Is mustang man full of crap?

I work with this guy, and you have all meet him or someone just like him. He's been there, done that blah, blah, blah... your basic bs artist. Anyway he has this 86 mustang lx that he claims he uses as a drag car. I asked him one day how much it weighed and without hesitating he said 2400lbs. Now I don't know crap about mustangs but I have been around racecars most of my life and this just sounds ridiculous to me. That being said I'm not going to call some guy a liar without some sort of consensus or proof. Can anyone out there tell me if this is even remotely possible?

In my experience, most fox bodies with weight reduction still seem to tip the scales at around or just under 3,000lbs .

I recall a fox mustang being under 3000 Lb in full street trim, so 2400 is possible. I'm just not sure how much needs to be done to get there.

As far as having a BullE36 M3-Artist co-worker, I know your pain.

Some magazine (was it GRM?) did a story on the ultimate "lightened" vehicle. By the time they got done this once "humble" sports car looked like an Ariel Atom.

For a Fox-body Mustang to weigh 2400lbs, it would need to shed 400-500lbs. Is that doable? Perhaps, if every unboltable body panel was replaced with fiberglass, the windows and interior removed, and the windshield replaced with Lexan.

In drag trim, an early fox-chassis car could easily be 2400 lbs. Factory curb weight is 2800 for 1986, so you should be able to see some substantial weight saving steps...like no interior, lexan, etc...

google "Caddy Hack" and see what it takes to make an old Caddy weigh 2900 pounds and go fast..

4-eye fox Mustangs are under 3,000 stock so 2,400 in race trim is very easily doable. I'd venture you can get there without lexan or fiberglass being an LX notchback as well.

A couple of friends and I stripped down a Nissan Pulsar... with race seat and cage it weighed just over 2200. Of course, it had a 4 cylinder engine and a tranny that I could pick up myself.

A roundy-rounder Monte Carlo, gutted, lighter but with a home brew cage took everything we could muster to get it down to 2200.

Got a truck weigh station at work?

Dan

the notchbacks are something like 300 lbs lighter than the hatches...

My 1979 Capri hatch with cage and alloy headed 351W was 2325lbs.

Specifications for the 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 Ford Mustang:

Wheelbase, inches: 100.4

Length, inches: 179.1-179.3

Curb-weight range, pounds: 2,568-2,636 (1982); 2,795-2,853 (1986)

Width, inches: 67.4-69.1

yes, 2400 pounds is very doable. my EP 4cyl is well below that. (I have to use ballast to get back to the 2300 pound minimum weight.

My 2005 GT with leather and all the trimmings is 3400 lbs with the spare out and 1/2 tank of gas. dropping a grand of that for a stripped fox is easy.

I saved weight by instituting a "no clothes rule"

My understanding is that a non-options 5.0 LX notch could be driven off the lot in 1987 weighing just under 2900 lbs. The up-to '86s were definitely lighter, though I'm not sure by how much.

I can see it, but it would definitely have to be gutted, tubular k-member'd, and probably with some fiberglass body panels.

basically, if it's still got an interior, it ain't 2400 lbs.

You would have to spend a LOT of $ to get to 2400#. But really, it depends, with or without driver? Without driver is easy. I have personally gotten my old 89GT down to 2900# with driver without much cutting. It still had PS, stock brakes, k-member, all steel, etc.

Without too much detail, the lightest fox body I have seen is Sam Vincent's NMRA SSO ride. I believe he is at 2400# with driver. It is a full on CF, Ti, alum everything possible ride. About the only things left that are original steel are the roof, front frame rails, floor pans, and rear quarters. The rest of the body is all CF. Engine is all aluminum. The rest is chrome moly and Ti.

Brian

In reply to Ranger50:

It is doable in a 86 LX notchback. They are pretty light stock but it would need to be hit with a good bit of "lightness" to get there.

My 86 Saleen was 2900 with everything but AC.

CMC #6 86 lx hatch was 2750 with a NASA legal cage and 16 inch wheels.

2400 is doable and not unheard of.

Grtechguy wrote: the notchbacks are something like 300 lbs lighter than the hatches...

That seems a bit high. Can anyone back this up?

Ranger50 wrote: Without too much detail, the lightest fox body I have seen is Sam Vincent's NMRA SSO ride. I believe he is at 2400# with driver. It is a full on CF, Ti, alum everything possible ride. About the only things left that are original steel are the roof, front frame rails, floor pans, and rear quarters. The rest of the body is all CF. Engine is all aluminum. The rest is chrome moly and Ti. Brian

Apparently people above you in the thread are getting the cars lighter without all that trickery.

cloud81918 wrote:

Grtechguy wrote: the notchbacks are something like 300 lbs lighter than the hatches...

That seems a bit high. Can anyone back this up?

No. Because it's not that much of a difference. My understanding was 80 lbs between a notch and hatch, 250-300 is the difference between a hardtop and convertible.

My 85 hatch with a 289/C4 (don't ask) was ~2600#'s without driver. That had a complete stock interior, stock 4-cyl suspension, and no fiberglass. Start with a coupe, use aluminum heads, and pitch some of the heavy steel suspension and it's very easy to get a full-interior 86 or older down to 2400#.

Fox-bodies are flyweight people, we are not talking about the ho-ho eating S197's (that are still a good 400-600Lbs lighter than the obese Challengers and Camaros). Even the longer, wider, and option-ladened fox Thunderbird's were in the low 3,000's with power everything. The 79-93 Mustang's were small.

I have two '87 Mustangs ( a GT and a LX coupe) that are very similar in how they are equipped. The coupe weighs in at 2985lbs and the GT at 3270lbs. These weights were measured with me in the drivers seat so take approx 265lbs off those totals.