I'm putting my 88 Bird on a diet. I want it light as possible while still maintaining some comfort. From looking at the door tag my GVWR is 4448 lbs. I read somewhere that if you multiply 180lbs X (Max number of Passengers[5]) and then substract that from the GVWR you get an approximate weight of your vehicle. Now how much truth is in that I do not know, but it is my starting point of 3550 lbs. Also as I pulled parts off I weight them with a mere bathroom scale so these are just estimates.
Ok I'm restarting this program on my 87 TC (4350 GVWR/3450lbs approximate starting weight). I'll re-weigh the same parts if available and post those results in blue. Hopefully I'll be able to reproduce the 200lbs weight loss that I performed on the 88 TC.
Parts Removed
A/C System ~ 48lbs/34lbs
Fog Light Brackets ~ 5lbs/5lbs?
Rear End Dogbone ~ 10lbs/9lbs
Transmission Damper ~ 5lbs/5lbs
Trans Xmember Damper ~ ???*/4lbs
Rear Speakers ~ 1lbs
Door Speakers ~ ???*
Dash Speakers ~ under 1 lbs.
Stock Radio Deck ~ ???*
ABS Comp ~ 1lbs
PRC Comp ~ 1 lbs
Metal Bracket for Above Comps and All wiring ~ 15 lbs
Spare Tire ~ 31 lbs/31lbs
Mini Lug Wrench ~ 1 lbs/1lbs
Sound Deadening ~ 65 lbs/3lbs
Air Cleaner Assembly ~ 5 lbs/5lbs?
Center Console ~ 5 lbs
Power to Manual Seat ~ ???/16lbs
Vacuum Brake Conversion - 11lbs
Foot to Hand E-Brake ~ ???
3G Conversion ~ +2lbs
Plus One Size Wheel/Tire ~ ???
Hood Hinge w/Spring to HH w/Prop Rod conversion ~ 4lbs
Charcoal Canister ~ 2lbs
TC Dual Fans to Taurus Fan ~ 5lbs
Total Known Weight Loss: 203lbs/124lbs
Approx. Vehicle Weight: 3347 lbs/3326lbs
Any of the ??? with an (*) I don't know nor have the part anymore. If you know the approx. weight please fell free to let me know. Thanks.
Ideas of weight loss
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Mini Starter (Ranger or Mustang)
Lighter Carpet
Smaller Battery (and relocate to trunk)
Aluminum Water Pump
Aluminum Radiator
Aluminum Driveshaft
Fiberglass Hood
Tubular K-Member
Tubular A-Arms (coilover conversion)
Single Exhaust (Log header, ler Delete, Exhaust Inserts)
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This section I will use to keep up with various weights of different parts
TC Stock Electric Fan ~ 12lbs
Taurus Fan ~ 7lbs
TC Hood w/Ducting for Intercooler ~ 49lbs
You can lose a lot of weight in sound deadening. And if you get some of the aftermarket carpeting, it has a lighter pile. It looks good because its fresh, but its not as plush, and weighs less.
Remove your carpet, get some dry ice and a hammer, freeze those squares of sound deadening all over the floor/sides of the car and whack them with a hammer. Theres a fair bit of weight there aswell, my guess is 20-25 pounds.
The total combined weight of all the A/C components is 48LBS. Spare tire is about 10.
dry ice.... NOW i learn about that trick. which car are you refering to for weight? 88 or 85? well if you havent all the smog equipment is another thing to remove... if u do not need heater u could take that out lol
you could always pull the bumpers off of drill holes in them.
The 88. And since I live I Michigan at the moment I may need that precious heat. :D
The snowflakes weigh 23.2 Lbs each, less tire, with center. The airbox is about 5 Lbs with bracket. Power seat tracks are a little over 35 Lbs each, I have some manual driver's side laying around I can weigh.
Heh, heh. Speed holes! Heh.
ah ok i didnt know where you lived... my theory is... if its cold bundle up if its too hot... shed n roll the ed window down lol.
