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

[POMONAMISSEL]

i just used early a body seats , and all the window crank mech and supporting panels have been remove along with the heater assembly and controls , but because i street the car i added hotrod coupe electrical window lifts for both doors , that weight difference was more than a few pounds and changed out the oem dash instruments for a autometer gauge package and tougle switches , still keeping the oem light switch , radio delete and the wiper assemble has been removed , it's not a rain car i know i've tried that , lol no more . even no carpet or floor matt . oh ya removed that heavy steering wheel for a vintage hotrod type .

 

[fullmetaljacket]

i just used early a body seats , and all the window crank mech and supporting panels have been remove along with the heater assembly and controls , but because i street the car i added hotrod coupe electrical window lifts for both doors , that weight difference was more than a few pounds and changed out the oem dash instruments for a autometer gauge package and tougle switches , still keeping the oem light switch , radio delete and the wiper assemble has been removed , it's not a rain car i know i've tried that , lol no more . even no carpet or floor matt . oh ya removed that heavy steering wheel for a vintage hotrod type .

View attachment 1473859

Man talk about reinventing the wheel, the steering wheel that is. Later on y'all see what a mysterious Dodge's STOCK steering wheel looks like.

 

[POMONAMISSEL]

i've got after market vintage steering wheels , their like chips you can't just have one , lol .

 

[dvw]

Ah windows and doors. All mine are Lexan except the windsheild. If I had researched and known 2% cars didn't have vent windows I would've probably eliminated them. As I remember the vent assy's weigh 11lbs. The doors are gutted. The door panels were replaced with 1/8" masonite for stifness. The 1/8" Lexan was stiffened with 1/16"x 1/2" angle aluminum. Battery straps pull them up. A piece of 3/4" aluminum mounts the inner handle assy. It's stiffened with a piece of 3/8" steel fuel line tube welded to the vent assy. A Home Depot closet door roller keeps it all moving. Vent windows are 1/4" Lexan. The rear side windows are in a fixed position with a piece of angle aluminum and some threaded rod. The back window sets in the original channel. this removed 88lbs over stock.
Doug

 

[Big bill]

What about your door hinges steel or?

 

[fullmetaljacket]

What about your door hinges steel or?

Aluminum door hinges you ask?
Here they are in aluminum before being installed. Bought them from a source years back that was masterfully producing them but they were not sought after as much, so only a few dozen or so were made. Wish I had a second pair that I could gift DVW with. His doors are light enough to not be a factor.
Original hinges were 11 Lbs. Aluminum hinges 4 Lbs. Saved 7 Lbs at the front of region #2.
The Titanium mounting bolts holding them to the doors and jams saved another pound or so.

 

[33 IMP]

Aluminum door hinges you ask?
Here they are in aluminum before being installed. Bought them from a source years back that was masterfully producing them but they were not sought after as much, so only a few dozen or so were made. Wish I had a second pair that I could gift DVW with. His doors are light enough to not be a factor.
Original hinges were 11 Lbs. Aluminum hinges 4 Lbs. Saved 7 Lbs at the front of region #2.
The Titanium mounting bolts holding them to the doors and jams saved another pound or so.

View attachment 1474643

Those are BEAUTIFUL!

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Aluminum door hinges you ask?
Here they are in aluminum before being installed. Bought them from a source years back that was masterfully producing them but they were not sought after as much, so only a few dozen or so were made. Wish I had a second pair that I could gift DVW with. His doors are light enough to not be a factor.
Original hinges were 11 Lbs. Aluminum hinges 4 Lbs. Saved 7 Lbs at the front of region #2.
The Titanium mounting bolts holding them to the doors and jams saved another pound or so.

View attachment 1474643

Those are BEAUTIFUL!

Dude. I stared at them for months. I couldn't believe that someone made them to replace the factory lightweight types on the Hemi cars. The doors, which are questionably light close perfect with them now that I've got the correct weatherstrip.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Dude. I stared at them for months. I couldn't believe that someone made them to replace the factory lightweight types on the Hemi cars. The doors, which are questionably light close perfect with them not that I've got the correct weatherstrip.

Titanium door hinge bolts. They only see service because the doors are light.

 

[Big bill]

I remember them I almost bought some so cool.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Titanium door hinge bolts. They only see service because the doors are light.

View attachment 1474653

Like DVW's, this door doesn't reveal its tricks so easily once it is all painted, mounted and masqueraded with its spartan trimmings.
Million Dollar question. What's behind door #1?

 

[gooser]

Like DVW's, this door doesn't reveal its tricks so easily once it is all painted, mounted and masqueraded with its spartan trimmings.
Million Dollar question. What's behind door #1?

