Bumpers and hood. rest is steel

i can still see several spots in your buckets that could use a few holes for several more grams of weight loss.

Not that these items are high stressed, but I did not want to apply more holes especially in the ribbed areas so as to keep its shape.

Okay... 144 pages, you cant blame me for not wanting go go back through...

Are there any pics ov lightened bumper brackets in here? I'm building a 70 Challenger, but i'll look at anything.

Just want some ideas. I've got mine all mapped out, but i may have missed a more obvious idea...

There are a few kinds of bracketry mods on here for the A-team cars including some early and late B-bodies, but the E platforms are far in between. Maybe some are keeping their cards close. LOL.
A local Brooklyn cat I knew had a very impressive full glass nose on his challenger that was fooling everyone to thinking it was steel. I discovered it one day just as I was studying it closer at the track because of its ET's prowess and street driven ability. Sneaky NYC Bus driver he was.

He makes some:

http://lingenfeltersbrackets.com/70-72-e-body.html

Heh... apparently not. Every car except the E-bodys have pics. The E-body's listed are Cudas. Thats some pretty trick stuff though. Worth the money by the look ov it. But i'm well over budget, and have nothing but time.

[censored], i guess i'll just have to sift back through the pages here... Grrr...

Oh... and here's another prime example ov why THE #1 rule for building a light car remains:

START WITH THE RIGHT CAR.

I scored a used, beat and trashed rear valence for my Challenger for $30. The bondo was cracking bad, but flipping it, i saw only one small hole in the metal... so the core was solid. Dented and beat, but solid. So i took the grinder to it... and a couple hours later i'm down to bare metal. I like mean looking cars, so no bondo will be going back into this thing... just a thin coat ov epoxy. I weighed it before: 9.5lbs. Just for kicks... i weighed it after... 7.5lbs. This thing, as small as it is... had TWO POUNDS ov paint and bondo on it. Now... imagine what two full quarters, two doors and two fenders can hide?, not to mention this thing had ONE coat ov paint on it. My last car had five. My friends Duster had six full paint jobs on it... one over the other. When i used to work for a Mopar restoration shop i remember this beautiful 71 Demon coming in. Well, he wanted it stripped. One ov the quarters had 1" to 1 1/2" ov bondo... from nearly front to back. The other was only a bit better. How much would a 1 1/4" thick quarter panel weigh...???

So, to recap:

Get the earliest version ov the car you want (ie: 70 Challenger over a 74, 68 Charger over a 70, 67 Dart over a 69, etc.)

Get one with original paint. Get a car with nothing to hide. And for Christsakes... do some metalwork and bang that [censored] out... dont just spackle more filler over top. I've seen a LOT ov race cars at the track with this disease...

TWO POUNDS... Haha, i was ecstatic. Wasn't even looking for weight this time!

I took off about 5-6 Lbs worth of Bondo and 4 paint jobs off the two aluminum doors that I have been working on. One doors shell alone was 22 Lbs before stripping and ended up being 19 Lbs naked.
I couldn't believe why someone would not strip off a previous paint job no matter how beautiful it was to apply a new one over it with a little sanding.
The top clear urethane coat alone must have been a pound or so on each door.
So you see, even a factory light weight part can bear unnecessary weight from years of use and refurbishment.
On my car, everything gets stripped down to its birthday suit and then a thin coat of epoxy primer/sealer or build up primer before the paint.

You always strip as striping is fun. Oh wait wrong thread.

Undercoating can weigh a bunch too. I've read where guys scraped off a whole car worth of the stuff and it weighed like 10 lbs, maybe more?

If a car is coated it covers a lot of area, not just the flat bottom but the wheel wells, inner fenders, nooks and crannies etc.

Not sure if that kind of savings is worth the hassle of removing it unless you are taking the unit body down to bare metal. Gotta sit there with a torch, putty knife and elbow grease for hours upon hours. Not sure if sandblasting takes off undercoating easily.

Same goes for seam sealer. My Duster has giant globs of it all over the car. It's a well-known fact that 'body in white' type factory racers had no seam sealer.

