Reducing weight

[95tahoe95]

Dont know were this should go move it if nessecary but I was wondering what everyones ideas were on sheding some uneeded pound from our street trucks??

PS already have roll pan, fiberglass hood, and nospare or trailer hitch!

And yes I kn =ow you don have to tell me :rice:

[GCncsuHD]

put the driver on a diet :read:












(no offense if you are overweight)

[S/C Z71]

put the driver on a diet :read:

Agreed.

[LiftedWhite94]

ls1 swap..

[94stepside5.7]

Is your Tahoe 4wd. If it is then thats a lot of extra weight. What rim and tire size are you running?

[Linkstar07]

Racing seats, Al radiator and water pump, AC delete, reduce unsprung weight with lighter rims, Al brake calipers(SSBC,maybe).

[95tahoe95]

Thanks guys, to answer your questions

:jackass: Yes I am a chunker, (not offended):thud:

I like my big comfortable seats, 2wd, 16x7 limited Tahoe wheels not sure of tire size?mid profile?:dunno: Already have SSBC

I was wondering if there is a carpet for the inside that would look good and be lighter in weight??? kinda like the real fine stuff on the armrest part of the doors.

Thanks again

[blown68ssrs]

You will be amazed how much glass weight. Lexan is an option. If you decide to go Lexan, all the window mechanism can go. Fiber glass mono leaf springs, tubular control arms.

[Kazyn]

Thanks guys, to answer your questions

:jackass: Yes I am a chunker, (not offended):thud:

I like my big comfortable seats, 2wd, 16x7 limited Tahoe wheels not sure of tire size?mid profile?:dunno: Already have SSBC

I was wondering if there is a carpet for the inside that would look good and be lighter in weight??? kinda like the real fine stuff on the armrest part of the doors.

Thanks again


The carpet...?

Honestly if you're not going to go into it full-force there's no use reducing weight by 5lbs.

[Red94Chev]

Remove the spare tire.

[Kazyn]

Remove the spare tire.

He said he has no spare or receiver hitch.

[jomo1994z71]

That's pretty neat

[StreetFreak]

A few little things I did on my truck was removing the rear helper springs and I Removed the spare tire mount and crossbars. I already didnt have power winds or locks but that weighs a few pounds too.

[hornsfan10609]

It's really not worth it to pull stuff off your truck to save weight. Your Tahoe is heavy and always will be, so making it lighter is a waste of time. What you have done is great, but making more power with engine mods will make your truck faster than putting in "lighter carpet". :LOL:

[Chuggs]

Maybe I overlooked it, but rip out the back seat

[1989K1500]

Buy something other than a tahoe? :dunno:

[94stepside5.7]

I would keep the Tahoe. Do not focus on removing any weight. Like stated above, its already heavy. I would get more power into that engine. We see trucks that weight nearly double than what a Tahoe weighs running 13s, and those are the modded diesel trucks. That Tahoe can be made fast.

Instead of reducing weight, I would recommend stroking your 350 to a 383. I would start there.

[GreaseDog]

agreed, if you want something light weight, the tahoe isnt the place to start.

[95tahoe95]

Ok so dont worry about the wieght just make more HP and TORQUE has anyone done the 350 to 383 conversion and be willing to share their knowledge of it

thanks
:fsc: FAN

[blown68ssrs]

Personally, I always like to make heavy sleds go fast. Usually traction is not an issue. They are perfect sleepers for $$ race. If you want to make your Tahoe somewhat competitive (I am not talking bracket racing), go with big block or big cube small blocks. You would need the displacement to get it out of the hole.

[TSS]

If you are really considering replacing carpet to make a four wheel drive Tahoe lighter, I would first suggest running the truck with one quart less oil than recommended, stay low on fuel, empty your window washer resevoir, remove the owner's manual from glove box, remove floor mats, remove coin holder, always keep several dozen helium balloons in the truck at all times, separate your keychain so that you only have the igniton/door key with you while in the vehicle - ditch the remote fob and any other keys, and then drive around in your underwear.
:dunno:

[blown68ssrs]

Interesting thinking, very similar to the 60's factory race teams (ie: Dodge Ramchargers, Ford ThunderBolts) and the same concept eventually made it to the production line during the factory Hot Rod era. Radio and heater delete for the Chevy COPO's. I don't think any Road Runners ever came with carpet. Incidentally, most NHRA Stock or Super Stock Eliminator racers do run one less quart of engine oil in the pan. Today, you can get light weight wiring harness from Painless Wiring.

[Kazyn]

Today, you can get light weight wiring harness from Painless Wiring.

But those are actually considerably lighter.

[blown68ssrs]

Another interesting point. For discussion sake, the light weight harness is 10 lbs lighter than the OEM harness. 10 lbs into overall weight of a 3500 lb vehicle is 0.28%. How much people are willing to pay for 0.28% of weight savings? In the old days, cutting holes in the frame. Tossing out everything that doesn't make it go faster are standard practices. It is also free. One more tip I can offer in this subject. How much do you think the paint on your vehicle weights? I had built a 2500lbs Big block Camaro. The final paint scheme. Pearl in the clear over red oxide primer.

