Vacuum tank weight?

69427

69427

The Artist formerly known as Turbo84
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Clinging to my guns and religion in KCMO.
Just curious what the vacuum tank on my '69 weighs. Anyone have one of that vintage/design that could give me a number? Just trying to see if a small aluminum replacement is worth the effort.

Thanks!
 
It's pretty lightweight....you mean the pillow thing right? The steel is very thin. Just leave it as is. The heaviest would be the bracket, maybe drill some holes in it?
 
Twin_Turbo said:
It's pretty lightweight....you mean the pillow thing right? The steel is very thin. Just leave it as is. The heaviest would be the bracket, maybe drill some holes in it?
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I figured it probably doesn't weigh much, and it looks like such a complete PITA to get out just to weigh it, so I thought I'd ask around. I rarely need to open the headlights or wiper door when the engine isn't running, so I was curious about making a small (beer can sized) aluminum canister to replace it.

Just trying for more ideas to get more weight out of the car without it looking like the car has been modified or gutted.
 
I built one some time ago for my 69 and never used it because I later found a solid used one. It is noticabily lighter, yet about the same capicity. If you have an interest, I am willing to sell it, will take a photo.

I put my car on a "diet" also and took a lot of weight out. George
 
Corvettes White said:
I built one some time ago for my 69 and never used it because I later found a solid used one. It is noticabily lighter, yet about the same capicity. If you have an interest, I am willing to sell it, will take a photo.

I put my car on a "diet" also and took a lot of weight out. George
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I'd be interested in a list of your weight reduction activities. I'm running out of ideas on getting more weight out of mine.
 
Let me put a list together, but mostily the same as everyone else except that have kept the car a road car. George
 
1969 white Corvette convertible.

Built as a road car not a racer so car still has P/W, P/B, P/S, AC, fully insulated, carpeted and etc.

What I have on the car:
Aluminum Heads.
Aluminum Intake.
Aluminum Bowtie Small Block.
Aluminum Front Brake Hubs.
Aluminum SSBC Brakes.
Aluminum Water Pump.
Carbon Fiber Drive and Half Shafts.
Aluminum Wheels.


What I want to put on the car:
Aluminum Rear End Housing, but no one makes one. Rumor had it the Tom’s was going to make one but he never has.
Aluminum Radiator.
Changing out some of the brackets and braces, a lot of steel just here and there.
The seat tracks are very heavy.
The Jack. Have been told that a ‘91 Nissan 300Z looks very similar to a Vette jack but is made of aluminum.


What you may consider:
There is a 40 lb casting of cast iron holding the steering column to the brake pedal box and dash. I understand that GM changed it to fabricated sheet metal around about '82 or whenever they redid the interior and raised the steering column.
The Fuel Tank.
82 FE7 Aluminum Strut Rods.
Titanium Lug Nuts.

George
 
69427- Have you weighed your car yet? I wonder how much weight all of the C4 stuff lost/gained you.
Im at 2936lbs and my car is nowhere near being considered gutted or stripped.

Since you've already done most of the major weight reduction, try to find little things to get rid of or lighten.
"Look for the ounces, and the pounds will come"
 
My car is 3050 pounds with no driver and an 1/8-1/4 tank of fuel. The C4 suspension and steering changes took about 140 pounds off the car.
The new engine this winter will drop another 160 pounds, giving me around 2890 pounds.
As I mentioned earlier, I'm slowly running out of ideas for weight reduction. The next couple of items to work on are lighter versions of the under-radiator crossmember (aluminum or tubular steel), the seat tracks (aluminum), and the seats (later seats or aluminum internals under the stock covers). I'd like to do the steering column support swap, but the PITA factor is putting that way down on the to-do list.
 
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On that pillow tank, Mine had failed due to metal fatique, stress cracks, I tossed it, lights/door worked fine without it.....one thing to do was plumb each vac circuit CONTROL line source to the engine independently of each other, the main power 3/8 vac lines T'd off and run together....this keeps the stuff from going up and down when you start the engine, when my headlights went in a deer wreck, I had to weaken the spring in the door vac relay to kill that action....

:smash::cool:
 
I'm surprised you didn't block off a portion of your frame and use that as a vacuum tank.
 
Related to your thread - I used a plastic ball used on about a million GM trucks. It is about the size of a grapefruit but works just fine. Weighs about 12 ounces or less.

Unrelated - if you have never read "All Corvettes are Red" about the development of the C5 read it. They had a program that ran for the life of the project about the "battle for grams". Everything was looked at from the windshield posts to the license frame. It is a neat sub story that runs through the book.
 
pcf_mark said:
Related to your thread - I used a plastic ball used on about a million GM trucks. It is about the size of a grapefruit but works just fine. Weighs about 12 ounces or less. That's right, I've seen those balls in several vehicles. I need to take a closer look there.

Unrelated - if you have never read "All Corvettes are Red" about the development of the C5 read it. They had a program that ran for the life of the project about the "battle for grams". Everything was looked at from the windshield posts to the license frame. It is a neat sub story that runs through the book.
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I read that book a bunch of years ago. (I lent it out, and never saw it again. :mad:) IIRC, they had some sort of weight/cost equivalent of 5 or 10 bucks a kg, or something along that line.

Thanks for the vacuum ball suggestion! :idea:
 
This is the tank I had made some time ago. Weighs less than the steel one but need to put on a scale. For sale if any one want's or can use it. George
 

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Those ball type tanks come on all C4 vettes, not sure about 5 and 6s. Also all 80s Vans, F bodies, Trucks...they all have those.
 
Twin_Turbo said:
Those ball type tanks come on all C4 vettes, not sure about 5 and 6s. Also all 80s Vans, F bodies, Trucks...they all have those.
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Since I ran my '72 without any storage tank and no issues, I wonder what one of those tanks is needed for on most any other car, ?? :amused:
 
vac buffer, offers a steady vac. signal to accys needing it, would suck if your headlamps went up slower or not at all @ higher throttle (lower manif vac) no?
 
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