Center Console - weight?

[KatDiesel]

Anyone who has yanked the center console, have a rough guess on weight?



I'm gonna weigh my truck as is..... then maybe next year yank the spare, jack, center console, and the 3 10" speakers w/box to save some weight at the strip.



Any other weight ideas? My goal is going to be 13. 5 on #2 dsl only without slicks.

 

[pcorssmit]

1. 1/4 tank fuel.

2. Pull the tailgate.

3. Pull the front drive shaft.

4. 1 Battery.

5. Wheels/tires.

6. Pull the Passenger seat.

7. Empty the change from the ash tray.

8. Race Naked. Clothes are heavy.



Pete

 

[KatDiesel]

Originally posted by pcorssmit

1. 1/4 tank fuel.

2. Pull the tailgate.

3. Pull the front drive shaft.

4. 1 Battery.

5. Wheels/tires.

6. Pull the Passenger seat.

7. Empty the change from the ash tray.

8. Race Naked. Clothes are heavy.

Going to try ¼ to ½ tank of fuel.

Leaving tailgate for now-removing it increases drag

Need the front drvieshaft (I use 4x4)

Battery - theres a thought have to wait till it warms up tho

Wheels/tires - care to elaborate?

Passenger Seat - need that for my passenger that goes to KC with me

Ash tray - never nuthing in it except cell phone charge cord

Race Naked - I'm a wuss... too cold



Thanks for the ideas tho. On the wheels and tires, anyone know what stock wheels weigh??? I need to keep the 285's because my 4. 10 ratio will limit my topend. Thinking I might even need 295's.

 

[Bad340fish]

Wieght

IMHO a vehicle as heavy as our rams will not feel a slight wieght change all that much. The whole 100lbs=. 1 second varies a whole lot. In my car I went from two seats and a console to adding carpet, door panels, back seat(heavy as all hell, it has a folding mechanism in the back piece) and all the interior panels(fastback so its got alot). I went to the track the night before I did that and raced the night that I put the rest of the interior back in. Didn't change times at all! I was happy but kinda shocked, I put at least 300lbs in it maybe more because of the heavy back seat and sound deadner on the floor.



Of course you never know unless you try. Your going to need to take ALOT of wieght out to get down to the 13. 5s without any more mods IMO. I say SUPER MENTALS lol

Clark

 

[pcorssmit]

I would tend to agree on the limited effect of removing weight from these pigs. As far as the 100 lbs = . 1 second, I think thats really more for your average hot rod/muscle car. As far as wheels and tires, maybe some Aluminums with low rolling resistance tires in the front, and whatever works good for traction and height in the rear. Slicks? With the auto you get a hell of a lot better whole shot that me, but you also need more traction. I have more traction problems going into third than I do leaving the line. If you're getting a lot of axle wrap, you may want to consider some type of ladder bar setup. Another other idea would be to only run 1/2 of the lug nuts to save rotating weight. Here's one: buy the Dynatrac hub conversion kit for the front end, then drain the fluid from the front diff. If you really wanted, you could also pull the axle shafts. To save weight on the front end, remove any chrome you may have added to the motor. Then throw it away. What kind of rpm are you running through the traps?



Pete

 

[KatDiesel]

The answer to my question = Center Console weighs 16 lbs.



Oh well so much for saving weight Guess I'll just need more power.



According to all the "analyzers" I only need another 50hp or so to improve E/T. I only have 9 runs under my belt with my fastest being my last. I still have alot of room to "grow". Then waiting on DD to release ported head, VP44 mod, and maybe even a cam. So I think 13. 5 is very possible on #2 dsl only without slicks. I guess I wasn't real clear earlier... ... I want 13. 5 on diesel... not just my current mods. I don't want any bigger injecotors due to my auto. Plus its nice to know..... if I want I can change to bigger ones Just like. . I can add propane if I want ... ... . but thats too easy



I am going to try nitrous tho next year..... that should turn a few heads.