Hey if you know the weight of snowflakes w/tires that would be great. I'm pretty sure I gained some weight in that category. :D
Thanks for the other info too.
a t5 weighs alot less than an AOD too, aluminum cylinder heads are a weight saver also.
Just pulled the abs unit and it was 21 lbs. Anybody know the weight of the vacuum booster and master cylinder (aluminum)? Also switched over to the 3G and it is 2lbs heavier, more with all the heavy wiring I will need.
Did you count the factory regulator in the alt weight. it is part of the 3g. Also what about the wiring for the old style alernator. Have you got power windows or manual? if they are power get some doors with the manual windows.
In 88, the 2.3t came with an internal voltage regulator. The wiring is quite similar to the 3G, the plugs are the same, but the wires play musical chairs a bit. So the only other weight gain is were the heavier gauge wiring is needed... and I haven't gotten to that point yet. But I will include it. :)
I have power windows and honestly would rather keep them. LOL, I hated reaching across the car to roll up that window in my Stang. Actually, to be honest, I've never seen a TBird with manual windows.
But I do need a new rack... contemplating manual... can't get a straight answer from the Stang boards... still undesided.
What do you need to know about the racks?
Well, while I know this is subjective to the person driving the vehicle, I am just wondering HOW hard manual steering is. Some say it's completely unbearable and liking to dead power steering. I have experienced faulty p/s and it was not fun. I mean it felt like I was going to rip the steering column out!!! Not to mention the ever so locking sensation that would pop up every once and a while. While others say most people are just "used" to P/S, which I understand completely. Some claim tire size is what makes manual so tough, while I've read tire sizes from skinnies to 18 inch 245 plus series tires on bought sides of the aisle. I think some just don't have a fresh front suspension which is just another variable thrown into the mix. Also it seems as though everyone gets the 15:1 ratio and not the 20:1. Personally I would choose the 20:1 just to increase ease of turning.
I think I am just going to bite the bullet and take a chance. But input is still welcome.
iv driven a couple cars that didnt have ps as an option, and they were ok. the fatter the tire the harder it is, like skinny's is close to power steering. and as long as your rolling its not hard at all to turn the wheel. its when your at a dead stop and your trying to parallel park that its harder. im pretty sure somebody hear has the manual rack, and i think its chrome302jr but im not sure.
X2 on the tire size and the keep it rolling and it's not half bad and ez to get used to but dead stops are a pain.
Yeah my power steering has been out for about 2 years, so its basically the same. Tighten all the bolts down on your steering colum for sure. Other then that it isnt that bad. I can turn it fully in about the same speed with one hand on the wheel and the other hand holding a big gulp of moutain dew.
The sound deadening in the trunk and under the back seat is easy to remove with just a putty knife. I did all of it in about an hour and a half in the dead sun. Ford did not apply it to well it seems, in my car at least. I was able to peel up big sections by hand.
Under the back seat is a batting that is heavy - just as heavy as the sound deadening. I'm actually saving all of the tar and batting the weigh it.
Chris
What do you mean by "batting"? All I have under there (or so I think) is some very light sound deading... I mean insulation stuff. Actually all I have removed up to this point is insulation/sound deading attached to the carpet. I think I'll need a putty knife for the stuff attached to the sheetmetal. Mine was applied very well. xD
just pulled another 5 lbs of 'loose' sound deadening from the back seat area.
I did an assload of research on the power/manual steering thing, and most guys say the 15:1 rack with skinnies isnt bad, but from what ive heard from other guys, the 20:1 rack with standard sized tires isnt bad, but 15:1 with standard tires is rough. Not as bad as a failed power steering setup, but still tough.
Whats your overall purpose of the car? Street car? Drag strip only? twisties?
Depends on all that black magic you got ;)
definitely not drag-only. will be my summer only car once everything is swapped over to another chassis. less I am living in the south by then... then it will be my daily for the most part.
I'm just going to give it a shot. first hand experience is the best I always say (ok I just made that up but whatever). And if I don't like it then i'll just sell it.
