Looking at throwing together a little pickup to play around with. Rolled it up on the scales. Slant 6 with granny 4 speed. Short step side. It weighted in at 3550. Have an iron head 383 and 727 going in. What can I do to shed some weight? Yes I realize aluminum heads will drop some weight, but not in the cards atm. This thing looks pretty bare as it is. Gimme some ideas.

I used a bathroom scale and dropped 200 lbs off the the truck by wieghing each piece and come up with the differance in weight

swapped out/deleted on my 88 440 with iron heads

power sterring box/pump/brackets for a manaul box

power brake booster for manaul brake MC

cast manifolds for headers

cast WP & housing for alum pump/housing also alum street dominator intake/alum carb

swapped to a mini starter & alt 1 belt

removed a/c-heater box/carpet/duct work

removed saddle fuel tank/heat sheilds/spare tire rack/all of the e-brake system/stripped self adjusters out of brakes = 2 shoes/4 keepers/ 3 return springs/10g fuel cell

swapped the 9 1/4 for a 8 3/4

weld alum rims M/T sportsman pro 29x15x15 = very light

IIRC I am around 3,600 - 3,700 lbs with the truck but have switch to a M/T sportsman SR radial and it is 4x what the PROS weigh in at on the rim.

my gasser truck will get the same but wil delete the inside dash/door panels/glass/ regulators to gut the doors out super light. ditch the inner fenders/wiper system cab will be stripped bare and only have a small alum dash panel for switches/shaft steering & 1 drag seat.

I do plan to add a roll cage

Just looking at the truck I cant see where the weight is? Is the I figure 500 for the cab, 400 for the bed. If the engine trans is 1000, that still leaves 1500 lbs. Am I correct in my estimation? What is the weight difference between step side and fleet side beds?

360 instead of the big block (-120 pounds)

get rid of the bumpers, if you are really energetic you can cut the frame rails from the rear spring shackle to the bumper

fiberglass hoods are available

That's the practical stuff, how far do you want to go? 3500 pounds for a half-ton is pretty light as it is.

Depending how far you want to go and to what measures you want to go to, one of the things I've looked at doing to my early 65 D100 is lightening the frame rails. The rails are really tall "U" channels that lie on their side and the steel used is heavy gage. It would be really easy to make circle templates (make several in different diameters) and then get under the truck with a plasma gun and the tracing templates and start removing steel. You would want to plan this out ahead of time so the areas you want to cut are laid out or marked on the frame as well as understanding what other pieces are in the area you need to be careful with. If you're working on a driveable truck, you would need a few fire retardant "welding" blankets to protect adjacent parts, wires, hoses, tires, etc. It's certainly do-able with care taken and not rushing the job and this can easily be done without impacting frame stiffness and safety.

- EM

Got mine down to 3340#. Door windows and back window are lexan, fiberglass race seats, fiberglass hood, remove seat belts and brackets. Front end is 200# pounds heavier than the back.

I already have the built bb, so for the cost of building a small block I could buy a bunch of light weight parts.

You can

Trim out hood bracing

Trim out fender bracing

Trim excess metal from core support

Leave out fender liners

Manual brake and steering

Heater box

Im guessing the granny slant drivetrain weighs about the same as your big block auto. My 83 318 auto longed was 3600

Trim out inner layer of cab roof

Swiss cheese inner rocker and cab mount

Buy lots of hole saws

I made a aluminum radiator support for mine a few years back forget the weight difference but was significant

Dunno. That seems light compared to my LRE at 4100. What exactly are you trying to achieve?

Stock support is 52-53lbs.