damn

 

Road and Track listed 2790 curb weight (all fluids full, no driver) for a 1986 GXL, and 2900 for an '88 Turbo they tested. So 2800 gutted and with a cage sounds pretty good.

 

And R&T tested an '89 GTUs, which had a 2775 curb weight with an aluminum hood like the Turbo and vert, but of course without the turbo. These cars back in the day were praised for rigid body structure, and criticized for not being particularly light

 

i always thought that my 2700lb some odd 87 n/a was pretty darn light weight.

of course i came from driving around a 4200lb buick lesabre. so it can't be helped.

 

By today's standards, they are light weight - when a BMW 3-series is 3300 to 3500+lb. Back in the 80's, a BMW 325 was about 2800lb, with an iron-block 6 and seating for 4. And a Mustang 5.0 was around 3000lb. So for a two-seat proper sport car, the FC was a bit porky.

 

That's because it was a luxury sports car.

 

my dad's 5.0 came across at 3340, so in comparison, you are almost 500 pounds lighter

 

Curb weight for the GTUs was 2802, not 2775. I got my GTUs down to 2680 with a quarter tank of gas. Still has full interior, only things removed were the full exhaust which was replaced with an RB header, test pipe and a corksport catback and some misc stuff in the engine bay. It still has all the emissions parts on it too. Oh, its also got a carbon fiber hood as well.

 

Why do people think they can rip out all the interior panels and expect to lose 100 lbs.???
I think the BATTERY weighs more than all the plastic panels inside the car.
Why don't you remove the battery if you're serious about dropping the weight?


-Ted

 

lol thats just one area that i worked on.. like i said before AC removed no PS,all emissions removed racing seats, no stock headlights or motors,no spare tire..ect ect

 

Im just going to remove my starter. Im going to start hand cranking my engine

 

You can always carry a person to push start your car for you.

It's easier with a hill, though...

Changing the battery on a street car is a really stupid idea though, the stock battery already drains fast enough if you leave any lights on (even just the exteriors. hell, it'll drain if you leave the ignition on for a day).

Hell, why not just get rid of your alternator and go total loss? That'll save you 20 pounds right there :p (not to mention it'll give you a few HP back)

 

don't forget wheels and tires. those add up.

 

Race cars often run without an alternator, if they're allowed to do so, if the races aren't that long. On a GT3 BMW that I crewed for we got a full day's racing out of a small Odyssey battery (680?) before it needed to charge.

What I'd suggest next is lighter wheels and tires (go smaller and stickier maybe?), fiberglass or carbon hood, fenders, lexan hatch and side "glass", sound deadening's worth about 20lbs, smaller battery, fiberglass bumpers, remove the bumper supports (not reccomended for the street), AWR 2 piece brake rotors, lighter single exhaust, remove the sunroof, etc.

 

we've weighed a few fc's

s4 seems a little lighter than the s5's, like 20-30lbs stock to stock, depends on options.

the steel hood is way heavy

stock wheels are heavy

stock exhaust is heavy

with a cat back and AL hood, and rims, you prolly loose as much as the interior weighs

 

You also lose about 10 net pounds if you go to a fiberglass bucket seat and Bride rails... per seat. But that's worth it just for the fact that it has about 5X the hold of the stock seat.

And then about 3-4 pounds by going to a racing steering wheel.

Also, I know that race cars and bikes sometimes have total loss racing ignitions, but it's a pretty stupid idea for a street car, and personally I'd probably keep the 20 pounds just so I didn't have to charge the battery every hour.

OTOH... on a race bike, I'd rather bump start it with no battery, and take out the starter than save the 5 pounds or so you get from taking out the generator and using the battery.

 

you have to be careful about WHICH seats you get, stock t2 seat with rails is about 35lbs, sparco torino is 44lbs with no rails

 

wow. i never would've thought the FCs were that heavy... Doesn't make much of a difference to me but still... pretty heavy..

 

I'm just citing R&T's test number from the data panel when they tested an '89 GTUs. From the "As tested" notes, it had A/C, power windows, cruise as the options, and the 16" mesh wheels also seen on '89+ turbos. And those motorized mouse belts, looking at the interior pics - thank God we didn't get those in Canada!

 

lol damn my 88 vert with most interior (trunk and under the rear cover thing are gutted) and my stereo w/ sub are barley breakin 2700 (full fluids w/ me)

 

He was talking about single piece fiberglass race seat, not a steel frame reclining sport seat.

 

r u kidding? dont they weigh 3000 from factory?

 

oh i forgot to add that i have both of the bumper bars removed and it only had a 1/4 tank of gas and no spare tire

 

i think the s5 must because mine isn't close to 3k.

 

I have a 87 gxl with no ps or ac I have spare and half tank of gas, a lot of stock sensors gone(haltech e8), no emissions, elec fan ,s5 manis and a bunch of other crap ,full stock interior with seats and relocated batt.
2608 lbs with around a 48% front and 52% rear weight ratio.
2810 with me in the car
(this was not done at the dump lol)