I made the plunge and decided to start cutting into the car and lighten her up....I've pulled the hoods, gutted the doors, pulled all the glass except for the windshield, and have cut off every tab and extra piece of anything metal on the car...

Total weight taken out so far = 286 lbs! (according to my bathroom digital scale)...

Here's a few pics....

The first one is the doors gutted...

Bill P.

Here's a pic of the front of the car with all of the headlights and bucket motors gone....

Bill P.

get some early doors (pre '73) and gutt those, you'll loose a few more ounces.
OR buy FG-shells. do you have a roll-cage?

EDIT: aha, i see the roll cage

Andy

And here's a pic of 1 of 2 garbage cans full of metal....it's kinda unbelieveable what you find when you start cutting here and there.....all of the insulation is now off too...and all of the wiper motors and ventilation hardware....

Bill P.

are you required to have headlights? if not, cut out the buckets too ...
and the piece for the washer bottle. and take out the two pieces that hold up the cowl area.

and ...

I'm not required to run headlights....I've decided to run the open class next year for air cooled engines up to 2750cc....It's "Y" class in the local PCA region....

and...and...and...is right....

and I haven't even started on the interior cockpit area, although I am considering leaving some of it in for comfort sake...I'll have to see...

Bill P.

You have inspired me even more....

I'm already been playing with fiberglass and trying to mold some things. (not car related) for practice.

I'm planning on doing my doors, front hood with the lights filled in, and rear trunk this winter. I hope to be successful at it

You are alive !!


B

I don't wanna see this....I'm not gonna do it....I'm not, I'm not, I'm not......286lbs....no shit?

Come on J P Do it.
Throw that Sumo Wrestler out of your car.

I've done all of the above and cut the dash down.....now I'm left looking at the extra weight sitting in the driver seat. A good 30 lbs worth of triming there..!!

You could lose at least another 10 if you lose the glass windshield. You could go with racingshields formed unit ($$$) or just make your own from sheet of lexan.

Saw a couple 914's and 911's with homemade windshields. Looked a little rough but worked.

Accept for the windshield, I cut all my other windows from 1/8" lexan.

dr

you should buy the set of early doors i need to sell.

kevin

I see dash caps are available almost everywhere to cover a cracked or split dash pad.

Has anyone yanked the dash pad and installed just a cap?

...and how would anyone know?

Hey B,

yep...i'm alive! work has been waaaayyyy too busy form my tastes....but without it I can't play race car driver!

JP, unbelieveable what you can cut out of the car. Of the 2 garbage cans filled with metal, one of them takes two people to lift. I had a hard time believing people when they said a piece here a piece there all adds up. It does!

Next up over the next day or so is the interior. I have home depot outdoor carpet in it, which weighed 3 pounds before I put it in. I had already scraped off all of the insulation and glue and crap. I'm thinking of leaving it in because it lends itself a certain level of comfort. I going to pull the rest of the trim pieces and the center console. I'll relocate the gauges to the middle of the dash since the heater controls are coming out. What do I use to cut into the dash? A hole saw?

Anyone know how much the dash top weighs? At 286lbs I don't know how much farther I can go ( I want 300lbs!). I'm looking at the Lexan windshield, but ouch$$$$$$.

This weekend I will start sanding and getting ready for paint next week......I still have to put up the spray booth I made last year...

Bill P.

A sheet of Lexan costs 50 bucks. Cut a cardboard pattern, outline the pattern on a piece of plywood, clamp the lexan and use a jigsaw to cut it out.

That's what I did on the Frankensteen.....use that black door edging along the top and it coveres the rough edges......

How much for the early doors, Kevin?....oh, and what color are they....not that it matters

Some guys on the scca production BBS place the sheet of lexan in between 2 old windshields and put it out in the sun. Gives some shape to the material. I never tried it though.

Also, that might not work too well this time of year, accept down here in FL.

dr

Trunk floors, Entire Dash (make a custom fiberglass unit)

Rich

Bill, if you're still alive, I have a Q or 2.

I have a set of early doors that I got from a local shyster Before I start cutting on em', how flimsy are those in your pic? Also, have you come up with any type of padding for the window opening?....my elbows are tore up enuff.

JP; what a lot of guys do around here for the window openings is bend up some sheet aluminum and simply rivet it on. You can make a whole "door panel" of the stuff, with a section bent-over the window channel at the top.

I have to run working door windows in my class, otherwise I woulda' paid more attention to this stuff and taken some pics

My car is going on a diet in '04 too. I still have a few projects ahead of that on the list, though. Mostly oriented around keeping me alive and race-legal.

I was lookin' for somethin' simple, like hi-density foam or somesuch....just glued on.

Hi JP,

Still alive...barely...been back and forth to Hong Kong 3 times in the last 6 weeks for business. And I have the flu....and my car is in a million pieces....every spare second I have other than family, work, sick, etc..., is spent painting the car. And I wouldn't have it any other way...

I've attached a pic with door inside my "homemade" paint booth....If you cut out the door so that the inner metal rim is till there, the door is pretty solid...by that I mean it opens and closes positively and with not too much flex.

As far as foam or aluminum for the tops of the doors to keep from scratching my elbows...I was going to go with a bent "L" of aluminum. I haven't fab'd it yet but I plan on doing that next week after I re-assemble most of the car. I snap off some pics of the the finished cover when I get it done.

I'm up against a timeline of December 27th. I plan on running a test day at Sears Point to dial in the car with the new weight (or lack of it!) and the new front air dam and rear wing. My engine goes back in next week. Our first Time Trial is February 14th at Sears, so I'm trying to be prepared....

I've got a little more weight out...last count was 286lbs...but I haven't measured the new bucket of metal...but I don't know if I can get to 300lbs without taking the interior apart...

Here's some pics of the door and of the car and spray booth in my garage...I think my wife wants the garage back for her car!

Bill P.

oops...hit the send button before it was finished loading...

take 2

here's a shot of some of our wheels painted...I've got 5 sets of 15x7 cookies....I run 2 sets at auto-x and 2 sets at the track...and I have one set with rain tires just in case I need to run for time to place....

Here's the rear lid with my son's and daughter's hand prints and some free hand art...the rear lid is fiberglass from HPH with pins....

a pic of the empty engine bay...the 6 goes back in next week....

side shot...

and misc parts in the game room....geez...my house is starting to look like Kellzey's....

Bill P.

oh...and I was inspired by Eric Shea's GT grill...so............................

Thanks, Bill. This pretty much allays my concerns. I just wanted to check before I started hacking. I do feel the need for padding, tho......boney old fart elbows & all.

Hey Bill -

So you're running with NCRC on the 27th at Sears? I might have my car together with the 1.7 by then - I was thinking of running that event. Might see you up there.

Car looks great man - you are going to be fast next year!

Fiid.

Bill,
did you happen to weigh, and if so, do you remember, how much the Headlite motor & such
weighed?

someone mentioned about a year ago, removing that stuff for the Cable hook-up instead,
this of course would be for a street 914.

Hi Scott,

I'll look through my bucket of parts and weigh the motors...I'll post the weight as soon as I get a chance...

Bill P.

Hi Fiid,

I hope I have the car together to run NCRC on the 27th. I'm paid up and entered...now I just have to put the car back together.

I actually may have a local hot shoe shake out the car as well....i'm going to see how my new ignition runs....

Hope to see you there!

Bill P.