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  #1  
Old 03-29-2004, 03:22 PM
Manning Manning is offline
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Default Weighed the charger today.

My buddies lead me on to a vehicle scale behind a recycling yard that is pretty much free (at night) to use if the loader trucks arent. It's like a hollywood driveway and the digital scale readout is across the street, so if anyone located near Santa Clara, CA is interested, let me know. The scale tares to an even 0 lbs and is almost dead on with just my body weight (160lbs).

I pulled on my with mostly stock 73 Charger, BB400/727/ 8 3/4 iron and steel everything, and with me in the car, i tipped the scale at 4000lbs even.

Now i'm interested to see how much i could save with a glass hood, decklid, fenders, bumpers, and aluminum replacements.
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  #2  
Old 03-29-2004, 10:31 PM
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The Dartman The Dartman is offline
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Just in case your interested:

My 1973 Duster:
Fiberglass: Hood and front and rear bumpers and lightened brackets.
Racing buckets but the rest of the stock interior is in place.
10 point cage
fuel cell
318/727/8.75
.....
3065 pounds
(I estimate a savings of 300-400 pounds, with 100-200 pounds of added roll bar)

My Dad's 72 Duster:
Fiberglass tilt front end with no fenderwells.
Completely stock interior.
340/727/8.75
.....
2950 pounds

The same powerplant from your car will run as much as a second faster in one of our cars.

I suggest staying away from fiberglass fenders unless they are rotten and need replaced anyway. It is pretty hard to make 'em look nice.

Thought you'd be interested in seeing some weights from some other fiberglass equiped vehicles.

Dartman
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  #3  
Old 03-29-2004, 11:36 PM
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pishta pishta is offline
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With the Dusters fiberglass flip up, how does the front clip support? Are their tie ins to a roll cage? I may ditch my fenders as well and am wondering how I can do it without a cage.
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Old 03-30-2004, 02:56 AM
Manning Manning is offline
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Hey Dartman, thanks for the info. Who'd you go through for your glass? I think i've only come across one company that makes glass panels for a 73 b-body, but you say they look no good? is it because the paint? alignment? manufacture quality?
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Old 03-30-2004, 08:44 AM
custom880 custom880 is offline
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I have a 73 Charger SE Brogham. I am getting rid of as much steel as I can without chopping the car up. I have a set of fiberglass front fenders that came off a 73 Drag car. The difference in fender weight alone is almost 100 pounds. The hood will be a pin on fiberglass bulge hood. Getting rid of the steel hood and the hinges will bring it down another 100. The hearter core goes as well as the wiper motor. The motor (400 big block) got an aluminum intake (RPM performer) and the water pump will be aluminum as well. Power steering gets changed to manual power brakes go to manual. I am hoping that I can trim the car down to 3500. That would make it a good weight. The car will be a street strip car, mostly trailered to a few shows and up to the track once in a while. The back bumper right now is fiberglass and I am changing that back to steel.
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Old 03-30-2004, 08:57 AM
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The Dartman The Dartman is offline
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The fiberglass peices on my car now are all VFN, which I believe is the finest panels on the market.

I have personal experience with US body Source, and the hood they sent me for my Dart Sport did not fit at all to the stock brackets and the finish was terrible. I have also heard bad things about unlimited, but no first hand experience. Most problems you'll encounter with poor glass panels will be with fit and finish.

My Dad's car with the tilt front end has support bars going from the firewall to the shock towers and down to the frame.

Dartman
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Old 03-30-2004, 04:54 PM
Manning Manning is offline
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Hey custom880- We have nearly identical cars. did you happen to get a base weight of your car?

Mine is 4000lb even with me in it and about half tank of gas. All iron and steel, no AC, alloy wheels, 400cid, etc.
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Old 03-30-2004, 05:16 PM
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73calroadrunner 73calroadrunner is offline
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I have had a few experiences with fiberglass parts companies and I will say this. The best by far in terms of tech support and quailty products has to be VFN, I was throughly satisfied with my pin on hood for my valiant from them. I just received it a week ago and the finish is excellent. It was not warped and is now with the car in the paint shop to get all matched up. Conversly I have ordered from unlimited products some fenders for my dads challenger and all I can say is that it was a big waste of money. The finish was ok, but the fenders were warped badly. It looked like they took them out of the mold to quickly and hung them and as such they sagged in the middle. We still attempted to bolt them on. After several hours of fighting to get them to fit properly we were very dissapointed. We had to build custom braces for them, they were still saggy and the door line was WAY off. Even after all of this my dad was not about to throw them away for the money he spent. He manged to drive about two weeks before one of the fenders started to split in the front near one of the mounting tabs. At which point we juist gave up and put the steel fenders back on. Car didn't even make it to be painted.

Just my $00.02

-Jon
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  #9  
Old 03-30-2004, 06:18 PM
custom880 custom880 is offline
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Yes Manning I did. When I picked the car up it had two ratty Camero bucket seats in it that were broken off the tracks, some of the A/C stuff still on the motor, no carpet, and no spare tire or jack. We had it weighed by pushing it on a full size certified scale and with no gas it was 3875. I have since put the correct 73 Buckets in (out of a RoadRunner) taken all the A/C off the motor and reworked it to a base 400. I didnt get a chance to weigh it with just the basics after that. We drove the car around for a bit then robbed the engine for another car. I have a built 400 that I am putting in the Charger sitting on my engine stand. Right now I am backed up on two other projects. As soon as I clear them out I will tear the Charger completely down to nothing and start the stripping of it. I am still looking for an 8 3/4 rear end for it locally. No one will cough one up.
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  #10  
Old 03-30-2004, 06:53 PM
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Clair Clair is offline
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Man, those Dusters make my Valiant seem pretty piggy… 3,620# full wet weight with me (220# right there), the jack, and the spare in it. Iron everything, but the 4-speed bell housing, MC, & intake. Headers, 3” exhaust, AC car with out the compressor, PS, manual brakes, big rotors, B-body rear axle. On the other hand, the weight distribution is 53/47 the way she sits, so that’s not bad for what I want to do – autocross. At most, I’ll put on a fiberglass hood, replace the radiator with aluminum, and replace the under hood DT75 battery with a small Optima or Dynabatt in the trunk. Sure would be nice to weigh 3,000# and have a 50/50 weight distribution!
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Old 03-30-2004, 07:08 PM
71dart666 71dart666 is offline
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I weighed my car on a car scale at a speed shop and before I took the AC out with maye a 1/3 tank of gas it sat at 3030 lbs. I didnt have the spare or jack in the car either. Its got powersteering, brakes, bench seats and stock slant 6 with an auto and 9 inch drums. I figure with the 318 and the 8 3/4s rearend Itll probably be around 3100 lbs the way it is.
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Old 03-31-2004, 10:25 PM
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73 Duster
stock interior, and heavy aluminum wheels, a 440/727 tranny, aluminum intake and headers tips in at around 3200#'s. It has a 8 3/4 rear gear.

Also I dont think the fiber glass fenders are the way to go, i had a 70 challenger that come with some I guess what you would call heavy grade glass fenders, hell they was just as heavy as the steel ones, and the glass ones had no headlight buckets. The fit was nothing more than horrific. They are a nightmare to get right.
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