Keeping your stock frame and seen where guys have cut out the center cross brace under the oil pan, then weld in a removable cross brace (tube) but unsure the weight difference or IF worth the hassle.

 

We don't do that for weight, we do that to fit a full race pan.
Especially the big power, dry sump guys.


.

 

So between swapping to an aluminum LS block and also a front steer rack (and steering column) sounds like I'd drop raceweight from 3200 to 3050. Sounds like a plan!!

 

QUOTE="Pro Stock John, post: 74419072, member: 8220"]
So race steering columns, decent on the street, do I need to do a lot of custom work to secure it?

I'll do the rack and steering column, and cut misc bits off the floor and clean up the wiring. Cut and sheet metal the firewall heater wings/coves. I'll look into an aluminum exhaust I'd do one of they hold up for a few years.
[/QUOTE]

My chassis guy did my rack but I chose to stay with the stock column for a while. I later converted over to the TRZ column. It was pretty straight forward to install. You have to trim it to fit where you want the wheel to be. Then you have to weld the spline in the tube. I street drove it for a while without any problems.

 

I did the TRZ column in my Chevelle, but kept the stock steering box. Mostly because I need to be about 54% on the front to leave hard with a radial. I had just put a new front end on with glass fenders and a new hood, and seemed silly to spend a bunch removing weight off the front if I was going to just have to add weight to keep the front end down. I was also in need of a hip replacement at the time, and it helped getting in and out of the car.

The difference between the MT SR front tires and a lightweight front runner is huge. I believe the SR radial is 29lbs, the Hoosier front I run is only 8lbs. The lightweight tires are not a good street tire, so having two sets mounted isn't a bad idea.

 

If you look real hard there are a lot of places you can cut extra steel out of the car. I did 69 Nova for a customer with all steel except for a bolt on glass hood, it had factory bumpers, all glass windows, it was a 4 link but maintained the factory floor, trunk, and frame rails. With a parachute, wheelie bars, and a BBC with a old heavy P&S block came in at 3007#. But I had to do a lot to get it there, gutted the factory column except for turn signal switch, rack and pinion, even cut the steering box supports out of the inside of the OEM sub frame. You can get them pretty light, it just depends how hard you want to work.

 

I just figured out how to use the multi-quote feature LMAO.

Me: Man you really raise a good point, I've never scaled the car. I plan to stay on a radial and I'm guessing I'd want to be 54-52% on the nose. So, I need to scale the car before I buy that rack.

I did the TRZ column in my Chevelle, but kept the stock steering box. Mostly because I need to be about 54% on the front to leave hard with a radial. I had just put a new front end on with glass fenders and a new hood, and seemed silly to spend a bunch removing weight off the front if I was going to just have to add weight to keep the front end down. I was also in need of a hip replacement at the time, and it helped getting in and out of the car.

Me: Yeah they are not as puncture resistant and wear faster, but I've had cars with mult sets of wheels before, it's worth doing again.
The difference between the MT SR front tires and a lightweight front runner is huge. I believe the SR radial is 29lbs, the Hoosier front I run is only 8lbs. The lightweight tires are not a good street tire, so having two sets mounted isn't a bad idea.

Me: Yeah keep those ideas coming!

If you look real hard there are a lot of places you can cut extra steel out of the car. I did 69 Nova for a customer with all steel except for a bolt on glass hood, it had factory bumpers, all glass windows, it was a 4 link but maintained the factory floor, trunk, and frame rails. With a parachute, wheelie bars, and a BBC with a old heavy P&S block came in at 3007#. But I had to do a lot to get it there, gutted the factory column except for turn signal switch, rack and pinion, even cut the steering box supports out of the inside of the OEM sub frame. You can get them pretty light, it just depends how hard you want to work.

Me: We talking 10 lbs total between both?

Can’t give a # on the rear windows, but I imagine it’s pretty considerable

 

I had taken the 1/4 window regulators out of my car years ago, and recently removed the track and the window for lexan. Just the 1/4 window bare was 8 lbs each on a Chevelle.

 

Dang that's worth it. Local buddy said he just made a bracket from aluminum flat stock something like that.

 

It's usually pretty easy to fab a bracket for the 1/4 windows, the glass already has a couple of holes in it were the factory regulator attaches and there is a lip on the inside of the 1/4 where the window fits, just do not tighten the fasteners too much in the glass, you will break the glass, ask me how I know.

 

Okay it's settled I will get a Smith Racecraft rack when I have the money. I might spring for a Woodward steering column though, they are collapsible.

 

I need to look into the tire weight difference between my 15" MT SRs and a similar bias ply tire. I would consider running a different set of fronts just for the track.

 

The MT Sportsman fronts are a decent compromise if you dont want to have to sets of tires and rims. Summit has real good info on their tires like weights and dimensions if you need to compare.

 

I heard the new MT DOT ET Front style tires are lighter than the SRs.

