Anyone ever though of gutting the TGP of its sound proffing and other heavy parts to ligheting the car up a bit without messing up thise collectibles. For a FWD performance car..it is heavy. I was thinking of maybe 300lb diet or 3100lbs with me in it. (Im 230lbs). Well sound padding is one thing(like 30lbs?). Light carpetting is another(6lbs?). I was thinking of removing the AC and just having a heater/fan(40lbs?). Installing all aluminum pipes on exhaust(5lbs?), If possible..fiberglass trunk/ hood if traction allows(30lbs?). Thats 111lbs of possible gutting. I know the Prototype TGP was lighter than ours. Mybe this is what they did..minus the a/c of course. Any ideas?

I'm in the process of removing the A/C from my TGP.  I already took out the core, but not compressor and all the lines yet.  I'm actually looking to lighten it up a little all over by taking all the little stuff off.  I'm only looking to maybe lose 100 lbs of weight, but then again that supposed to be worth a tenth in the 1/4.   :P

I have a thing against losing luxery items.. I'd rather have parts made of lighter material to replace whatever. It'd be great if somebody made light weight body panels (CF? fiberglass?) and such.

You can lose 105 lbs right away! Do a 5-speed swap! :lol:

I did do a 5 speed swap, but I used a 284.  So that's 50 lbs more that I could have lost if I were to use a 282 instead.  :)

I don't want to lose any luxery either, that's why I'm not ditching the seats for some lighter ones.   :P

5spd? Na..not me. Sounds good though. What's lighter..the sping setup..or our leaf spring setup? I actually don't use the A/C even in the 750..or on any of the cars. I just don't like A/C..Id rather roll down the windows and open the sunroof..unless its a date  8) . I'll prob start weighting the parts (trunk, hood/doors..ect) when I comprleately dissasimble the car for a restoration. I don't want to hack it up..I want stock looking.

Get racing seats for the front. Race seats average around 25-30lbs a peice. Our stockers weigh anywhere from 55-60lbs a peice  :shock: .

Lighter wheels also help out a lot. I gained 2-3mph in the 1/4 by switching to lighter wheels. The stock cross-laces are 26lbs. My aftermarket 17x7's weight 17lbs a peice.

The FFP underdrive pully is a lot lighter then the stock peice.

my tgp is getting this very work over as we speak
just a degree futher i have removed all the seats and sound deadin mat.

carpets gone im repacing it thought with a lighter fabric thats getting put in and looks better,  the rear seats are no more, i have a peice of polycarb thats getting covered in the fabric to delete the rears
   the fronts are baged up and in my attic i have kirky tig'd sheet metal seats which i must say are comfy i thought they would suck but there nice with the tweed covers to replace them.
wheels are gone to the attic, i have a 28lbs a corner set of 18s on it now, thats wheel and tire but there up for grabs,  i orded 17x9 gramlights all around and at 10.6lbs each i think it will help
i kept my ac but diched all the running gear in trunk and all the carpet there too
mono leaf is leaving in a few days wating on a few parts.
im putting  a fiber glass trunk on and i have a extra hood thats getting a work over with a fiberglass incert
i though about getting the fiberglass doors at 13lbs there nice but the windows are afixed polycarb
o yea i have lost 30lbs so far lol
but i have picked up some weight with the larger turbo devorced gate and what nots and the 8 or 10 point cage im bending to replace the 4point i cut out  (it looked like shit)
i still have a long way to go but it sould be out this spring agian i hope
o i diched all the radio too kinda since the head unit froze (sucks)
ill let you know the final weight is once i get it on the scales
andy

:shock:  :shock:  :shock: keep us posted on this project. I like all your ideas on dieting. roll cage=very cool. never seen one in a TGP. Does your car got a sunroof?

I'm trying to figure out why he even has a cage in his TGP, you don't need a cage until you run 10.99 or quicker, and you don't need a roll bar unless your run 11.49 or quicker, which I doubt his TGP does either.  Unless he does autocross or something???

As for weight, its easy to drop a lot of weight, it just depends on how much luxury you want to lose:

-A/C is an easy one and drops significant weight
-Insulation under the carpet and in the doorpanels and whatnot is a good 30lbs. and doesn't take too long to do.
-If you take out your stereo and the speakers its a good 10-15lbs.
-The back seat is like 25lbs. if you take out the back and the bottom
-Catalytic convertor is heavy, replace it with straightpipe and you should save a good 20+lbs.
-Front and rear bumper supports are ~20+lbs. each.
-TGP WHEELS, they are really heavy, going to a lighter wheel can save you 10+ lbs. per tire, and being unsprung weight and rotating mass 1lb. of it is like dropping 8 regular lbs., so thats 80lbs. per tire, which is 3 tenths by just dropping 10lbs. each wheel.

Theres a bunch more stuff you can do to drop weight too.  Just start looking around in your car at what you don't need.

Shawn

http://www.hairyglass.com/grandprix.html

Would any thing like those work?  Fiberglass body panels.....
Perhaps the decklid and rear bumper section, the fronts are 6" longer for racing application obviously
Maybe the GFX and Door too if you could get a door handle contraption to work or solenoid opening doors?

Quote from: mclaren18psimy tgp is getting this very work over as we speak
just a degree futher i have removed all the seats and sound deadin mat.

Do you have any pictures of your engine bay Andy? Also, what size is your downpipe?

The doors on the TGP are heavy. Those doors would do perfect. They would need at least a steel bar acrrose the latch much like the F-body has on its plastic doors. They are just right in my budget for a set. The trunk lid is good too.

Realisticly..Im aiming for 3000lbs topps with me in the car. Im 230-250...depending on season :lol: . So far it looks like everything past the engine cradle needs a diet. So far it looks like I'll be using a 3t40 as its more easly "beefable" and cheaper than the 4spd slush box or 5spd drama box so i'll save some weight there too.

Now my delema.
Dragging the car means more drematic rear suspension changes and cockpit changes along with trans gear changes (steep final drive). If I drag the car ..I expect mid 11s no less. Anything less its going to be turned into a Hot Rod and save my self the headeach of a blown trans on a few seconds of fun.  :? .

you may want to get a fresh TV cable. but lighter is easier on the tranny, so should be ok if you have a tranny temp gauge and air dam/functional tranny cooler. the TV cable heats up and streches over the years.

coil overs are what you want for lightness.

The subframe off a 97-newer grand prix is way lighter I heard, cant remember if anybody has tried an aluminum subframe or not.

Quote from: GangstGPThe subframe off a 97-newer grand prix is way lighter I heard, cant remember if anybody has tried an aluminum subframe or not.

The thing is, do those subframes bolt in?  I'm not so sure they do (could be wrong though).  If you were gonna go through the trouble of swapping it, you might as well get one from a '00+ Monte Carlo to save an additional 40lbs. over the GP one, since the Monte one is aluminum.  This is a significant weight savings mod for the '97+ GP's.  

I'll be doing a bit of weight reduction to the STE here pretty soon so I'll fill you guys in on what I do, and what kind of weight savings it was.  I just need to invest in a nice scale first.

Shawn