Weight differences???

[Slider79SC]

What is the weight difference between a 69 chassis and an 89 chassis if they are both stripped down to bare minimum for a racecar? IE. Fiberglass body parts, lexan, no power anything etc.....

[IROC]

This is just a guess, but probably the weight difference would be small - *getting there* would be a whole different ball game.

My '76 easily got down to 2300 lbs by doing a few simple things. Getting an '89 down to 2300 lbs would take alot more effort.

Mike

[Slider79SC]

When you say effort, are you refering to stripping everything out? It would be a DE/Club race car so I am not opposed to doing that.

[racea911]

2300 lbs is pretty light for a 76, but I believe the 1969 911's left the factory at under 2200 lbs. That is with everything in them. Stripping them down will get you a car that hits the track at just above 2,000 lbs wet. I've never seen, or heard of a later model (post 73) that has been lightened up that much.

[IROC]

Originally posted by racea911
2300 lbs is pretty light for a 76, but I believe the 1969 911's left the factory at under 2200 lbs. That is with everything in them. Stripping them down will get you a car that hits the track at just above 2,000 lbs wet. I've never seen, or heard of a later model (post 73) that has been lightened up that much.

I think this is my point essentially. Stripping an '89 to make it into a "lightweight" track car would be alot more difficult than simply starting off with a "lightweight" car to begin with. You could make a lightweight '89 (when compared to other late model Carreras), but you'd still be heavier than all the guys running around in the '69-'77 cars with SC flares and the same amount of rubber on the road as you...

Mike

also, FWIW, my '76 started off life as a Euro model, so it didn't have near as much heavy crap on it as a similar US car. Fiberglass bumpers, decklid and few other mods here and there and it was down to 2310 lbs. And that's with SC flares, big tires and wheels and a roll bar...

[racea911]

Originally posted by IROC

also, FWIW, my '76 started off life as a Euro model, so it didn't have near as much heavy crap on it as a similar US car. Fiberglass bumpers, decklid and few other mods here and there and it was down to 2310 lbs. And that's with SC flares, big tires and wheels and a roll bar...

2310 ready to hit the track? That is very light for a 76, and your galvanized too?!! Awesome

[IROC]

Originally posted by racea911
2310 ready to hit the track? That is very light for a 76, and your galvanized too?!! Awesome

Well, I corner balanced it once without the spare tire and jack and it was right at 2310. I re-did it later with those back in. The cars' front-to-rear weight distribution was getting sort of biased to the rear. Probably didn't make much difference, but I didn't know any better...

Mike

[JTO]

IROC,

I put my '75 S on the certified truck scale at work. With me in it (220 #) and a full tank of gas, etc. the care weighed 2689 lbs. Remove me and the gas and that puts my car at about 2319 lbs. Does this sound right? I have no AC, power windows, air pump, but the rest is pretty much stock in terms of equipment.

Thanks for the feedback,

Troy

[dd74]

IROC is right: a few simple things can strip down a car quite a bit.

Here's mine for my '74 911.

1) Removal of A/C - 50 lbs.
2) Removal of spare and jack - 45 lbs.
3) Removal and replacement of the battery with a lightweight battery - 45 lbs.
4) Removal of back seat, parcel shelf, sound insulation and carpeting - 90 lbs.

That's about 230 lbs there.

Subtract that from about a 2400-pound '74 911, and I'm down to a little under 2200.

2170 to be exact, though personally, I haven't weighed the thing.

[pbs911]

I would start with an early car for a track car. That said, my 78SC Targa weighs in at 2325 lbs. Thats with striped AC, rear seats, fiberglass hood, and f/r bumper caps, Autopower roll bar, and lots of little lighter components (e.g. seats, RS door panels, washer res. delete, etc.) but a driver friendly interior. I imagine that if you go full on f/g - including doors, roof, fenders, etc, you may be able to get close to 2000 lbs but it will cost alot more than starting out with an early car.

[IROC]

Originally posted by JTO
IROC,

I put my '75 S on the certified truck scale at work. With me in it (220 #) and a full tank of gas, etc. the care weighed 2689 lbs. Remove me and the gas and that puts my car at about 2319 lbs. Does this sound right? I have no AC, power windows, air pump, but the rest is pretty much stock in terms of equipment.

