camaro weight reduction

[oilspot]

Trying to pull a bunch of weight out of a 78 camaro. Local track just changed to USRA rules. Looking for pictures of how people have gone about doing a half pan/ rearend lightening (on a camaro of course). We can deck behind the seat back. Have to keep the og floorpan back to the cage behind the seat. I'm currently working on pulling out the dash and lower a pillars. Prob gonna move the firewall back and would appreciate any pictures of that area also. I've got an idea of how I'm gonna do it but would like to see other work!

[SuperDuke]

For sure ditch everything around the firewall. I took the a pillars and dash out of mine ( basically everything not the one layer thick vertical wall itself). When I weighed it up it was about 75 pounds. Between that and going aluminum on the front fenders it let me get some lead off the back to match and she lost 200 pounds while holding 52% rear. I would not bother with losing the back pan on the car until I had went all the way possible on front. You end up adding it back in lead to maintain rear percent. Yes you can put the weight up higher in the car and that can be an advantage to go after if your struggling to get the car to unload in entry or if you are a real big guy sitting low in the car. Still it pales in comparison to being able to get weight off the front of one of these cars. Just my opinion.

[SuperDuke]

Here's a future thought for next build on Camaro if allowed.I have built camaros both ways (cage in rolling car versus using LM chassis) In my opinion the best fastest cheapest way to build a fast Camaro that doesn't require any floorpan past the driver is to clip it using an old leaf or swing arm late model. If you can get away with doing it by cutting up and then stitching together the firewall and pan and then attaching the rear frame rails you will be a happy camper. Best car I ever had and Lightest too was done using a Rayburn. I could shoot myself for not taking pictures of how it's done. I built the whole car upside down on a temporary jig. Makes getting the clips correct and square much easier. Old LM chassis are cheap cheap to almost free if they like you even a little.

[stock car driver]

usra is allowing Camaros? is it a transition year rule? usra has a firewall rule, you might want to read up on it before you start cutting, they also don't require oem floor boards, but maybe you've got some special transition rules?

I think youll find leaf spring car to be a negative if anyone in your area steps up to a good metric car.

[oilspot]

Yeah we're working with modified USRA rules (as far as allowing Camaros). I'm working through cutting around the firewall and yeah there's a lot of weight especially in the lower A pillars. I think I may leave most of the rear alone until I get the front done and get the car back on the scales.

[stock car driver]

hopefully you have a well built cage with some good sub frame connection front to rear?

rockers a pillars dash window sill cowl etc are all things we haven't had in IMCA or USRA stock cars for years.

[RCJ]

At the rear spring mount ,I open the frame up on the top side.There is a thick piece of tube that holds the upper spring mount.I weld tube from that mount to the top of the main hoop.Then weld a piece of 2x2 square across the back of the frame,you can bring pieces of 1.5 tube from the square tube to the cross bar on the main hoop.I remove all sheet metal and everything but the frame.

[RCJ]

When we were on the more stock body cars ,I took everything to the sandblaster.It removed 40lbs,that was with no paint yet.We did an old modified and weighed it after it was repainted an it was 8lbs

[oilspot]

Well I got the lower a pillars out today and man those are super heavy!!!! I cut the lower B pillars (below the door line) and have left some of the skeleton to help support the roof. Not sure If I should cut those out (I'll try to get a pic up).next question is about the lower section of the A pillar. Do I need to box the open void here? This is all new to me and I'm not sure how the structural integrity of the vehicle depends on section of the body. I'm pretty sure that It'll be fine how it is but would rather ask!Note... the rough edges will be taken care of. Still working on all the rough cutting.

[JustAddDirt]

make sure you put some foot protection bars in there since you lost all the protection of the a-pillar metal.