Weight reduction: Running out of ideas.

[mfain]

https://customimagecorvettes.com/product-category/c3-corvette/fiberglass/custom-image-fiberglass/

Front and rear bumper kits $650 ($450+$250).

By the time you built molds and then the finished part, you could not do them any cheaper than that! There website description of the front bumper also has some interesting info about finishes.

rtj - new math? LOL

No fat fingers on the iPhone. It was supposed to be $200 not $250. I added the (faulty) math later.

Yeah, agreed molds take material and time. Not to mention fumes inhaled vs $650.

You just have to have the right kind of alien blood. I've been sucking up fiberglass fumes and dust for over 50 years, wash my hands with acetone, been exposed to large doses of ionized and non-ionized radiation flying hi-powered radar-equipped fighters for almost 40 years, and lived through a year of Agent Orange exposure, all largely without visible effect at age 73. As Tom Cruise says in the new Top Gun Maverick movie trailer, "This sh...t is probably going to kill me, but not today." I'm more concerned about a concrete wall in turn 4 at 170 mph. LOL

Cheers:beer: (Coors light)

 

[69427]

I currently have a Fluidamper brand harmonic damper on my engine. I have the 7.25" unit, but looking at the Fluidamper website I see they sell a 6.25" unit that is four pounds lighter. I can't justify the purchase price for just a 4# reduction, but I might just keep my eyes open in case I see a decent priced used one somewhere.

 

[rtj]

That’s a sizable drop in weight.

With Nascar bringing in new cars soon, maybe lots of old lightweight stuff starts showing up. I’m hoping the old transmissions are plentiful. Probably won’t be though.

 

[rtj]

Okay, 2022 looks like they change cars. I was sort of digging around for what to expect and saw lightweight bell housings on eBay, etc. stumbled onto this.


Probably expensive but still much cheaper than all new. It is long and I kind of skipped ahead a lot, but was interesting.


[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6fTZnVtMNY[/ame]


One guy built one on a drag racing forum and got good results in a c3 corvette. Unfortunately he seems to have deleted his build thread.

 

[rtj]

This is kind of interesting, just one of many on YouTube. I like his dry ice trick. Seems better than a heat gun and scraper.


[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCiNGmwopx4[/ame]

I did more searches on eBay for nascar: dry sump, carbon fiber, and brakes. There are some interesting finds.

 

[69427]

This is kind of interesting, just one of many on YouTube. I like his dry ice trick. Seems better than a heat gun and scraper.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCiNGmwopx4

I did more searches on eBay for nascar: dry sump, carbon fiber, and brakes. There are some interesting finds.

I'll take a look on ebay. I'd be darn amused if I could find some lightweight stuff that might work on my old antique. :amused:

 

[rtj]

Soon to be obsolete. If the economy crashes, I wonder what price these used ones will run.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--xLup1tzaY[/ame]

I don’t know if the volume available will be big enough to notice.

 

[redvetracr]

why not buy a set of fiberglass replica bumpers? they are only $2000 a set

I have to admit you've managed to provide both a question and the answer in your post. :amused:

happy to help you fund your project if your willing to sell me your set of J-56 insulated pistons.....

 

[redvetracr]

Soon to be obsolete. If the economy crashes, I wonder what price these used ones will run.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--xLup1tzaY

I don’t know if the volume available will be big enough to notice.

I believe these are in the $6500 range, the trick will be finding one with suitable gear ratios, in 2005 Leonard Long helped me find a rebuilt T-101 with a Long rail shifter (the absolute best) and my choice of gear ratios, I think I paid $2500 delivered, when I sold my car two years ago the trans/shifter was one of the items I knew they wouldn`t use and tried to buy back...no luck

 

[69427]

why not buy a set of fiberglass replica bumpers? they are only $2000 a set

I have to admit you've managed to provide both a question and the answer in your post. :amused:

happy to help you fund your project if your willing to sell me your set of J-56 insulated pistons.....

I suspect your interest is only on flipping them, but feel free to PM an offer. Given our "history", I don't think either of us is worried about hurting the other's feelings regarding the offer or the reply.

 

[redvetracr]

why not buy a set of fiberglass replica bumpers? they are only $2000 a set

I have to admit you've managed to provide both a question and the answer in your post. :amused:

happy to help you fund your project if your willing to sell me your set of J-56 insulated pistons.....

I suspect your interest is only on flipping them, but feel free to PM an offer. Given our "history", I don't think either of us is worried about hurting the other's feelings regarding the offer or the reply.

my race car has been gone for two years and I have the itch, I want to put this (link below) back together as was originally raced (last pic), I have the castings but no pistons, how`s $400 for the set of 16?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GihWW8pXaDXtJifR8

 

[69427]

why not buy a set of fiberglass replica bumpers? they are only $2000 a set

I have to admit you've managed to provide both a question and the answer in your post. :amused:

happy to help you fund your project if your willing to sell me your set of J-56 insulated pistons.....