Thanks for the feedback,

Troy

Well, "the scales don't lie".

I *think* a mid '70s 911 was supposed to weigh in the neighborhood of 2450 lbs off the showroom floor, so you're somewhat below that for sure. Your car sounds similar to mine with respect to options, but I have had to remove alot more stuff to get to the low 2300 pound range.

I usually did my corner balancing with about a half a tank of gas, so that would make somewhat of a difference. 10 gallons of gas added to your 2319 number would get you closer to 2400.

Mike

[Slider79SC]

So if I started with an 89 and stripped out everything what do you guys think it could weigh?

Stripped out:
Interior
power everything gone
lexan windows (not the front though)
fiberglass hood, tail and bumpers
lightweight race seats
forgeline race wheels
all heating system gone
AC gone (with all of the lines)
no window washer reservoir
rs type side windows (strap to pull up windows)

Then install cage and fire system.

[IROC]

Originally posted by dd74
IROC is right: a few simple things can strip down a car quite a bit.

Here's mine for my '74 911.

1) Removal of A/C - 50 lbs.
2) Removal of spare and jack - 45 lbs.
3) Removal and replacement of the battery with a lightweight battery - 45 lbs.
4) Removal of back seat, parcel shelf, sound insulation and carpeting - 90 lbs.

That's about 230 lbs there.

Subtract that from about a 2400-pound '74 911, and I'm down to a little under 2200.

2170 to be exact, though personally, I haven't weighed the thing.

A few of the things I did:

No AC to begin with...
Removed the heater blower motor
Headers and Supertrapps
Fiberglass front and rear bumpers
Fiberglass decklid
Removed rear seats (to install roll bar)
Removed rocker panels

I think part of the "lightweight" nature of these earlier cars is the mag-cased 915 and the mag-cased engines. I'm in the process of swapping in a 3.2 with SSIs and a Dansk muffler, so that's going to add some weight back to the car.

2170 is wonderful. I'm a firm believer in the advantages of light weight!

Mike

[Yargk]

My car started at 2920 pounds...

[mm86911]

I'm at 2720 with 3/4 tank of fuel (no driver) - see my Owner's Page for details.

Can anyone confirm actual weight of:

1. front Carrera Bumper, shocks and valence
2. rear Carrera bumper, shocks and extension panels (behind wheels)

Also, is there a preferred factory piece to mount fiberglass bumpers after removing the shocks?

[TimT]

My '69 911T started life at 2184lbs. I am aiming for less than 1950lbs when im done.

[IROC]

Originally posted by mm86911
I'm at 2720 with 3/4 tank of fuel (no driver) - see my Owner's Page for details.

Can anyone confirm actual weight of:

1. front Carrera Bumper, shocks and valence
2. rear Carrera bumper, shocks and extension panels (behind wheels)

Also, is there a preferred factory piece to mount fiberglass bumpers after removing the shocks?

I have this info at home. It's not insignificant. I made some simple aluminum "L" brackets to secure my rear bumper since it only weighs 7 lbs. It bolts into the same position that the factory shock mounts (or collapsible tubes in my case) attached. The front bumper came with new aluminum brackets for attachment. Mine had to be "bent to fit", but it turned out OK.

Mike

[dd74]

For those interested in keeping a stock look, there are fiberglass "bumper blades" available, which resemble the factory bumpers.

I was once quoted a weight savings of 15 pounds in front, 18 in the rear.

[Randy Webb]

Some suspension parts on the later cars are less wt. than the ones on the early cars. I don't know what the wt. of the unit bodies them selves would be -- maybe someone who does stripping, acid-dipping and powder coating would know if there is any difference. Someone is on the web that does that.

Wt. savers should read the Exc. article on Jim Calzia's car a couple of years ago, articles on the SC/RS and search the 911S site for Calzia's wt. table.

Headers & carbs whold save some wt. on the engine as will using the earlier MG cases, and some 901 trannys had MG too. The 915 tans weighs more.

[dd74]

Doesn't a 3.0 weigh about thirty pounds more than a 2.7?

Also for Randy: would you or anyone know the weight difference between CIS and Webers, and heat exchangers as opposed to headers?

I also understand the Bursch exhaust is much lighter than factory. I've heard 30 pounds, though don't quote me on that one.