Gutting the interior

[speedy91]

I am going to be replacing my ripped-up tan interior of my new plus with a black interior from one of our parts car. I would like to drop some weight with compromising too much drivability. I am still going to keep my dash, door panels, A/C and a few other comfort items. What can I remove that is not going to affect daily driving too much. I plan on putting two racing seats in the front. I will have a striped down stereo too.
Thanks,
Eric


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1991 Ford Taurus SHO Plus: High-revs clutch, lightweight flywheel, K&N air filter on cold-air induction, 73mm MAS, custom programmed chip, under drive pulleys, high flow y-pipe, Walker/Dynomax exhaust system, 96 brake upgrade, Eibach springs, Koni struts, sub frame connectors, front and rear strut-tower braces, polyurethane bushings, aluminum front sub frame bushings, white gauges, matching aluminum/carbon fiber pedals and shift ****.

Coming this spring: SHOShop MTX with Quaife. 3.2 with 3.0 heads. Borla cat-back. Baer brakes. 17x8 Momo Arrows with 235/45R17 tires. Custom black interior.

 

[jthomas68]

The heaviest parts of the interior are the 2 front seat and the center console.Besides using the race seats you plan on,i wouldn`t remove much else.For the last few weeks of the season my interior was completely stripped except for the dash and drivers seat.It ruins the car to say the least.It is too loud,and makes you feel as though your car is a POS.Besides those few heavy parts,the seat belts are a bit heavy also.My rears aren`t going back in because they aren`t ever used anyways.Well,that and the fact that i don`t have any black ones

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Jeremy Thomas
Juiced 91+
SHO Pic Of The Week:

 

[drivinhard]

I just finished up my black interior conversion on the SR71 a few weeks back. (It's amazing how it totally changed the car, when I'm driving it I don't even feel like it's the same car). I pulled the carpet padding out from under the seats, and behind the back seat. That alone is worth almost 50 lbs. If you really go crazy you can scrap the floor sound material off as well, figure about 40-50 lbs for that (haven't gotten an accurate weight on that yet, but a buddy did his fox mustang and it was 46 lbs). That and the stock front seats are boat anchors.

I did the same as you, dropped the heavy stock audio system and am installing a single head unit and 4 speaker set up. Just something lightweight to listen to tunes to and from the track, and for beating around town.

basically with some creativity (and a few more secrets <g>) you can have a stock looking interior, and be some 150 lbs lighter.

just think, you can do all that and your 91 will still be heavier than an untouched 89

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White 92
SR71SHO - racer '89

 

[jthomas68]

I can`t wait to finish the black interior in mine.There`s enough in the car now that i can get the feel for how it`s going to be.It almost makes the car feel smaller inside.By far the most PITA part was the headliner.I even stripped and relined my old one which added to it`s PITA-edness

It was cheap to do though.

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Jeremy Thomas
Juiced 91+
SHO Pic Of The Week:

 

[speedy91]

What all is involved in removing the airbag? Is it recommend? I have an aftermarket steering wheel from one of our parts car that I would like to use since it is much smaller and the stock wheel is shot. I plan on keeping the ABS. I believe those (ABS and airbag) were the only weight adding changes between the 89 and the 91. My goal is to get to 3000 lbs. Mark, I know your old SR71 was 2750 without an interior. But then again, that was one of those lightweight 89’s.
Eric

 

[drivinhard]

I suppose you could drop your airbag for an aftermarket wheel (I'm running a 3 lb lighter OMP Ferarri F360 Challenge wheel) on my 89. It's 13.8", a bit smaller but the feel is great. If you dump your airbag, you'll want to remove all the sensors, wiring, etc as well. (I think this is actually illegal, but so is putting on a different Y pipe).

Yes, ABS, and airbags were the 2 options that added weight to the 90-95's. Also the dash on the 89 is the smallest, and lightest. They got heavier starting in '90.

The gen2 actually has a lot of parts that are lighter than the early cars (skinnier sway bars, lighter front fascia's, hood, etc) but still come out heavier with the added frills and stuff.

I plan to be down to 2950 when I"m all said and done, and that includes an 8 pt cage (095 DOM tubing) at some 1.7 lb/ft.

The old 89 was actually a bit heavier than the car I'm using now, it had a sunroof and a few other doo-dads. Basically, this thing looks stock (and will continue to) and carry all it's factory options, yet be sub 3000 lb. I can't give away all my secret

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White 92
SR71SHO - racer '89

 

[speedy91]

Does anyone have some suggestions for aftermarket seats? Sparco or Corbeau? I have seen a few posts about them, but no model number or info on brackets.
Eric

 

[drivinhard]

Sparco makes a couple of sets that run about $500-$600 for both fronts. Around 16-17 lbs a piece. They have universal mounting kits, or you could build your own lightweight ones.



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White 92
SR71SHO - racer '89