Blue Angel [COTW 5/30/11]

[Fraxum]

Originally Posted by 2cnd chance

Awesome information. After your post in the Z28 threads I've come back and reread the entire thread again. I looked all through and did not see any written numbers on the weight savings from the catback exhaust change. Do you have that available? Also have you looked into possible weight savings from front seat changes?

Thanks.

Doc's car was my vote for closest car to the Z28 ideal by way of the build it yourself method. But that thread never went anywhere.

This car is first class. Respect.

[Doc]

Originally Posted by 2cnd chance

Awesome information. After your post in the Z28 threads I've come back and reread the entire thread again. I looked all through and did not see any written numbers on the weight savings from the catback exhaust change. Do you have that available? Also have you looked into possible weight savings from front seat changes?

Thanks.

Unfortunately the exhaust was the first mod I did way back when. I didn't get a chance to weigh the stock system but I believe (from what others have said) that it weighs about 70 lbs. I upgraded to 3" stainless pipes when I did the upgrade so the actual weight savings was probably only around 20 lbs. I'm not planning any other mods that require dropping the exhaust pipes so unless I get really bored one day and want to drop them just to see what they weigh, I can't give you an exact number.

I've considered the weight savings of custom seats but there really isn't that much there to save unless I get really serious about racing and sacrifice street comfort for all-out race seats. I'm not planning on that right now but in the future... who knows. I keep thinking I'm "done" modding this car then I see something else I hadn't thought of.... I don't have "mod-itis" as bad as some do on this forum but I'm getting pretty close lol.

Originally Posted by Fraxum

Doc's car was my vote for closest car to the Z28 ideal by way of the build it yourself method. But that thread never went anywhere.

This car is first class. Respect.

Thank you sir!

[Doc]

Here's my current mod list:

[SUX2BU]

Originally Posted by Doc

Unfortunately the exhaust was the first mod I did way back when. I didn't get a chance to weigh the stock system but I believe (from what others have said) that it weighs about 70 lbs. I upgraded to 3" stainless pipes when I did the upgrade so the actual weight savings was probably only around 20 lbs. I'm not planning any other mods that require dropping the exhaust pipes so unless I get really bored one day and want to drop them just to see what they weigh, I can't give you an exact number.

I've considered the weight savings of custom seats but there really isn't that much there to save unless I get really serious about racing and sacrifice street comfort for all-out race seats. I'm not planning on that right now but in the future... who knows. I keep thinking I'm "done" modding this car then I see something else I hadn't thought of.... I don't have "mod-itis" as bad as some do on this forum but I'm getting pretty close lol.



Thank you sir!

I don't remember if you are running cats or not but here is what my stainless 1 7/8" headers and complete stainless off road 3" exhaust weighed compared to stock.

passenger manifold/cat 28.3
driver side manifold/cat 28.3
Catback and mid pipes 71.4
Total: 128


Passenger header 15.2
Driver side header 15.5
off road x pipe 24.2
muffler section 16.2
muffler section 16.2

total: 87.3

difference 40.7 lbs

[2cnd chance]

Originally Posted by Doc

Unfortunately the exhaust was the first mod I did way back when. I didn't get a chance to weigh the stock system but I believe (from what others have said) that it weighs about 70 lbs. I upgraded to 3" stainless pipes when I did the upgrade so the actual weight savings was probably only around 20 lbs. I'm not planning any other mods that require dropping the exhaust pipes so unless I get really bored one day and want to drop them just to see what they weigh, I can't give you an exact number.

I've considered the weight savings of custom seats but there really isn't that much there to save unless I get really serious about racing and sacrifice street comfort for all-out race seats. I'm not planning on that right now but in the future... who knows. I keep thinking I'm "done" modding this car then I see something else I hadn't thought of.... I don't have "mod-itis" as bad as some do on this forum but I'm getting pretty close lol.



Thank you sir!

Thanks again. And know we appreciate the education and the hard work and time involved.

[2cnd chance]

Originally Posted by Fraxum

Doc's car was my vote for closest car to the Z28 ideal by way of the build it yourself method. But that thread never went anywhere.

This car is first class. Respect.

Much agreed!

[Doc]

Originally Posted by SUX2BU

I don't remember if you are running cats or not but here is what my stainless 1 7/8" headers and complete stainless off road 3" exhaust weighed compared to stock.

Yeah I do have the high-flow cats which probably weigh about 10 lbs each so based on your numbers that would put me at about 107 lbs which is about 20 lbs lighter so I had a pretty close guess. Thanks for posting this!

[Vette TPI]

Gives me ideas to try and drop this car down to 3000 flat or a couple pounds less. Thank you Doc! I've been reading to catch up and this thread is pretty amazing!!

EDIT- Without changing the iron to aluminum block idea, I could get my car to 3060ish.