[TSS]

Interesting thinking, very similar to the 60's factory race teams

Very True. They, however, had to wear racing suits and could not get away with just wearing underwear. At least that is my recollection.

Funny, I just ate a big lunch. On the way back, my SUV definitely felt slower.

[Dougalicious]

How much would aluminum wheels help? I know that rotating mass is much more of a performance kill than stationary, but how much difference would they make?

[blown68ssrs]

It all goes back to Newton's first law of motion. Less rotating mass would definitely help in acceleration. To quantify it is the tricky part. Is it worth the $$? It all depends. If you plot a curve with $$ on y-axis and ET (or MPH in 1/4 mile) on the x-axis, you will have an exponential curve in the $$ direction. The curve will probably shoot straight up in the y direction at about 9.5 seconds ET.

[discostu]

Umm I thought that carpet, insulation and sound deadener weighed like 100lbs in some vehicles.
Removing carpet or going to lightweight carpet might not be a very good dollar for dollar improvement, but it is still an improvement nonetheless.
100lbs less = ~.1 off your 1/4 mile time
100lbs less rotating/unsprung mass = ~.2-.4 off your 1/4 mile time?

[blown68ssrs]

My definition of Hot Rodding is: learn from each other, do what I can, buy what I can afford, make the stuff that I can't afford, to improve performance. 0.100 is probably nothing for a 12.0 street ride. 0.100 in a 10.90 index Super Street or any competitive drag racing is Wally or trailer.

[DarkCharisma]

Remove your front bumper and grille. :rice:

[91_bowtie]

Umm I thought that carpet, insulation and sound deadener weighed like 100lbs in some vehicles.
Removing carpet or going to lightweight carpet might not be a very good dollar for dollar improvement, but it is still an improvement nonetheless.
100lbs less = ~.1 off your 1/4 mile time
100lbs less rotating/unsprung mass = ~.2-.4 off your 1/4 mile time?

exactly. There is at least 100lbs worth of carpet in the tahoe. It may seem small to some, but it really adds up if you do all of the little things.

There are quite a few people in this thread that have shown their ignorance. Thanks for the laughs. I'd be more than happy to run any of you in my 5800lb tahoe. :rolleyes:

[mudbuddy]

ok cool so you dump 500 lbs which is alot more than all the little stuff and you went from 15.5 to 15 sec. big deal lol ya wanna race do it right

[91_bowtie]

ok cool so you dump 500 lbs which is alot more than all the little stuff and you went from 15.5 to 15 sec. big deal lol ya wanna race do it right

Actually .5 is a big deal, and it would be very easy to lose 500 lbs on a tahoe. Shaving weight is doing it right.

[GreaseDog]

Actually .5 is a big deal, and it would be very easy to lose 500 lbs on a tahoe. Shaving weight is doing it right.

the absolute easiest way to lose weight is to not start with a tank to begin with. you can throw everything out of it, and the shell is still heavier than a C1500 shortbox. if weight is really a concern, start with the lightest vehicle you can. i havent seen too many drag suburbans, do you think there's a reason for that? :whatever:

[91_bowtie]

the absolute easiest way to lose weight is to not start with a tank to begin with. you can throw everything out of it, and the shell is still heavier than a C1500 shortbox. if weight is really a concern, start with the lightest vehicle you can. i havent seen too many drag suburbans, do you think there's a reason for that? :whatever:


I've seen a few and they hauled ass. The element of surprise is what it's all about.

You're right though... screw being different! Just buy a f-body like everyone else and be done with it. :rolleyes:

[95tahoe95]

Well thankyou (91 _BOWTIE) for putting all the idiots:shutup: in there places, and thankyou to those who put in there worthwhile 2sense but for the rest of you even a:rice: know that .5 or less of a sec. could be the difference between winning and losing!

PS dont tell me to get a lighter/newer car I already have enough people to tell me that :nopity:

[TSS]

Well thankyou (91 _BOWTIE) for putting all the idiots:shutup: in there places,

Oh, come on. We were just messing around. Lighten up. Oh yeah, that is what you were trying to do.....:whatever:

[91_bowtie]

Here are some great examples of local sleepers that put lighter cars to shame. Care to guess what they run? :lol:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/four_under/chadlincoln001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/four_under/DSCN4209.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/four_under/DSCN4191.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/four_under/DSCN4166.jpg

and of course....

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v74/four_under/DSCN3470.jpg

[Chuggs]

91_bowtie, I was wondering when you'd chime in :cool:

[91_bowtie]

91_bowtie, I was wondering when you'd chime in :cool:


I was busy with the other soccer moms. :lol:

[bdiamond]

I read in a circle track book that reducing large diameter rotating weight had 10x the performance gain over sprung weight. The largest gains were with large diameter parts like a flywheel then trickled down with diameter and effective gear ratio.