Possible to get early A down to 2,700lbs?

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Badart

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Is 2,700lbs even possible with a small block 65 Barracuda without fiberglass panels? In SCCA Prepared C Class in order to take advantage of them minimum weight limits of running a 273. The max displacement of this weight class is 5.1L or 5,100cc. A 318 is 5,200cc so it would put me in the 3,000lb class which I know that I can make, but will put me with the big boys running stroker motors. I plan on building either a 390 or 408 stroker down the road, but would love to move some weight around later.

I have done my coilover conversion and should save me around 20-30lbs, going to wilwood calipers and 11.75 rotors which should save me another 20lbs. Car will be gutted without a cage, but will have frame connectors.
 
Let me know how your coilover conversion works really interested in how well it works
 
prrc said:
Let me know how your coilover conversion works really interested in how well it works
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I plan on running the car as is this year at a few events in Salt Lake and Ogden. It won't be very competitive running the factory 904, street tires and an open diff, but will give me something to play with while I collect more parts.
 
That backlight glass weighs a ton. A 'Cuda will probably not be as good a platform as a Valiant/Dart sedan would. The shoe box is already like 2,700 lbs from the factory with the Slant, but more like 2,900 with the 273.

Can you use a fuel cell? Aluminum stut rods? Aluminum master cylinder? Aluminum differential housing? Aluminum wheels?
 
HotLines said:
My 64 Signet weighed in at 2490 something and no fiberglass anything
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Wow that is light. I had no idea. Thanks Hotlines

rmchrgr said:
That backlight glass weighs a ton. A 'Cuda will probably not be as good a platform as a Valiant/Dart sedan would. The shoe box is already like 2,700 lbs from the factory with the Slant, but more like 2,900 with the 273.

Can you use a fuel cell? Aluminum stut rods? Aluminum master cylinder? Aluminum differential housing? Aluminum wheels?
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Yes I can use all of these. There are very few modifications that I can't do, like swapping to an IRS or moving the firewall. Things like that. There are also tire limitations, depending on weight. The biggest one is engine size. Once you get above 5.1L then the weight jumps up to 3,000lbs and you can run a stroker.
 
My 66 Dart weighs 3000lbs with a 408,Dana60,8 point rollbar,frame connectors and just 1 seat(drivers).Its all steel panels,bumpers and all glass windows still.I wish fiberglass peices were more readily available.You should beable to get down under 3000lbs no problem.GOod luck. Now you got me thinkin of ways to cut weight.LoL
 
scrape off all the undercoating...swiss cheese behind the door panels, swiss cheese the door and hood hinges, loose the torsion bars for the hood and make one of them into a prop rod. swiss cheese the window regulator arms. lots of lil stuff to peck at for weight savings and still apear stock,,read the rules carefully..it ain't cheatin if ya don't get caught...
 
waggin said:
scrape off all the undercoating...swiss cheese behind the door panels, swiss cheese the door and hood hinges, loose the torsion bars for the hood and make one of them into a prop rod. swiss cheese the window regulator arms. lots of lil stuff to peck at for weight savings and still apear stock,,read the rules carefully..it ain't cheatin if ya don't get caught...
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Waggin I'm not desperate enough to start drilling holes yet, but I am in the process of scraping all of the undercoating.
 
You'll be suprised to see how much that undercoating weighs. Haha, could you use some sorta plastic rear window possibly? Everything bit helps.
 
I'm not sure about 2700 pounds but it should be under 3000.

The first thing I think of is all of those HEAVY cast iron (or we call it "wonder metal") engine and trans parts. An aluminum intake and trans case would save a lot.

Have you weighted the car yet?
 
Waggin, i made swiss cheese out of a k member. Probably real dumb thing to do. Dick Landy used to drill out front spindles and Don Carlton milled 25 lbs off the sides of his block. Lots of little things add up.
 
SSVDP said:
I'm not sure about 2700 pounds but it should be under 3000.

