Reducing Vehicle Weight - Maintain Rear Wheel Weight

[Sicarius428]

I have two mustangs and all are plagued with a heavy nose. My 90 5.0 is my toy and I have done weight reduction to it so I will use it as my example of things I have done or researched. Here is the list.
The obvious changes are Fiberglass hood and fenders, Aluminum heads, intake, Aluminum radiator, Electric fan, Aluminum water pump. The not so obvious ones that will also reduce unsprung weight are coilover conversion, tubular A arms and aluminum calipers. I couldn't believe how much the stock cast ones weighed... and sucked at stopping. Granted the larger disks did make up some of the difference but the stopping power of a modern caliper is also a safety improvement too. Tubular sway bar though I have never seen one for the classics but I never really looked. Wiper motor/linkage/wipers can be removed and a mini starter are options. battery in the trunk will help. Quality aluminum wheels(within reason) will also help with unsprung weight and help suspension performance. Headers will weigh less than cast units you may have and also increase performance. Not sure what transmission you are running but a T5 weighs about 65 lbs. Depending on the sort of power you have, the T5 can be built up to be extremely stout in such a small light package and which is great for a classic. I swapped a TKO600 into my 5.0 and it is a beast. It fits the hump in the 90 but you may have to cut yours to get it in correctly. The beast also weighs 100 lbs. When I had the T5, I felt comfortable swapping out my T5 all day long by myself without a jack. That TKO is another story... In the sake of reducing weight, not cutting up the car and cost, I think a astro performance T5 would be a better option. Hope that helps.
Kevin