G3 diet plan for the street

If you want weight reduction install a 4 cylinder

HaHa so that's why you're building the Screaming GEO motor!

another way to save weight and make a SH*tload of power....get a cadillac 500 motor...stock they came with 400 horses and 550 ft lbs of torque...do cam, intake, add headers, and port the heads...your talking at least 500 horsepower and 650 ft lbs of torque....and due to high nickel content in the block they only weigh about 50 lbs more than a small block chevy.

TWBouska wrote:another way to save weight and make a SH*tload of power....get a cadillac 500 motor...stock they came with 400 horses and 550 ft lbs of torque (Assuming you get lucky enough to find a 70 motor with 10:1 compression, all other years dipped to 8.5:1 & power output reflected that)...do cam, intake, add headers, and port the heads...your talking at least 500 horsepower and 650 ft lbs of torque....and due to high nickel content in the block they only weigh about 50 lbs more than a small block chevy. Is this fact or hearsay? Olds had the highest amount of nickel content in all of the GM powerplants to my knowledge & I've seen Caddy 500 weight ratings everywhere between 600-750 lbs.....

Here's one of the charts showing different engine weights that I found. Notice this one says 625 lbs for Caddy.

http://www.team.net/sol/tech/engine.html

BB Cadillac weights are all over the place for some reason, but most sources I've seen list common weights for everything else. Assuming 600, it's the same as a BBB. You're 50 lbs heavier than a SBC assumption makes it lighter than only the Pontiac & BBC motors. Worst case scenario of 750 lbs, it's the heaviest engine out there......

Lightest to Heaviest

SB Buick - 450
SB Olds - 560
SB Chevy - 575
BB Buick - 600
BB Olds - 620
Pontiac - 650
BB Chevy - 685

These are obviously generalizations since a SBC with aluminum heads, intake, water pump, etc is gonna weigh much less, but if you planned on looking for a stock motor just for the sake of saving weight & no other purpose, it looks like Buick is the way to go.

Rago wrote:

http://www.team.net/sol/tech/engine.html

Lightest to Heaviest

SB Buick - 450
SB Olds - 560
SB Chevy - 575
BB Buick - 600
BB Olds - 620
Pontiac - 650
BB Chevy - 685

These are obviously generalizations since a SBC with aluminum heads, intake, water pump, etc is gonna weigh much less, but if you planned on looking for a stock motor just for the sake of saving weight & no other purpose, it looks like Buick is the way to go.

thats true...also, i guess depending on where you live, a cad 500 may be hard to come by, but i know a company thats Cad only and are pretty reasonable on prices, and junkyards out here in socal are LOADED with cadillacs, so its not too spendy...we'll have to ask our new member Pila...it appears he has a cadillac 500 in his chevelle.

Cadtorque also has a Cadillac motor in his Buick. He hasn't been around in a while though.

74Malibu383 wrote:Are they finished on the bottom? Or are they rough like they were just pulled from a mold? I know I'm being a little picky, but I'd want it to look good too.

I just asked someone about the VFN hood & got this response:

the bottom has bracing like a stock hood... but it is all made of fiberglass. The quality is pretty good, but it needs allot of smoothing to make it look perfect.

Supposed to get some pics of the underside too. Hope this helps.

when i joined posted link for company that had glass hoods fenders trunk lids and bumpers for montes

http://www.vfnfiberglass.com/site.htm

TWBouska wrote:anyone know how much a 74 chevelle/elco front end weighs? im trying to figure out how much weight ill save when i put on my 73 laguna nose here in a couple weeks...also, i second rago, if anyone tucks the bumpers, share some pics...id like to tuck the rear bumper on my el camino to smooth out the body along with the laguna nose.

I can chime in on this one

bumper is 102 pounds with all hardware, headlight buckets 14 pounds a side, grille is right about 23 pounds, header panel is right around 14 pounds, bumper fillers are 4 pounds for a grand total of 181 pounds

enter the Laguna header panel at 145 pounds with the grille in it so yes its a big weight savings

Holy old forgotten thread Batman!


Laguna front saves weight? Get a fiberglass bumper or just gut the original. Base model 76-77 grilles weigh about 5 pounds IF that & don't radically alter the looks from a 74-75 metal grille. Probably more weight & cost savings that way. You did remind me to snap some pics of the tucked in bumper on my 76 though.

Rago wrote:Holy old forgotten thread Batman!


Laguna front saves weight? Get a fiberglass bumper or just gut the original. Base model 76-77 grilles weigh about 5 pounds IF that & don't radically alter the looks from a 74-75 metal grille. Probably more weight & cost savings that way. You did remind me to snap some pics of the tucked in bumper on my 76 though.

my el camino classic grille and the one that was on my malibu classic are both plastic also
and lets see them pics rago

I put that for he is switching to the Laguna nose remember ?? he was wanting to know the weight saving and I was basing all them examples from my 74 Blue Malibu Classic for i had to weigh them all to ship them

True. How bad does the front end lift for something like that? Brown Eye is sitting nose high now that I dropped about 300+lbs off of the front. Weight savings rocks!

Does anyone here know the wieght diffence between a GM 6.0L with front accesory drive VS Chevy 350 that came in our cars (from pan to carb)?