Tips for lowering CG and the whole car... (Page 3 of 3)

Thanks to removed power steering and EGR, relocated battery, and a seriously minimized intake ducting, it is now a 10-minute breeze.

It's amazing how much cleaner an engine bay becomes when you take out all that unnecessary equipment. Replacing alternator/water pump belt became a breeze (no wonder PO never changed that belt).

The snowball effect is ridiculous on this car. For example, now that the front end is so light, we no longer need power steering, which makes the front end even lighter still. There's a crap-load of brackets holding brackets, so once you remove/relocate some wires, you can remove sizable chunks of metal that just hang there on a bolt or two.

Regarding suspension level, all I want now is to get it down to stock height. The half-shafts are at a nice 25 degree angle at the moment; I need at least a 3-inch drop just to get them somewhat parallel to the ground.

The cage is already in. And the belts, battery, extinguisher, and the heavy stock seat. And we still need to do some stripping and redo the exhuast; I'd estimate we can have another 50 or so pounds removed.

With a person in the driver's seat the car sits ~3 inches taller than what it was when it was stock, boat on the roof and two people in the car.

The back seat weighs about as much as an average person - it's a nearly free-standing assembly made of very, very heavy metal. We took out roughly 100lbs worth of carpet, sound deadening, and interior bolts. Then there's console, dash, brackets, passenger seat, interior paneling, brackets, back glass (the front side glass is not out yet), AC, PS, various unnecessary brackets, useless comfort equipment (30lb blower fan assembly?), extra wiring, brackets, gas/trunk cables, brackets, condenser fan, brackets, cast-effin-iron AC mounting bracket and brackets. I'm pretty sure I missed something big, like brackets, but you get the idea.

The base crank-your-own Stanza wagon with no center console, audio, or AC (but with PS) is supposed to be under 2300lb. If ours is still above 2000lb I'm gonna go drink myself into a coma.

Removing my chintzy plastic interior, tar panels, and every single thing I could unbolt off the car (fender liners, heat shields, parking brak, etc) got my 1875lb car down to 1550lbs wet w/cage. Just break up dry-ice and set it on the tar sheets and they break off clean from the metal.

I haven't even begun to cut holes in things, removing wiring harness sections, or remove the dash cover. I did scrape most of the undercoating off, but that is a totally awful job and I don't recommend it even slightly.

I've never seen such a tip/blade for a Sawzall.   Where did you find it?   Or, more to the point, where can I get one?

Mine came with the blade kit (which came with the saw, I think, unless I got it separately for some reason). I got it at Home depot.

Here's the manufacturer's link:

http://www.milwaukeetool.com/accessorie … 49-00-5463

They also have a 3-inch wide blade, but mine is the 1.5 one. Works great and stays somewhat sharp even after repeatedly hammering it into brackets and bolt heads. The key is going slow, at fast speeds it becomes useless.