

In place of what would be an obvious radio delete plate is a Autometer Ultra-Lite lightweight series 5" tach installed in its own 20 degree tilted aluminum casing. Excuse the shoddy silicone bead hiding the spot welds underneath.

In place of the heater control panel is the Ultra lite water temp gauge. A plus to this was that the cast metal material directly in back had to be milled/filed off to make way for the gauge, so a few ounces were given the eviction notice.

In place of the heater blower itself is nothing other than open air/desert which lends itself to a good place for an MSD ignition box or other control modules. It also allows for easy access to gauge plumbing and cluster wiring which amounted to a full 1/2 pound of decommissioned wire removed.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Some of the under dash copper spaghetti I was talking about. You'd be surprised what unnecessary wiring weighs.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Going back to region #1 for a second.
Here's my friend's '68 Hemi inspection plates. He said the aluminum version did not move the scale needle at all, so it must comfortably be in the grams territory. I don't have inspection plates at all because of as y'all know. LOL. In my rule book, the lack of an inspection plate creates an escape hatch for hot engine compartment air.

 

[Olwhite63]

This thread boggles my mind.

Makes me want to send my wagon under the knife this winter.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

This thread boggles my mind.

Makes me want to send my wagon under the knife this winter.

This is just past the tip of the iceberg.
There’s so much that can be done, but it has to be in a responsible and productive way.
Names are being withheld to protect the NOT SO INNOCENT, but a worked nasty, snarly turbo Porsche tried to start a street fight and he was shocked that a featherweight B-body, an old one at that, spanked away his chances and advances. He was close and loud, but proud he wasn’t.
Not that it’s always a win win, but a light combo that physically still looks heavy can surprise other lightweight looking combos that are indeed light.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

The whole set after the hammering. Top half in black are the stock steel sheet and of course the silvery ones are the heavier ones. LOL.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

This alone rests its case right on the scales. This kind of stuff adds up, or should I say deletes.LOL.

 

[Badvert65]

While in the realm of weight loss, but not really something ‘stealth’, I drilled/shaved the lard from the hinges on my 65 Belvedere. I didn’t do too bad in the process. An aluminum hinge set of 4 (with aluminum fasteners) weighs in at 4.6 pounds (estimated with info from Kramer). The stock steel hinges from my car weighted in at 12.4 pounds for the set of 4 (with steel bolts). My lightened set comes in at 5.9 pounds for the set of 4 (with titanium bolts). So, the end result is a 6.5 pound weight savings over the OE hinges, but still comes in at 1.3 pounds heavier than the ultimate aluminum hinge set (but my wallet is $700 heavier in the process).
Like I said, not exactly stealthy, but it works for me.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

While in the realm of weight loss, but not really something ‘stealth’, I drilled/shaved the lard from the hinges on my 65 Belvedere. I didn’t do too bad in the process. An aluminum hinge set of 4 (with aluminum fasteners) weighs in at 4.6 pounds (estimated with info from Kramer). The stock steel hinges from my car weighted in at 12.4 pounds for the set of 4 (with steel bolts). My lightened set comes in at 5.9 pounds for the set of 4 (with titanium bolts). So, the end result is a 6.5 pound weight savings over the OE hinges, but still comes in at 1.3 pounds heavier than the ultimate aluminum hinge set (but my wallet is $700 heavier in the process).
Like I said, not exactly stealthy, but it works for me.
View attachment 1537246

That's a good savings both on the parts and the wallet. I remember seeing the 700 dollar price tag.
I would probably try some good adhesive back duct tape to apply over the flat sections of those hinges and paint them with flat black and you're back to stealth mode with your steel set.
The aluminum hinges are probably much suited for fiberglass, aluminum or thin gauge doors so as to not put unnecessary wear and tear on them from the weight of steel doors. More on this later.
I still have some to reveal underneath the dash.

 

[dvw]

While in the realm of weight loss, but not really something ‘stealth’, I drilled/shaved the lard from the hinges on my 65 Belvedere. I didn’t do too bad in the process. An aluminum hinge set of 4 (with aluminum fasteners) weighs in at 4.6 pounds (estimated with info from Kramer). The stock steel hinges from my car weighted in at 12.4 pounds for the set of 4 (with steel bolts). My lightened set comes in at 5.9 pounds for the set of 4 (with titanium bolts). So, the end result is a 6.5 pound weight savings over the OE hinges, but still comes in at 1.3 pounds heavier than the ultimate aluminum hinge set (but my wallet is $700 heavier in the process).
Like I said, not exactly stealthy, but it works for me.
View attachment 1537246

I tried drilling the upper hinge on the body side of my 64. Couldn't find a drill bit that would even touch it. Carbide just made it shiny.
Doug

 

[Badvert65]

I tried drilling the upper hinge on the body side of my 64. Couldn't find a drill bit that would even touch it. Carbide just made it shiny.
Doug

Yes, so did I on that part of the hinge. I couldn't find a drill bit to get through it but I was able to cut/grind some of the hinge away. You'll notice in the picture that I have no extra holes drilled in that part. My hinges were missing the thingies that hold the door in place when open, so I wasn't too worried about ruining them. My doors are 'gutted, drilled, and otherwise lightened (Lexan) so I figured that the hinges didn't need to be so beefy.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Yes, so did I on that part of the hinge. I couldn't find a drill bit to get through it but I was able to cut/grind some of the hinge away. You'll notice in the picture that I have no extra holes drilled in that part. My hinges were missing the thingies that hold the door in place when open, so I wasn't too worried about ruining them. My doors are 'gutted, drilled, and otherwise lightened (Lexan) so I figured that the hinges didn't need to be so beefy.

The door shells themselves are not so heavy, considering their size but a little reaming or hole sawing on the interiors doesn’t hurt. The doors on an E body is epically heavy in contrast. The wing window track assembly and the rooster window crank system starts to get heavy.

 

[Badvert65]

My door shells weighed in at 46 pounds, with only the vent window/frame. I got it down to 43 pounds with my hole saw assortment.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

This was a project perhaps from as far back as 2002. Supposedly the mysterious 1964 2% FX cars had these light alloy parts, including the brake lever installed after being stamped and cut during the midnight hours. There is no evidence of their existence even after being detailed in a Chrysler memo sent to NHRA in early '64, but that didn't prevent the curiosity to fabricate these out of spare 6061 aluminum sheet and bar stock. Not for the novice to say the least.
Traveling at the moment, so the weight savings log is not in front. Will post numbers and install pics later on.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Install of the aluminum casing and brake lever complete with Ti-6AL-4V titanium bolts and nuts. A lot of the wiring has since been cleaned up and detailed underneath. Weight later.

 

[Badvert65]

I drilled holes in my brake pedal lever taking it from 3.2 pounds down to 2.2 pounds.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

I drilled holes in my brake pedal lever taking it from 3.2 pounds down to 2.2 pounds.
View attachment 1537690

As far as stock brake pedal levers, the brake levers from a stick are lighter by a few ounces or more because the foot pad is lightly narrower to make way for the clutch pedal on one side and the go pedal on the other. Hemi-its has this slim Jim trick on his creature.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

The aluminum brake and steering retaining brace and extension support weighed 1-1/2 Lbs not counting the aluminum or titanium fasteners to mount it.
The stock brake and steering retaining brace and extension support weighed 4-3/4 Lbs. It saved 3-1/2 Lbs once the stock fasteners were factored out.