How much weight will fiberglass parts save?

I have a '58 Chevy Biscayne 2 door. It's big. I believe this to weigh 3500-4000 lbs although I have not weighed it.

I'm considering making some replacement fiberglass body parts to lighten it up, but I don't know how much weight I might save.

1-piece front end (including grille, bumper, park lights, and trim). Rear bumper. Rear deck lid. Both doors.

Anyone care to guess how much weight this could save?

 

alot, maybe 3-400lbs. but silver painted bumpers and grille are going to kill the cool factor. Silver bumpers are ok when you are waiting to get them rechromed....but IMHO they cheapen up the car.

 

I think in some cases fiberglass parts may actually weigh more than steel.

 

I think you're right. That's why they make race weight (thin) and street weight fiberglass parts.

 

Fiberglass parts for street cars are heavy, check out a one peice truck tilt nose, or a late model camaro door,You could get about the same results by cutting out your inner bracing and welding your front end together for a homemade tilt front end.

 

Fender parts are only half your problem. What do you think all that window glass wieghs?

 

Build a bigger motor.

 

You should be able to save quite a bit of weight using race-weight fiberglass, but there's a lot more you could do to make that thing light.

Like strip the interior.

 

It's a 58 Chevy..it's always gonna be heavy,even if you take half the parts off of it.
Or you could do like a roadster I remember from the little books..they drilled a shitload of holes in everything,and I do mean everything.Don't know how much weight they saved,but it looked cool

 

3550-3650 pounds curb weight depending on which engine it has, according to Chevy

http://www.gmheritagecenter.com/gm-heritage-archive/vehicle-information-kits.html

 

x2!!!!

 

i'd say the heaviest body parts on most cars is/are the floor, roof and doors. And you can't really go light on those and still be safe on the street?

You could, however get some weight savings from the hood. A 58 impala hood probably weighs a ton.

 

Well thanks for the responses. Yes I should have started with a smaller/lighter car, but FS '58's are my all time favorite car. I figured pulling some weight out would help performance/ economy/ handling etc, but the question is, at what effort/ cost?

I would have to make my own body parts since I am not aware that anyone makes them and I have pretty good FG fab skills. I could make them as thin as I wanted. But it's still going to be A LOT of work.

I planned to Cosmic Chrome or vacuum metallize the trim and bumpers. Polycarbonate (plastic) windows could easily follow, yes. The interior is basically stripped already since it came that way.

If I could get like 1000 lbs out, it'd be worth doing. If it's only 100, it's not. Between 1000 and 100, I guess I have to decide.

I could just take some of the car apart and weigh the parts and try to estimate the savings, but that's not real practical mid-winter in a cramped garage.

And on some level, once a car gets too stripped down and flimsy, I don't feel like it's really a car anymore.

I suppose ANY weight savings is good. I'm just trying to figure out how much to go for.

 

Think of the Two-Lane Blacktop '55 as an example. How much lighter do you think that car (as depicted) was?

 

as some posted yes some glass parts end up weighing more then the steel they replace

for an idea / example my friends dad had a 57 chevy and a 69 ss chevelle both stock and had them both weighed the chevelle was 1000 heavier they dont look like that would be the case

yeah the old cars were big but they also have alot of air in them (thickness of the doors, fenders etc) soo they look alot heavier then they actually are

alot of weight is in the interrior and the glass

unsprung weight is an area alot of people sort of over look


i would say a full glass front end for a 58 with the full bumper and all would be fairly heavy

drop the front bumper and ditch the grille /marker lights and find a lighter piece of perferated metal to replace the grille throw on a glass hood put air intakes in the inboard headlights (would probably end up lighter then the glass one piece)

you could take the window mechanisms out and make the 1/4 windows stationary lexan
and make the door glass pull up (seat belt pull) / push down lexan with aluminum channel runners and lexan in the vent frames

 

Big block .. guess 3000 lbs

 

I had a glass deck lid made for my 40 & it weighed 3x as much as the stock one did....I sold it to a streetrodder & found me a nice steel one.

