Ideas to lose weight and look stock

[87mark7lsc]

Thanks for all of your ideas everyone. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking anything. I know a Panther isnt an ideal drag car, I just think its funny when you can run with a car that everyone knows is fast like a Mustang. Things like the intake manifold and the headers could be picked up on by a knowledgeable person looking at my motor but I would have to say that 95% of the people who have seen it think that it is stock. There's a lot of little things that you would have to be looking really closely to see. Yeah its loud driving it but not bad at idle. I just tell everyone I have exhaust. I wanted a 5.0L convertible but I had to buy this car as it only had 16k on it for $1500, no winters nearly perfect condition 100% original except for the battery. I'll never sell it, so I figured I would make it Mustang like, so I would enjoy driving it.

[DuceAnAHalf]

a 351 looks stock, because they were stock, due to the large engine bay most people are not gonna be able to tell the difference since it doesnt look huge in a panther compared to a 302 like a mustang and you can reuse the stock accessories, even your old belts

[1980c10]

The 351 swap is next on my list. But I want the 5.0 todie first lol. It's not like I'm nice to it either, it just won't give up.

[DuceAnAHalf]

here are the pics of how i cut down the bumper supports.
the first two are the front. they are just wide enough to attach teh bumper to the support with 3 bolts, and the supports to the frame with 3 (or is it 4? i cant remember) the front is aluminum that i got with the aluminum wagon front bumper.


this is the rear, it is still steel since i have my original rear bumper


the steel/steel bumper assemblies weigh 65-70#s each. the aluminum/aluminum weigh around 35, mine with teh chopped support is around 30, the rear bumper is about 10# less than stock. thats a 50# savings, most of it off the front end, that is more than a set of aluminum heads gets you, for very little money, just a sawzall and some junkyard bumpers.
and from the outside, it looks factory, cause it is.

[mrltd]

Thanks for all of your ideas everyone. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking anything. I know a Panther isnt an ideal drag car, I just think its funny when you can run with a car that everyone knows is fast like a Mustang. Things like the intake manifold and the headers could be picked up on by a knowledgeable person looking at my motor but I would have to say that 95% of the people who have seen it think that it is stock. There's a lot of little things that you would have to be looking really closely to see. Yeah its loud driving it but not bad at idle. I just tell everyone I have exhaust. I wanted a 5.0L convertible but I had to buy this car as it only had 16k on it for $1500, no winters nearly perfect condition 100% original except for the battery. I'll never sell it, so I figured I would make it Mustang like, so I would enjoy driving it.

I have a complete exploder motor, headers, a 04 PI zip tube, cobra valve covers, 80mm maf marauder air box... and can park right next to a bone stock panther (with it's hood up) and have guys walk by and say "huh huh, look, that guy thinks he has a race car because he has red motorsport wires...." Even mustang guys have trouble figuring my car out.

[gadget73]

I kinda get the same thing, though in my case its blue Taylor wires and the red ignition coil. The finned valve covers might get a second look, but they are factory 84-85 Mustang units so its not that out of place.

[1980c10]

I have no a/c, no smog, headers, an electric fan, and the homemade warm air intake. And no one ever takes a second look when I pop the hood, their like meh whatever lol.

old pic, but the only difference is the wires showing are loomed now



plus here is a solution to the keeping it stock looking problem, don't pop the hood lol.

A buddy of mine had a mustang he used to street race, he would unhook the latch cable inside the car, then tell the guys his hood latch was broken. So they couldn't check anything out before the race. It was a 347 with H/C/I but it had a custom grind cam that idled pretty smooth, and you could get away with telling people it was a bolt on car because it sounded like one at idle lol. It was a money maker that's for sure.

[85crownHPP]

if they fell for that line, they were morons anyway, lol

[p71towny]

Remove the center seat belts front and back. Its not like you'll ever use them and every little bit helps. I've ditched mine in all my cars.

[1980c10]

Good idea at least 2lbs

[grandpaslincoln]

Gut the trunk. I always thought cutting out most of the trunk and making it shallow would save some weight. Then you can toss the stock tank and put a nice fuel cell in the trunk.

[DuceAnAHalf]

Gut the trunk. I always thought cutting out most of the trunk and making it shallow would save some weight. Then you can toss the stock tank and put a nice fuel cell in the trunk.

Big Blue Tank did that on his car. Cut the tub out of the back, and just replace it with a piece of .032" aluminum.

[1987cp]

That sounds very much in keeping with the principle of "don't look for 100 places to lose a pound, look for 1600 places to lose an ounce".


Me, I've been interested for a couple of years now in how much weight could be saved by fiddling with the rear door on a wagon. Sure, the extra rear side glass and stuff has some weight that make a wagon heavier than its equivalently-equipped sedan counterpart, but that door is HEAVY, and I figure it probably doesn't really have to be.

[Mercracer]

I will definitely be taking the spare tire and jack out next time. I like the manual seat idea, I will have to look in to that. All you would need is the track assembly not the whole seat correct? Its a Signature so that must mean it has the aluminum hood and bumpers

It takes either a loss of 100lbs or a gain of 10hp to drop .1 seconds ET in the 1/4 if you already have decent gears and a transmission which is doing its job(converter helps).

[Mercracer]

Hard to gauge improved power based on ET, since that is more a function of your 60' time. What was the difference in trap speed with real headers?

Wow, 5mph is a huge gain for headers/exhaust. Are your E7's ported?

I gained a solid .5 seconds with exhaust only and very little gain in 60'. I gained another .5 seconds with gears. 1 second ET improvement and little 60' improvement.