Undercoating can weigh as much as 10 Lbs for one fender alone.

I've removed about 60Lbs or so of the stuff from my car's entire underbelly including the rear end well and all four wheel housings. It was as thick as an 1/2 inch in some places. The trick to removing it easier is to ironically pick a hot day to be under, but in the shade to soften the stuff. It's easier and a little cleaner with a torch as compared to paint remover/solvent applications. Yes, the seam sealer can be messy and thick in most places.

Lets put it this way... I've completely removed seam-sealer from three different cars now... a 71 Fury III, a 70 Barracuda, and a 70 Challenger. And coming up very quick here, my 74 Challenger. I weigh everything. The least gooped up ov the cars was still 10lbs worth. The Fury more like 15. Thats just the seam seal. I got lucky with the last Challenger... NO undercoat at all, but i've never bothered to scrape a car yet. I've heard anywhere from 30-60lbs. Its worth the grief.

I've read about all the different methods, and honestly, i think just taking the old chisel to it dry is likely the best bet. Maybe a wire wheel. No way i'm liquifying that sh!t and going that route. My 72 Charger must have had 1-2lbs worth ov undercoat on the inside ov the trunk... on the quarter. Useless. I swear... they got paid by the gallon...

As far as personal comfort? an old floor creeper with adjustable pillow head rest or and old pillow is all that is needed to be comfortable under there while scraping, chiseling, or melting it all off. Patience is needed in the small areas and tight spots. I did an older car like this back in the early 80's.

Never thought it could be that much!

I would like to get rid of the undercoating on my car, I really dislike working on stuff under there especially where it's dirty/grimy. If I ever restore the body, it's all coming off.

Some weight was actually added back into my car this week when the back seat went in. That was not a fun job with the roll bar, it 'kinda' fits but just barely. I only put it back in for my kids. Kinda rather just have a divider panel but it's done and it ain't coming out. My oldest was in the seat and after about 5 seconds he asked if he could get out. If I do take it out, it's getting cut in half and tossed.



Have not started on my 'glass hood yet. Baby steps.

Don't cut it ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,SELL it!

Dropped the boat anchor driveshaft off and will picking up the aluminum one next week.
Anyone need a steel driveshaft?

I can't imagine someone paying me money for it. In fact, I'd probably have to pay someone to take it off my hands. The upholstery is shot, it's all brittle and cracks when you look at it.

I was just kiddin' about cutting it up but it was a REALLY frustrating experience getting it in. Lots of cursing. Getting it out won't be easy either.

Those kids better appreciate it, kind of regretting putting it back in.

Quite to the contrary, the back seat looks rather good nestled right in there, plus Tech won't give you a note about a firewall.
It also doesn't scream out RACE setup within. Keep it low and bold.
Oh yeah, you'd be surprised at how much undercoating can be undermining a cars performance weight wise and not to mention the real hidden treasure from its removal, a slippery and slick aerodynamic under belly under speed. Sure it may invite more drive line noise into the cockpit, but who gives a hoot, it's New York baby and it's a Hot Rod, they both make noise. LOL.

Was at Joe The Accurate welder this morning along with Special K and the Palm Reader. You know that we were all up to no good being there. LOL.
Man, talking about underbellies, Palm Readers 68' is super clean beyond even the factories taking, but Shakerjoe's Cuda takes the cake. Just saw this Sassy Green gem this morning and the chassis is super factory correct slick and free of the gummy tarmac stuff.

RMCHRGR where are you located? I know of a guy looking for a backseat

I'm out on Long Island about 35 mi. east of NYC.

Truthfully, I was pretty set on keeping it in there since it was such a trial to get it in, it's probably not worth the effort of wrangling it back out... Plus, I would be making more work for myself trying to figure out how to come up with a rear firewall that looks decent. The seat also covers up the carpet that is too short.

For whatever it's worth, I do like to keep the OE parts with the car. I've kept everything I took off of it so far, worn out or not.

Tell him to shoot me an offer anyway, worst I can say is no.