[cody.freeman1]

Hey Doc, have you ever found/looked into good lightweight racing seats?

[Doc]

Originally Posted by Vette TPI

Gives me ideas to try and drop this car down to 3000 flat or a couple pounds less. Thank you Doc! I've been reading to catch up and this thread is pretty amazing!!

EDIT- Without changing the iron to aluminum block idea, I could get my car to 3060ish.

Glad there's some useful ideas in here for you, and thank you for the compliment.

Originally Posted by cody.freeman1

Hey Doc, have you ever found/looked into good lightweight racing seats?

Yes I have actually. The Sparco headquarters is about 45 minutes from where I live so I was thinking of driving down there and sitting in different seats to see which one would be the most comfortable. Problem is though, while a true racing seat would save weight, the tank plate and harness bar for a 4 or 5-point harness would add most of it back.

I've purchased a tow-hook which weighs 2.5 lbs and I have an SLP front splitter on the way which I'll weigh when it gets here. I'm also going to get the ZL1 sideskirts so between all these new pieces I'm guessing I'm going to add about 30-40 lbs back on the car so an 18 lb racing seat might become more interesting. I believe the stock seat weighs about 55 lbs.

I'm not a pro-racer nor do I intend to competition-race so it's not absolutely necessary I go this route but I'll do the research and look into it though.

[Doc]

I have the SLP front splitter and ZL1 sideskirts (haven't installed them yet) but I did weigh them. The SLP splitter (with mounting hardware) weighs 4.4 lbs:


The sideskirts (with hardware) weigh 4.8 lbs each.


I'll have to weigh the stock sideskirts and hardware when they're removed to get the difference in weight between them and the ZL1 skirts. I'll guess they weigh maybe about 3.8 lbs each so that would be a difference of 2 lbs for both sides, plus the 4.4 lbs for the front splitter. That adds roughly about 8.5 lbs total to my car but that weight is all below the axle line which is a good place to add it.

Tomorrow I'm out on the track at Autoclub Speedway in Fontana and I'll have some pics of that including some video. I pulled the video from Willow Springs but all I have is the follow laps where everyone who had never been on the track had to follow instructor cars for the first session to learn the line. I thought I'd turned the camera off after that session but apparently I didn't push the button far enough so the camera was left on and I filled the rest of my memory card with video of the front of my hood open. :P I'm going to make sure I don't make that mistake tomorrow.

I'll probably just do a single lap edit of the Willow Springs footage just so anyone who cares can see the course.

Ted Jannetty at Jannetty Racing did an email tune of the car and stabilized it nicely as well as adding some oomph on the bottom end. The car pulls like crazy right from the get-go. Can't wait to see how it does tomorrow!

[blackswan]

Originally Posted by Doc

The bulbs I wound up with were 5100k color temperature 35w D1S bulbs from MTEC which is a Japanese company. I got a pair for $150 from Ebay. 5100k is the temp of the bulbs they put in high-end European cars and some of the upscale cars here like Cadillacs. It has a color like arc-light white which is exactly what I was looking for. Philips doesn't make a 5k bulb; theirs go from 4300k which is OE spec to 6000k which is too blue for my tastes. The MTEC bulbs are just the color I was looking for.
...

Any perceived loss of brightness overall?

[blackswan]

Ah, found this, thanks. Great stuff, getting a pair since that yellow hue is just what I'd like to get rid of. Any chance of quantifying the loss of lumens? Does the spread throw just as far but just a little less bright or is there a reduction in distance?

Originally Posted by Doc

I wanted to change the stock HID's to a whiter color; I don't like the dull yellowed look of the stock HID's. The stock bulbs produce a light at 4300k temperature color so I replaced the stock bulbs with 5000k temp bulbs which are crystal white right on the edge of blue.

I like the color change but there was a drop in lumens so they don't put out as much light as the stock ones do. It's not terrible but I noticed it. The stock bulbs are 35 watt so I'm looking into upgrading the setup to 55w but that will require changing the ballast too.

In the meantime here are a few pics to show the difference. Obviously they're much brighter than in the pics; I changed my camera settings so you could see the colors easier instead of just bright glare.

The first pic is the stock HID 4300k bulb:
Attachment 201503

The next is the 5000k bulb:
Attachment 201504

Here you can see both before I changed the driver's side; the 5000k bulb is on the left and the 4300k is on the right:
Attachment 201505

Makes for a nicer, "more alert" kind of look I think.

[Doc]

Originally Posted by blackswan

Ah, found this, thanks. Great stuff, getting a pair since that yellow hue is just what I'd like to get rid of. Any chance of quantifying the loss of lumens? Does the spread throw just as far but just a little less bright or is there a reduction in distance?

Not quite as bright in the front of the car but since 5100k starts shifting towards blue that's to be expected. Blue is harder to see and doesn't illuminate as well. It's fine around town though.