 

Lots of time, money and effort to achieve questionable results. If I was concerned about economy I would not be spending dollars on making moulds, buying materials and such...I'd build a more economical motor.

If I was concerned about performance, I'd build a more powerful motor.

If I was concerned about handling, I would not take a punt that making a '58 lighter will necessarilly make it handle better, I'd pay for some performance suspension components.

All of these solutions have worked in the past and could all be combined to achieve a known result in your car far cheaper and easier than what you are contemplating.

That's just my opinion of course.

Pete

 

Well said & good advise.

 

Not to mention all the time you will waste that could be better spent DRIVING the wheels off of it. I think your thinking way too hard about this and making it too complicated.....just sayin!

 

I get more weight loss drilling and or shorten bolts than all the tin i can hack with a saw . example an intake bolt drilled and short x 8 is half a pound with 10 thousands waffle washers . also tin valve covers are lighter than aluminum ones ,look at aluminum radiators thats your hood and one fender in glass . heater bumper brackets every other body bolt , radio cut in half just after the buttons . thats all just a start .
Then again I race sprints at 600hp and 1300 lbs and freak out if a plug wire is an inch to long .cheers

 

hoodless, bumperless, glassless, interiorless.innerfenderless
. blah blah blah
saving weight is different than going racing

trimming frames, bumper attachments ,drillin holes removing the dash and inner door hrdw,. glass , decklid and hood inner structures , trimming any non essential steel ..

lotsa work to make it fiberglass to save 3-400 lbs

remember fat jacks orange 48 ford trimmed and tweaked but looked stock ... it can be done

lots of steel can be removed while looking "stock" will it be safe????

 

The lightes part on a 58 Chev is the hood.Dump the radio,heater,bench seat,front bumper,inside headlites,turn signals,front steel wheels,power steering,put in a beam axle ,alum. rad. and move the batt. to the trunk.
Remove inner fenders,acid dip the front fenders.

 

Don't move the batt to the trunk thats some heavy cable , just use a small batt instead and less drag on the starter .

 

What's the goal here, a race car?

I suspect it will be less expensive to out-horsepower the weight difference by building a stronger engine. Unless you want to lay up a mold and just make a complete race car shell, like some of the Pro-mod cars run, and really go all out.

My book only lists the sedan delivery but shows delivered weight at 3520 lbs, dressed out it's probably closer to 4000. Of which, about 1000 lbs are the motor and trans.

 

Glass front end, hood, doors, deck lid, after market A-arms, rack & pinion, All lexan windows in a 68 Firebird was worth 400lbs.

 

I just installed a glass hood on a slightly off-topic 64 Camino, weighed about 1/2 what the steel hood weighed, and it was a street weight version. Yes, weight can be saved with 'glass. The question is, how far to go?

Devin

 

If the application is a street car, I don't think you will be happy with race weight/grade fiberglass. The fit and finish of most of the stuff I've seen isn't great (appearance is secondary on a race car) and it will develop cracks and stress marks in the paint when subject to normal driving vibrations, etc. Also, you'd better be really good at cutting and pasting the fiberglass pieces (race or street parts) if you expect them to come close to fitting your car.

 

I had a tilt Glass nose on my '56 DelRay. The street glass was probably about the same weight as steel, but it's all the nuts and bolts, brackets, hinges, core support, and fender wells that I didn't use, that saved me a couple extra hundred pounds. I'd Chrome paint glass bumpers and surrounding grille chrome, and think about making aluminum bumper brackets.
Oh yeah... I like the lightening holes idea too...

 

Ya want weight savings? LOL I might have taken out as much weight as I put back in with the rollcage.
But seriously, if I were gonna try to save weight on a street car I'd start at the front and work my way to the rear taking off everything I didn't really need and lightening up what was left. Lots of undercoating, sound deadening, etc. that could be removed. Lots of stuff that could be trimmed and lightened Would it be worth the extra trouble & noise? That's a question that only you can answer.
Larry T

BTW, I'll bet the Two Lane Blacktop 55 weighs in at more than 3000 but I could be wrong.
I'll be happy if my 55 comes in at between 2500/2800 with everything that's done to it and that's with glass frontend, doors, & trunk lid.