I plan on taking weight off of my car and was wondering the advantages and disadvantages of removing the inner wheel wells. Has anyone else done it and still drive it on the street or do you not recommend it?
Wheel well removal
- Thread starter pokertramp
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For how little they weigh, it's not really worth it.
I know a few people that run without them, and it just throws sh*t all over your engine compartment from the tires.
I know a few people that run without them, and it just throws sh*t all over your engine compartment from the tires.
It depends on the model. Some have plastic wheel wells, and I think some are metal. The metal ones might be worth it, but honestly, they probably don't weigh enough to really notice the difference. On a drag only car where everything is gutted, it may be worth it, but on a street car? No. Lose weight in other areas. On my car, for example, I am using an aluminum hood, plastic/aluminum radiator, aluminum front bumper support, and am trying to get the aluminum radiator support, aluminum water pump and aluminum heads to shed weight off the nose. I would also go with rack and pinion steering if it were easy as that is worth quite a bit of weight.
Yeah they are the plastic ones. Not only did I want to cut weight, I wanted to make it look better under the hood, I really hate how they look.
I will probably wither smooth them out with fiberglass or make some custom panels of my own.
I will probably wither smooth them out with fiberglass or make some custom panels of my own.
I too am considering loosing the wheel wells. Every little bit count IMO. Look how much people spend on other thing like hoods or alluminum things just to save a pound or two, when you can take this or that off and it doesn't cost anything. There's other things that weigh more that would be more benificial to remove first. If you're like me you're already at that point and need to slim down more. Is your car your toy, daily driver or both?
itsnotanova said:
Same here. I shedded mine, even though I dont think they weighed more than 10lbs a piece.
I did something today that you may be interested in... Removed all the carpet and jute padding/insulation and installed lightweight automotive carpet. I couldnt believe how heavy the stock stuff was. I know it was at least a 25 pound drop. Best of all, I know have pretty new black carpet instead of the stained up gray stuff.
On the downside, i'm sure its going to be much louder inside the car without all that heavy insulation, but hey, its a race car! :lol:
To itsnotanova,
My car right now is a daily driver. I wanted it just for racing later on but yet I want to be able to cruise with friends or the future girlfriend and her kid(s),that is if I get one and she has a kid or kids,lol.
I love loud music and can't drive without it so I figure if I can cut weight in some places and add it in others it will even out. I love car shows too and will be there all summer. I just can't stand the fact that I will only have a car that is for the track, if that was the case I would be building a top fuel dragster,lol.
To DeboDaddy,
I have almost all my interior gutted except the dash and front seat right now, still driving it. I do see what you mean though, all the padding behind the door panels had some weight to it. I haven't pulled the carpet yet but I will be getting a black one and will probably eliminate the padding from that too.
I also removed all the factory wiring I could without taking out the dash. The factory computer harness with the 50 plus wires or whatever it is had some weight to it. I yanked on it from the inside, cut every wire and then pulled it back from the engine side, went easy. All the wiring for the cruise, rear defroster,,,,,all gone.
I filled up a trash bag and it probably weighed about 35 pounds I guess.
So for me it is now going to be a cruiser occasional track car.
My car right now is a daily driver. I wanted it just for racing later on but yet I want to be able to cruise with friends or the future girlfriend and her kid(s),that is if I get one and she has a kid or kids,lol.
I love loud music and can't drive without it so I figure if I can cut weight in some places and add it in others it will even out. I love car shows too and will be there all summer. I just can't stand the fact that I will only have a car that is for the track, if that was the case I would be building a top fuel dragster,lol.
To DeboDaddy,
I have almost all my interior gutted except the dash and front seat right now, still driving it. I do see what you mean though, all the padding behind the door panels had some weight to it. I haven't pulled the carpet yet but I will be getting a black one and will probably eliminate the padding from that too.
I also removed all the factory wiring I could without taking out the dash. The factory computer harness with the 50 plus wires or whatever it is had some weight to it. I yanked on it from the inside, cut every wire and then pulled it back from the engine side, went easy. All the wiring for the cruise, rear defroster,,,,,all gone.
I filled up a trash bag and it probably weighed about 35 pounds I guess.
So for me it is now going to be a cruiser occasional track car.
foxtrot_lima_bravo said:
haha that's the first thing to get rid of! 😀
To PokerTramp:
Yea, all of my stock wiring is gone, but its all uneeded because I'm all mech. gauges, and the LT1 swap i'm doing has its own standalone wiring system. I am keeping all my seats though. 🙂
I got rid of my heater/ac box the other day. That was a good 50lbs worth of junk on the outside of the firewall and up behind the dash.
Going LT1/th350 alone free'd up some weight for me. Aluminum heads, less accessories, lighter intake manifold/throttle body, etc. I've figured up that I've lost about 300 pounds so far, and I'm digging for another 100. I just gotta find it... :lol:
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