View attachment 1474802

 

[gooser]

i would guess not to much

 

[fullmetaljacket]

i would guess not to much

Is the glass half full or half empty? LOL.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Is the glass half full or half empty? LOL.

Door #1 There's an aluminum window track bridge just like the one attached below bolted to the Lexan window pane.
It is custom made and looks and performs exactly like a factory lightweight piece.
It weighs near to nothing at half the weight of the steel one.

The Lexan vent window pane and side window weigh 2 -1/4 Lbs combined. They roll up and down and swing open just like stock.
The stock glass versions weigh 19-1/2 Lbs.
DVW went as far as to shave and shape the outer edges of the Lexan to have that slight rolled rounded look like a stock glass.

The rooster gear in the window crank mechanism is hole sawed and the crank elbow arms are also hole sawed. 4 Lbs were removed between both doors.
The A-864 and A-990 Hemi cars supposedly came with aluminum rooster gears and crank mechanisms in the doors.

The top interior trim plate that caps off the upper portion of the door is aluminum. That is why it is not part of the molded upholstered interior door panel here. The interior door panels were a limited run of A-990 pairs by legendary Interiors and were rather lightweight themselves. I probably bought the last pairs in black.
But wait, there's more.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Door #1 There's an aluminum window track bridge just like the one attached below bolted to the Lexan window pane.
It is custom made and looks and performs exactly like a factory lightweight piece.
It weighs near to nothing at half the weight of the steel one.

The Lexan vent window pane and side window weigh 2 -1/4 Lbs combined. They roll up and down and swing open just like stock.
The stock glass versions weigh 19-1/2 Lbs.
DVW went as far as to shave and shape the outer edges of the Lexan to have that slight rolled rounded look like a stock glass.

The rooster gear in the window crank mechanism is hole sawed and the crank elbow arms are also hole sawed. 4 Lbs were removed between both doors.
The A-864 and A-990 Hemi cars supposedly came with aluminum rooster gears and crank mechanisms in the doors.

The top interior trim plate that caps off the upper portion of the door is aluminum. That is why it is not part of the molded upholstered interior door panel here. The interior door panels were a limited run of A-990 pairs by legendary Interiors and were rather lightweight themselves. I probably bought the last pairs in black.
But wait, there's more.

View attachment 1475100

View attachment 1475101

Going On Strike! The upper left corner piece is a molded factory item whereas the other is a T-7075 aluminum piece in the midst of drilling and cutting. Aside from sourcing the hardened lightweight material, lots of measuring, testing using spare door latch rooster gears to get the spacing between the lobes for proper locking.

 

[bearman]

Someone now a days will use one of those fancy 3m printers. Myself I'll be doing it your way.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

Someone now a days will use one of those fancy 3m printers. Myself I'll be doing it your way.

The essence of Hot Rodding is to fancy yourself with some hands on experience. The results speak louder than the shape that the factory created and we fell in love with in the first place. I understand the fascination with 3D printing (I've had one part made so far) but the overall satisfaction is going through the process (fail or fortune) and creating dialogue with strangers that all have common interests. Hobbies keeps life going in between the madness.

 

[Big bill]

What et dose your car run? And did you make a pass before the weight reduction?

 

[fullmetaljacket]

What et dose your car run? And did you make a pass before the weight reduction?

With what I assume was a tail wind, car has been a best of 9.97 at close to a 132 mph. Averaged 10ohs while trying to get a hold on launch RPMs and such.
Street driven in city traffic and all.
First shake down passes years back were high 10.80's before correcting the convertor and carburetor and few other wrinkles. Hardly get a chance these days to go ring the webs out of the cylinders with too much going on and the fact that the nearest track is close to two hours away. %#@*!
Weight, or lack of it has been a factor in its success at sanctioned events and the haunts back in the days, but overall it is your average well planned street thug.

I'm not into or have the time to maintain a fidgety motor with a lot of compression and angry cam profile, so I prefer a lukewarm stroker or even a well blueprinted stock mill with no weight to weigh it down. It doesn't really help my sickness that my all time favorite cars are the 2% cars from '64-'65. So with that being said, a main course of 2% on a bed of A-864-A990 with a sprinkling of '65 AFX tactics on top rounds out the package. It probably comes out to be more expensive with a diet plan such as this, but the mill and car are long lasting and happier.

Drove 125 miles round trip a couple of weeks back to a car show in decent amount of traffic along with two buddies beautiful '68 Coronets. One of them RMCHRGR here and the other a '68 Super Bee tribute car. The Bee has a Dave Dudek Hemi in the nest and a decent amount of weight tricks under its sleeves. I'll later post what we have achieved on that car so far, but not enough for my madening tastes. LOL.