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

[dvw]

For what it's worth. My last build the pistons came from Ross. Thru a communication error they ended up being heavier than the previous Diamond pistons. This along with the decission to go with thicker wrist pins (though it had no issue with the the thinner pins .150"- .170" wall) ended up being nearly 100 grams more of receprocating weight per cylinder. That's roughly 2 pounds. No other changes were made during the freshen up except going with custom Holley style 4150 carbs. Best run before freshen 9.0@150. Best run since freshen 8.96@150. Did the pistons slow it some? And the carbs pick it up more than indicated? Maybe.
Doug

 

[fullmetaljacket]

For what it's worth. My last build the pistons came from Ross. Thru a communication error they ended up being heavier than the previous Diamond pistons. This along with the decission to go with thicker wrist pins (though it had no issue with the the thinner pins .150"- .170" wall) ended up being nearly 100 grams more of receprocating weight per cylinder. That's roughly 2 pounds. No other changes were made during the freshen up except going with custom Holley style 4150 carbs. Best run before freshen 9.0@150. Best run since freshen 8.96@150. Did the pistons slow it some? And the carbs pick it up more than indicated? Maybe.
Doug

The Devil is in the details. Some kind of Wizardry was performed.

 

[RemCharger]

Real lightweights stand up for themselves.

View attachment 1839223

Granted the car IS light... but that's still a pretty tough dude

 

[fullmetaljacket]

I might have posted this years ago, but a recent conversation with RMCHRGR concerning gauge cluster panels, triggered my attention on how heavy some gauges can actually be. The numbers are not in front of me at the moment, but the difference in the weight of a regular steel cased 5" Monster tach and a Pro Comp Uni-lite Monster tach really revved me up. I'll have to look it up again, but roughly 1/2 Lb difference.
The tach, along with all the other necessary dials factored in, shaved off almost a whole pound total. That was good enough for the piper.
Other than the Ultra-Lites, I'm sure there are now other much lighter instruments available in the open market, but at least they are a good affordable starting point.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

A little deviation from the actual black art of weight reduction is this Brooklyn based street racer. I assisted in giving the owner a few pointers to get this thing under 3600 Lbs, (suggesting doors, Hood, front bumper, and actually installing the side Lexan glass) but it never quite achieved real feather-fitness like I would have liked because he was more concerned with the break throughs of the elephant huffing underneath. Can't blame him because the car even though still heavy, held its own (UP HIGH).

It ran like stink and ran on the street for nothing but $$$$$ Till this day, I can't really land on his numbers, but they were in the single digits while looking at Elvis in the next lane.

 

[Jeff Peterson]

A little deviation from the actual black art of weight reduction is this Brooklyn based street racer. I assisted in giving the owner a few pointers to get this thing under 3600 Lbs, (suggesting doors, Hood, front bumper, and actually installing the side Lexan glass) but it never quite achieved real feather-fitness like I would have liked because he was more concerned with the break throughs of the elephant huffing underneath. Can't blame him because the car even though still heavy, held its own (UP HIGH).

It ran like stink and ran on the street for nothing but $$$$$ Till this day, I can't really land on his numbers, but they were in the single digits while looking at Elvis in the next lane.

View attachment 1842518

I remember that being for sale on Ebay.

 

[fullmetaljacket]

I remember that being for sale on Ebay.

Yes, it was at a no sale I believe. He had too much invested in it to even come close to breaking even.
The transmission is super tricked.