The first thing I think of is all of those HEAVY cast iron (or we call it "wonder metal") engine and trans parts. An aluminum intake and trans case would save a lot.

Have you weighted the car yet?
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Haven't weighed the car yet, because I am still putting it back together. I have swapped to a mini starter and aluminum intake, aluminum master cylinder. That's a few more pounds.
 
Badart I'm doing a similar thing with my 65 Cuda but everything I've read says they weigh between 2700-3200 so it's probably close to 3000 should be able drop it to 2700
 
Glass glass glass glass glass! Use a heat gun and some 1/8" lexan to mold you a replacement back glass. same with door glass if you're allowed to. That'll be a big savings. If you wanna go really crazy with it, Your subframe connectors are good, stitch weld as much of the body as you can, and gut the doors, bolt the passenger door shut, cut the inside of the door out, take out the window regulator out, latches, etc. Cut out the dash to the firewall, and put in a race-style gauge bezel on the steering column, Take out the gas tank, put in a plastic fuel cell, and on and on and on. But of course, that's if you're putting it on the anorexic diet. You shouldn't need to go that crazy to shave a mere 300lbs off the factory curb weight.
 
madmax/6 said:
yes.
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Mark's Toad makes Mickey Thompsons 63 "Swiss Cheese" SD Pontiac look like it could hold water...Valiant bucket Seats weigh ~60 lbs a piece, intake weighs 40 at least...it all adds up.
 
i dropped nearly 40lbs with my rear disc brake swap and over 35 with the fronts. went with wilwood 12.19 rotor with aluminum hats. the brackets are aluminum as are the calipers. making super stock style seat brackets will shave nearly 20lbs. my aluminum driveline cut 15lbs. aluminum radiator is prob good for another 10lbs. also when i redid my rear seat upholstery the rear seat had what looked like horse hair for padding. went with new foam and cut 9lbs.
 
derrangedgadgeteer said:
Glass glass glass glass glass! Use a heat gun and some 1/8" lexan to mold you a replacement back glass. same with door glass if you're allowed to. That'll be a big savings. If you wanna go really crazy with it, Your subframe connectors are good, stitch weld as much of the body as you can, and gut the doors, bolt the passenger door shut, cut the inside of the door out, take out the window regulator out, latches, etc. Cut out the dash to the firewall, and put in a race-style gauge bezel on the steering column, Take out the gas tank, put in a plastic fuel cell, and on and on and on. But of course, that's if you're putting it on the anorexic diet. You shouldn't need to go that crazy to shave a mere 300lbs off the factory curb weight.
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I agree.

But can you run lexan to replace stock glass in the SCCA Solo II C-Prepared class?

I think 63-65 Valiant sedan would be the best choice. Maybe even a 60-62 Valiant sedan. You are going to use the 60-62 suspension anyways.

But you have what you have. And a 65 Barracuda is cooler than a 60 Valiant. It might not matter much after it's gutted as much as a C-Prepared car can get.
 
I know when I had my 63 Valiant I read somewhere the weight was a little over 2500. Went through the 63 service manual but didn't find.It may have been in the owners manual.
 
The Barracuda is probably at a 150lb handicap compared to a Valiant, just because of the rear glass (and the framing to support it). A Valiant 2dr post would be the lightest setup. The folding back seat probably weighs over 100lbs -- the problem is you're taking weight off the wrong end of the car. But if you're trying to make a limit, you gotta go after the low-hanging fruit.

The narrow body As seemed to use a lot heavier gauge sheet metal than the 67-and-up body, so anything you replaced with fiberglass would be huge. But there might not be much (or anything) available.

The bumpers are another obvious target.
 
Should be very doable. Not that I know much about early A's but. I think I am going to be around 2800LB with my Duster. That is with lexan and fiberglass every thing and gutted to the max. Though it is going to be a BB D60 car with a 12 point cage.
 
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