 

Do you drive your car on the street if so are those DOT approved?

 

Mmmm will add a set of these to the list. You got me fired up Vinny to try to get this heap to 3000 raceweight.

 

😎😎😎 the Hoosiers are the lightest I’ve weighed, haven’t yet weighed the Moroso or the M/T. The Goodyears so far are the heaviest and definitely are more in line of what the tire is advertised as size wise. The others seem to run on the small side compared to what they’re advertised as. Picture is a 27x4.5 Hoosier VS a 27x4.5 Goodyear- check out the width difference. The Goodyears were a few pounds heavier each. I do think they are a better quality tire though.

 

Interesting to hear your thoughts on quality.

 

Those are DOT approved. But these tires are not as puncture resistant as the SRs.

I drive my car on the street.

 

Those are DOT approved. But these tires are not as puncture resistant as the SRs.

I drive my car on the street.

I agree i don't know if i would use them street driving for that reason!!

 

I definitely won't use them on the street around here.

 

Best big city 8 years in a row.

Dumbest thing I have ever heard in my entire life.
Absolutely ridiculous!!!!

This place is a craphole.


.

 

I’ve been running Moroso’s on the street since 2018. These are as light as any on the market. They have held up well.

 

Only thing that sucks using a Race front tire on the street is the soft compound and lack of any real tread depth .......... You can burn a set up pretty fast

 

Yep that's why I run an SR, I've had ET Fronts in the past and they wore fast. I already have another set of SR fronts so I'll mostly likely keep running them unless I have the $ for a second set of wheels.

 

here is a page i bookmarked a long time ago that has one of the better weight reduction / weight savings lists that i have come across. Figured id share
Drag Racing Weight Reductions - Ideas, Tips and Resources for saving weight from your race car

 

I've heard of reducing the size of the cable from the battery forward to save weight. Not ideal for a street driver but for a race car could help. Copper is heavy after all...

 

Use aluminum cable.

 

There a $$$$ equation that can help you decide how to lose weight on your car.
Say you have rear drum brakes and you can save 8 lbs. By going with disc brakes, but it cost $750.00.
Sure it would be good to lose 8 lbs. But for $750.00 can you spend that money on another items that equals 15 to 25 lbs. Of weight off the car. That would be money better spent

 

In the Honda world we'll go carbon on the whole front-end, rear end, and roof. Titanium bolts everywhere we can.

Basically anything that is steel that we can replace with aluminum, titanium, or carbon gets swapped.

There's EG's under 1950 lbs. Scary power to weight ratio with a fully built N/A K-series pushing 500+ at the wheel.

 

I got the car to 3000 without driver with an iron block LS and the turbo setup, so 3200 with me.

I think if i do the following:
Aluminum block going in 2025 (-105)
Smith front steer rack... maybe race column too? (-100, not sure). Currently factory manual rack.
Bias fronts (-20 between the pair?)
=2775 car weight, 2975 raceweight.

I'll also definitely cut out the side of the firewall, the coves, wings etc. Passenger side but maybe both. I'm thinking -10, -15 for both.

But I'll be adding a removable single chute too.

 

Are the Aluminum Blocks as strong as the Iron Blocks?

 

I've thought about lightweight stuff probably more than anybody on here LOL. I'm currently at 927lb no body on an LS-powered T-bucket/Altered I'm building. My old Nova (pictured) weighed 2640lb no driver and had a lot of tricks to lighten it up. The big one was the fiberglass doors and Lexan windows. I had it set up where the window would rest on a hook inside the door and window channel, and then if you lifted up and pushed in slightly, the window would drop all the way down and rest on a second hook inside the door so you could put your arm out the window Honestly having the two choices of either windows up or windows down never bothered me, I'd do it again no problem. Also, I've weighed both an aluminum 5.3L and iron 6.0L and the weight difference was 426lb vs 344lb, so 82lb not 105lb. Sorry lol. I'd also highly recommend going with a lightweight lithium battery. Antigravity Battery makes a 680cca battery that's 3.8lb and only $350. There's always weight you can cut out of places, just have to get creative.

 

I've got an LC9 that I'm going to have built with all forged rotating assembly. General sentiment is they are strong because of the siamese webbing but I'm sure there's a YT video that covers this better than I'm going to.

I think other than cutting off little bits of metal on the car I'm not sure what all else is left short of doing carbon doors etcs and I won't be doing that for a variety of reasons (street car, I still fit a lot of 28 tire classes).

 

Bumping this up, I'm still running my iron 5.3 so I'm 3180 raceweight.

I think for next year, I'll finally get the aluminum block in (-105), do the SRC front steer rack and a race column, cut the sides off the firewall and swap to bias fronts. I'm not sure what all those changes will net weight wise, but I think 50 is possible.

So maybe at some point I'll get to around 3040 raceweight and call it good.