gutting my van?

[turbo minivan]

wegot another car today so i can now gut the van and do whatever i want to it race wise. anything i should be carefull of when gutting? should i leave the carpet on it? im deffinatly getting rid of seats and wall pannels up to the "cabin", but not sure if i should leave the roof carpet and the floor carpet. i probly will, but any input? anything i should leave alone from anyones experience?

[turbo minivan]

well, i gutted it yesterday. took out seats, wall panelling, sound deadener, most of the roof, and might pull up the floor to take out that sound deadener, but ill be putting that carpet back in. I LIKE IT LOUD!!!!

[Jay]

mines completely stripped of everything but two seats and the dash. ill get some pics later

[92lebaronGTC]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jay mines completely stripped of everything but two seats and the dash. ill get some pics later

Do you have a rough idea how much weight was pulled out? I want to see a stripped out van, sounds like fun to drive!

[Jay]

two bensch seats sound deadners, carpet, rear window motors, and misc. junk came out to be almost 400lbs

[turbo minivan]

ya, its alot more fun to drive! loud, but fun! i already had the seats out, but as for pannels, sound deadener and all that crap, i bet i took out about 100-130lbs at least! it drives like a car now. very noticable!

[92lebaronGTC]

I know I notice a huge difference when I take out my subwoofer box (50lbs) backseat (27lbs) and spare tire/jack (i'm guessing about 40lbs) The other two I have weighed though.

Makes the ass end of my car a lot higher and my acceleration and turning are improved! I love weight reduction.

[turbo minivan]

i notice it makes HUGE difforence in howit handles with all my suspention mods! before it handeld like a BMW, now it feels like a freeking NASCAR!!
i love it! and i mostly love the noise, the rattles, shaking engine (solid mounts), and the full out race car feel of everything! now i might pipe my 4" intake into the cab!!!! will this starve me of oxogen?

[aaron7]

lol

I'd gut mine but it's also my winter car

Post some pix!!

[86LaserXE-XT]

so does anyone know about what your race ready weights are with a gutted interior?

[86LaserXE-XT]

still wish I would have got my van weighed before I started the gutting process
haven't got to drive it yet since I gutted it.
but I bet it's alot better since I removed the 500 pounds of transmissions and spare engines and such I was hauling around in the back, lol.
so far my weight loss adds up like this as far as the interior junk, and the A/C I removed.


33.4# A/C compressor, Hoses, Condensor
13.0# Rear Hatch Panel with Speakers and interior lights.
09.4# Side door panel and Handle cover.
09.6# Headliner and sunvisors
30.2# interior panels and Trim all except around seatbelts
168.0# Both Bench Seats
33.4# Carpet With Dirt
44.0# Sound Deadening material f&R including fenderwells
09.0# wiper motor and all interior screws and interior lights

350# total

should definetly enhance the driving experiance, and like turbo minivan I don't mind it being loud and rattly, I think it's worth the trade for 350 less pounds of drag you down.
hmm now what else I can I take off?
I'm thinking of ditching the electric locks and the rear hatch popper solenoids.
and theres still that piece of sound deadener thats around the gas pedal and halfway up the firewall. along with alot of extra wires and the front door panels.
I was planning on keeping all the front headliner and carpet and such.
but dangit thats extra weight I don't want lol.
have fun

[Bowtiebuster]

Post Pics!!!

[gkcooper]

I like the idea of gutting a van then having Line-X applied to the interior. It can be mixed any color.

[86LaserXE-XT]

wouldn't that defeat the purpose of gutting it for weight savings?
I would post pics but wouldn't have figured anyone would want to see the ugly inside after you gut one. so I didn't take any. and now it's full of that 850# of stuff I took out.
since my garage was full. with it gutted though it did raise the back about 4"
had to empty the garage because my brother borrowed my 93 mini over the weekend and blew it up(knocking like mad so maybe it might get a turbo after all, since thats all I have are Turbo engines. and a couple wire harnesses.

[aaron7]

I fully gutted mine from the front seats back. No plastic, no wires (except for windows and lights)... nothing but carpet! Easily 100lbs of stuff, not including the seats.