13 more lbs of sound deadening removed. :D
d@mn thats alot of sound deadener. i cant wait to get the interior pulled outta mine so i can see how much i leave out during re-assembly.
tell me about it. I just pulled 10 more pounds out today.
and for those interested. the rear lower seat weighs about 12 lbs, and I'm sure the upper portion is more. but I need my rear seat so it will stay... for now.
how much sound difference does the sound dedoning make? is it hardly noticable, or can you definatly hear a huge difference?
Dunno. I still need a few more parts before she's ready to fire up.
cool man, bet you cant wait to fire her up. be sure to tell us how she handles, sounds and her final weigh-in with all that weight off her.
Batting is like a fabric filler/sheet type material. It was like a thick blanket under my back seat. If I wanted, I could have made a fluffy pillow out of the batting since that's what it's used for.
How about that? A Tbird pillow made from stuffing from the car!
Chris
ok I gotcha. yeah that stuff was pretty heavy. to be quite honest, I'm surprized that I've removed as much weight as I have due to the sound deadening.
updated my weight loss. got a vacuum brake setup thanks to herb jr. looks like it is about 11 lbs lighter than the abs stuff. also added a sort of wish list of lighter parts. and before anyone mentions it, I didn't put aluminum head on there because it is out of my price range. :)
when i had my bigblock 85 bird i had a flaming river manual rack in it. not a problem at all to steer at speed or crawling through a parking lot, even with the 460. i also ran a 225/55/16 tire on it.
How much weight are u saving by removing all this. Does it include the back seat as well?
Were you talking to me or Chris?
I guess whoever can answer. Curious as to how much weight you can loose by removing the back seat, and how total weight the sound deadning material is in the back is also. I've considered removing the back seat from my cougar. Almost never used, except for very rare moments.
I always thought it would be kinda cool to replace the seats with just a one person seat in the center of the back. It would be a bit different for sure.
The lower seat is 10lbs and the upper is around 20lbs. Plus about +5lbs for the sound deadening/insulation. I'd say you can lose close to 40lbs. More if you remove the seat beats and hardware.
Thanks. Thats not too bad. I may do that, depending on how it will look after. Know anyone who has pics with the seats missing?
Well this is interesting. I weighed my Turbines with 205/65 snow tires they came out to 43 lbs. Then I weighed my Tribars with 245/45 tires and they were 42 lbs! Now if someone can weigh their snowflakes with stock size tires I would greatly appreciate it.
I honestly thought I was going to gain weight in this area. :)
I think factory ford wheels are about the same as far as weight goes (i.e. heavy)
Also someone asked what it was like driving the car with no sound insulation- I removed ALL the "batting" insulation I could get to in my old '90 Mustang. Taking it on long highway trips was fairly unpleasant as it was always loud inside the car. It also seemed harder to keep the inside of the car warm during the winter.
Well I got a wheel weight of 23 lbs and an estimate of the tire to be 10 lbs. That's 10 lbs less than the 15 inchers! I may have to steal somebody's wheel to verify. :D
I just weighed my spare tire and it came out to be 31 lbs! The 'ell is up with these wheels???
put one of my snowflakes on the scale today with a 225/60 mounted up it was 49lbs. for reference(and my own weight loss info) one of my konigs w/ 245/45/17's weighed 47lbs.
IMO, i find it hard to believe that your OEM tir-bars weigh less than my konigs, but who knows maybe its in the tire...your mileage may also vary due to differenet scales ;)
Maybe you just have more air in your tires :giggle:
Well if I can get these wheel locks off I can weigh my snowflakes. I'm going to weigh all four of my Tribars (since they are free) and see what the average weight is.
Ok I weighed them again. The two with Falken 245/45 Tires (moderate tread) weighed in at 45 lbs. The two with Sumitomo 245/45 Tires (New) weighed 49 lbs.
Hmm.. I never would have thought my snowflakes witha comperable sized tire would have weighed that much.
Posted some updates.
Did the Taurus Fan swap, saved about 5 lbs. Also when I went for a test drive, the hood was removed, the front end of the car felt considerably lighter. One of these days I'll have to invest in a fiberglass or carbon fiber hood. Prolly not for this car though.
EDIT: Just weighed the hood w/ducting - 49 lbs