For those that drive your race truck on the street..

[softballnrd27]

I want to lose as much weight as possible in the 85 but keep it somewhat comfortable on the street. I am taking it to the strip as it sits right now on thursday, I am going to get the weight and see what it runs with the 305(You got to start somehwere). This will actually be my 1st trip to the strip and I can't wait. I won't be making long trips in the truck. I am going to ditch the heater/ac unit and all associated parts and get some racing buckets for it to start. What else can I ditch on the truck?

[dbmx66]

Originally Posted by softballnrd27

I want to lose as much weight as possible in the 85 but keep it somewhat comfortable on the street. I am taking it to the strip as it sits right now on thursday, I am going to get the weight and see what it runs with the 305(You got to start somehwere). This will actually be my 1st trip to the strip and I can't wait. I won't be making long trips in the truck. I am going to ditch the heater/ac unit and all associated parts and get some racing buckets for it to start. What else can I ditch on the truck?

you need to have some sort of heater, for you defrosters. other than that, ditch the ac, take the stock wells out and put alum ones in, i chopped the inside of the bed sides and fitted aluminum sheet metal in. take the carpet out. get aluminum rims. get rid of anything that isnt needed. anything that is steel that can be replaced with its aluminum counterpart get it.


... you could also go all out and get a glass body

[dbmx66]

also what i did was remove the factory door panels and cut and fit a piece of aluminum sheet metal in. i also took the dash out and cut the metal and everything out and puting an aluminum sheet metal dash in.

[Alex1]

Get a glass bumper or have one made - make the bumper brakets out of aluminum, the list goes on - it really depends on how much work you want to do to get the weight off.

[prostreetC-10]

There are a few companies that actually make race weight fiberglass cabs.....front ends....etc but man are they spendy and a little over the top for street. It really can be about how deep your pockets are.

[team39763]

Those fiberglass cabs look like a pain to mount. I think those are gear more towards someone with a tube chassis that's planning to redo the floor anyway. The front brakes and suspension are heavy on these trucks aswell as the steering equipment. I plan to drop tons of weight by changing out that stuff. I know for a fact that the bench seat and stock hood weigh a ton...I lost a lot there.

[softballnrd27]

This is where I am gonna start with-Fiberglass hood, race buckets, and losing any thing that is uneccesary from under the hood. Ditching the rear bumper for a roll pan and also any brackets or stuff on the frame that can be taken off as well. I might eventually go with fiberglass fenders and stuff for the front. For the heat I was going to buy an electric one that I can route to the windshield for defrost.( I had one in my Jeep and it worked great.)

[djracer]

The most weight you can lose is probably doing a mustang II setup on the front with a rack. You can also put a cover over the bed and hull out the inside of the bed.

[softballnrd27]

The bed is going to be one of the mods I do and the front end conversion will come a little later.

[softballnrd27]

DJ-Should I go coilovers or coil springs with the mustang II conversion

[djracer]

I have coil springs. I think you can get more stored energy with a coil spring.

[Hottrucks]

every 100lbs is a 10th......most mods are going to really be made as soon as you decide what a street truck is.......I have driven more than 1 dragcar on the road..it alos depends on your local PoPo and how much they are going to bust your nuts......

Maybe your best bet is to build some ponies and a suspention that will make it stick??? then start shaving some of the unnessasary stuff...

[softballnrd27]

The ponies and suspension are in the works and unfortunately they cost some $$$$. Alot of the lightening of the truck is free or next to free. I am just trying to lay out a plan so I have some direction. Thank you for all the advice from everyone.

[Captainfab]

One thing that you can do to loose weight, is take a look at your truck's flat metal surfaces and determine how much you can remove of that surface without comprimising the integrety of it. Then find a size of hole saw that will work, and start cutting out circles. It may not sound like it will amount to much, but it does. I learned that from my friend Mark DeWald, owner of dragtrucks.com