In my days of autosports, we used to squeeze every nanometer of HP we could from what we had. Tuning, dynos and pushing harder and harder. No matter how small of adjustments, on the track it all adds up. Many of these motors were also our daily drivers, as such, finely tuned and running better than anything around us. A big part of HP/racing/daily driving and equally important was weight shedding. We figured out that every 100lbs we shed, we gained .10 in the quarter mile. We replicated this a lot and were very consistent. Also as a daily driver, for every 100lbs a general rule of thumb is 2% in gas savings. Your 'off the line get up' is where you will feel it primarily as well as the gas situation (not so much freeway). But for "adding HP" on the cheap, this is one of the best things to do. Every little bit adds up! (even YOU dropping 50lbs you will feel on the peddle- i did)

My truck is still being worked on and waiting for a transplant, but so far with it just sitting around I've pulled off 200lbs. This just happened to be from two steel spare tires and rims (Fix-O-Flat is MUCH lighter and extremely awesome stuff - I still have a tire on my bug that was leaking all out in 1 day 2yrs ago, fix with the can and still going just fine), a front steel hitch, the undercarriage steel spare tire mount, heavy stock radio, lots of CB wires and mounts, extra wires/random bolts (over the years people add things for whatever reasons), air horns, etc. It all adds up! What I do is weigh myself then hold a box of parts, weigh again.

I have some truck questions associated with weight, but just curious - what have you done to shave the weight? What are some ideas on these bad boys?

 

Without getting stupid with it, there's not too much I can do to shave weight. Manual steering, manual brakes, no AC, no radio, no nothing of any extravagance... My truck weighs 3,700lb which is a very respectable weight for a '69 long box.

 

There really isn't much in the CF or aluminum upgrade parts for these I suppose either. Aluminum 300 block and heads would be awesome!

I am going with alloy's instead of the steel rims I hope soon. 5x5.5 15x8(7.5).
I know that 94-96 stock rims on some were forged rims, not cast. I plan on going with that style, but one of my questions is , is there a weight difference in the cast vs forged alloys?

Here we can see the Alcoa (no rivets, forged, black stripe, 94-96) vs the standard cast alloys (cast, rivets, red stripe, pre-94).

Either way, I'm going to get a set and will be much lighter (maybe 7lbs x 4). But wasn't sure if the Alcoas actually were lighter than the standard red striped ones.

 

The only difference in weight between forged and cast would be the alloy used and the amount of silicone in the cast. It's not enough of a difference in weight for you to notice.

I've never seen someone be such a weight weenie about their daily driver. It's pretty interesting, not going to lie.

 

right? I'ma different kinda people.
Yeah, I wont pay the difference between the cast/forged for a tiny bit of weight.. unless i can score some forged cheap. (off to look at a set right now. I'm even leaving work early because my lady needs to be light on her feets)

When this massive hunk of radiator goes.. for sure going aluminum and electric fan! It saddens me every day just thinking about it.. when will it die!?? It's so old.. com'n..

 

I'd love an aluminum radiator but I don't have the welding skills to fab up some mounts for it, so I don't know what I'm going to do when mine dies.

 

Less weight also improves braking and handling!!

And if you can't remove it, balance it better.

So far I moved my battery to the front of the bed on the pass. side, and also swapped to a manual steering box, mostly just to have one less pump to turn.

A roll pan would take off some weight, and it would come from behind the rear wheels, which really makes the *** end wanna swing out.

I'd start there, but personally I'm keeping my steel bumper and spare in the bed for the look, but if not they'd be gone.

And if my heater core leaks, all that jive is coming out too!!

 

For sure distribution!
I see many F150s actually came with an aluminum driveshaft. Which is about 8lbs lighter and half of that is considered rolling weight. Once this one needs to be replaced, that's another to change to. Same with bellhousing, I'm just not sure they have them for these models but iirc that's 20lbs right there. I'm pretty sure changing to disk breaks saves an awful lot (40ish lbs..) if I could just afford that.
For my exhaust going in, no more smog pump or cats + after the muff, it's just a 6in dump.

It's all about multi-purpose upgrades.

 

I'm hesitant to convert to an aluminum driveshaft simply because it would need to be obnoxiously long.

 

I have the aluminum driveshaft out of the 95 f150 I took the 5.0 and the EOD out of, but I think it'll be shorter since the OD tranny is longer than my C6. Both are reg cab long beds.

Anyways, there should be some in your local J/Y!!

 

Ah awesome. Hm.. wonder what would fit my 79. I need to find out.


Got these today from a 95 F150. So frik'n light! 16.6lbs.
I'll weigh the stocks once they are pulled.

 

Ok, bringing this back because I'm moving forwared and have done a few more things and planning this summer.
Since getting aluminum shoes and other things mentioned above that was done, here is what now is done also.
- removed horn (that's what exhaust is for)
- removed smog pump, cats, 02
- cleaned out the undercarriage.. lots of nasy'ness
- replaced the catback useless rusty exhaust - now just headers, Y pipe, new muffler and a dump after.

Next up is e fan and aluminum radiator.

Here is the aluminum radiator talk.

Does anyone know about a place that makes aluminum gas tanks for our trucks? Mine is old and of course rusty looking and I'd like to replace it.. but with aluminum.
** edit. I emailed these guys and they can custom make Al gas tanks and the fill necks. They said they start at 400.
http://stores.ebay.com/rhodesracecar...p2047675.l2563

 

Have you thought about a plastic gas tank? I want one for my Bronco because of the durability, but I imagine they'd be lighter too.

I guess this brings up another note about your transfer case discussion:

NP205: 130 - 140 lbs dry.
NP208: 75 - 80 lbs dry.

 

Ahh 60lbs!? I bet you have a 208 just laying around...
But considering the toughness of the 205..

I have thought about a plastic. Much cheaper than aluminum. I wonder what the weights are between the 3 tank types are. Where did you get your plastic?

 

If you are that worried about weight, then why have a 4x4 daily driver? A 2wd will be lighter. And a 2wd with a 2003+ Crown vic front suspension swapped in would be even lighter.

Seriously if you are that worried about your gas mileage I would suggest parking your truck from DD duty and pick up a cheap econobox car for dd duty.

But I also daily drive a 96 E250 that rolls across the scales at 7500-8000 pounds. And I'm building a replacement for it that's an E350. So I just live with the gas mileage it gets. For me I'd rather have the spare tires, tools and spare parts with then save a couple miles per gallon.

Pulling stuff to save weight is great and all but there is a point to where people start removing safety items that just gets nuts. You aren't there yet. My dad worked with a guy that drove a geo metro. That guy got obsessed with making that turd as light as possible. He got to the point where he pulled the stock seats and seat belts. He was driving it while sitting on plastic milk crates. The trooper that stopped him wasn't very amused by it.