 

[KatDiesel]

Originally posted by pcorssmit

To save weight on the front end, remove any chrome you may have added to the motor. Then throw it away. What kind of rpm are you running through the traps?



Pete

Not gonna go weight saving crazy..... was jsut toynig with the easy stuff. I use 4 wheel drive to run the 1/4 mile so can't lose nuthing on that part. I have no chrome on the motor, I don't like it. On the RPM... good question. . I don't remember, but somewhere around 2800 to 3100rpm... . I'll pay attention next time.

 

[Uncle Joe]

Its like trying to empty the ocean with a shot glass,how about mo' powa'

 

[illflem]

Kat, I'm not real familiar with drag racing but have worked a lot on bicycles where weight is paramount to efficiency. As pcorssmit briefly touched on removing rotating weight will give the best efficiency by far. A lighter set of tires, wheels and lug nuts will give you the best bang for the buck. Have a set just for the strip.

 

[Bad340fish]

To go along with the 100lbs of static wieght(right term I guess?)=. 1 second in the qaurter mile is this. 25lbs of rotating wieght=. 1 in the quarter mile.



A fellow mopar racer around here went from a set of stock steel rallye wheels on his challenger to a set of Centerline convo pros(very light wheel) and picked up just a little under 3 tents on his time. I was kinda shocked. So a slick might help in more than just the traction arena, they are ALOT lighter than E or D rated tires also. And they grow a little also to help keep your RPM down a little on the big end.



Since you leave in 4wd and have plenty of traction have you tried putting all 4 tires at max PSI to help rolling resistance?? Oh yeah, just barely turn the stage light on also, pre stage and just creeeeeeeeep into the second light. The more shallow you stage the quicker the ET.



I know how you feel with the ET goals. The day my car finaly went an 11 it made 4 passes at 12. 00-12. 02. I was almost ready to start dumping parts on the spot lol



Good luck!

Clark

 

[Mundgyver]

Why don't you just pull the whole bed off. That might solve your weight problem and drag coefficent all at once.

 

[pcorssmit]

Drill a small hole in your drive shaft (axialy through the yoke, not the tube) and fill it with helium. Less rotating weight.



What about slicks on the rear and using 2wd? I would think 4x would create a ton of extra drag, not only from the extra rotating weight, but if your tire pressures aren't perfect (not equal, but correct to insure the same rolling radius) you'll have some drivetrain bind to overcome (tires must slip).



Pete

 

[CCahill]

I found that if I don't eat for a few days... . I can cut some #'s from my fat butt... . The wheel/tire liteweight combo is a good place to lower ET's I agree with

 

[THerman]

Originally posted by pcorssmit

Drill a small hole in your drive shaft (axialy through the yoke, not the tube) and fill it with helium. Less rotating weight.

This may decrease the weight of the drive shaft but it will have almost zero effect on the amount of power required to spin it up... instead of rotating weight what we should be saying is reducing rotating mass. And I agree with the statement that this will have a much greater effect than reducing overall weight by the same amount. Rims, Tires, Aluminum Drive shaft, etc.



Bored Engineer... .

 

[drawson]

Try filling the tires with Helium.

 

[fest3er]

Originally posted by KatDiesel

Anyone who has yanked the center console, have a rough guess on weight?



I'm gonna weigh my truck as is..... then maybe next year yank the spare, jack, center console, and the 3 10" speakers w/box to save some weight at the strip.



Any other weight ideas? My goal is going to be 13. 5 on #2 dsl only without slicks.

No weight ideas. For small drag cars, 100 lbs. is, perhaps, 3. 5% of the total weight. On our trucks, 100 lbs. is closer to 1. 5%. (And I'd bet the 100 lbs. /HP is based on a %age of total weight, not absolute weight difference.



Spend the money and put in an aux OD. My bet is you're running out of gear. Add another gear and shift into it at about 2400 RPM; that'll put you back in peak torque for better acceleration. You should get up to about 110 MPH with the extra OD (before the track runs out, anyway).



Fest3er