I suspect your interest is only on flipping them, but feel free to PM an offer. Given our "history", I don't think either of us is worried about hurting the other's feelings regarding the offer or the reply.

my race car has been gone for two years and I have the itch, I want to put this (link below) back together as was originally raced (last pic), I have the castings but no pistons, how`s $400 for the set of 16?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/GihWW8pXaDXtJifR8

I'll pass. Thanks.

 

[69427]

I currently have a Fluidamper brand harmonic damper on my engine. I have the 7.25" unit, but looking at the Fluidamper website I see they sell a 6.25" unit that is four pounds lighter. I can't justify the purchase price for just a 4# reduction, but I might just keep my eyes open in case I see a decent priced used one somewhere.

I had a weak moment and said hell with it, and bought the lighter Fluidamper (roughly 9# versus the bigger 13# piece that I had on the car for years). The only downside so far to the casual observer is a possible increase in parallax error when timing the engine.

 

[69427]

Long tube vs Shorty header: Weight and hp difference?

Just trying to figure out my next weight reduction move over the winter. I'll have the engine out replacing the cam, and I was going to take a weight measurement of the present headers (I'd really like to get some more weight off the front if I can). Given that these headers don't dump out to atmosphere after a tuned collector length, I've just been curious if I would lose any actual/noticeable horsepower by putting on a set of (hopefully) lighter shorty headers that dump into my reasonably low backpressure system. I haven't yet seen a shorty set that catches my eye, but when I do, I don't know how easy it will be to get an accurate weight on them without shelling out the money first.

Oh well, I suppose I have all winter to figure this out.

 

[Red77]

Hopefully you can find a set by a manufacturer that actually cares enough about their product to answer a prospective customers questions. It may be as easy as asking if they have a tech rep there worth anything. Those are getting harder to find these days though... Best of luck.

 

[rtj]

I thought this was neat, Dynamic Corvettes seems to be aggressively developing new products. Not sure what the weight savings are, but oem door panels are heavy. Too $$ for me though. They sell the whole interior or just the door panels.



https://dynamiccorvettes.com/product/c3-deluxe-interior-trim-kit-1968-1977/

 

[rtj]

At 4:30 they make a new windshield from polycarbonate/lexan and save 12 lbs.

Lexan will bend in 2d with no heat. Curvature looks similar to c3.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJAaCA6KAMs[/ame]

 

[69427]

Working on the rear suspension to do some geometry tweaks (C6 rear toe rods to reduce the C4 suspension roll steer, and now some shorter camber struts to reduce the camber gain), and it looks like I can pull about 5 pounds of weight off the car in the process. I'm using some heim joints and tubing for the struts, and the new struts are 25 ounces lighter each (3# total) compared to the stock C4 struts, and it looks like I can use the stock C3 camber bracket (instead of the custom piece I welded up years ago to connect the C4 struts to the C3 differential housing I retained). I haven't weighed both brackets yet, but there looks to be about two pounds difference in material there.

 

[Troll]

Thanks for the update.
Sounds trick…….. Troll

 

[BBShark]

I'm starting to look at installing the dash and gauges. I was surprised at how heavy the stock speedo and tach are (just shy of 3lbs each). The new modern gauges are super light. Sounds like a lot of work but maybe you cut ~5 lbs?

 

[phantomjock]

Maybe a Race-Technology DL-1 with a Dash unit, MoTec, or AimMXL dash? If you have electronic sensors they almost might be plug and play. I just weighed my RT dash & main module. Wait for it... 15.8 ounces. Dump the entire stock dash and replace with only what you need. Oh, but there is an investment to consider, but you'd have a lighter wallet too!

Cheers - Jim

 

[rtj]

This guy has some good info. Shows how he made the oven for $200 in another video.

He gives weight savings for an import at the end. 40lb.

Maybe when I retire.....

 

[rtj]

 

[69427]

How can I do a non-destructive test to tell an aluminum piece from a titanium piece? I have a few lightweight bolts that I suspect are aluminum, but short of doing an Archimedes' type test, what's the least destructive way of figuring out what I have here?

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[rtj]

“The hardness of titanium is lower than some steels, so it scratches easier than most steel. However, titanium is much much harder than gold, platinum and aluminum.”

They sell cheap test kits, but I would try a spring loaded punch first. I see talk about spark test.

 

[rtj]

 

[BBShark]

Spark test will work. Also aluminum is lighter than titanium

 

[69427]

Spark test will work. Also aluminum is lighter than titanium

You are correct. I mistakingly remembered/thought that the weights were reasonably similar (when I originally posted), and that's why I couldn't figure out an easy (and non-destructive) way to tell the two metals apart. A couple hours ago my first mentor at work corrected my memory (the specific weights are noticeably different) and suggested I weigh a similar size steel bolt and compare the weights. (Aluminum bolts should be less than half the weight of a steel bolt, while a titanium bolt would be slightly more than half.) The scale reading was less than half, so I've got an odd assortment of aluminum bolts that I'd like to find a purpose for.

 

[69427]

That was pretty interesting, and I learned a couple things. Thanks for posting that!

 

[rtj]

Here is the lightest 911. Thought he went obsessive-compulsive.