What does a door weigh?

[Doug Brown]

I have a spare 93 Festiva for proto-type work for my other 93 Festiva racer. Better to cut up a bad car than the good one!

In the quest to lighten the car, I cut apart the damaged driver side door today and weighed everything. So here are the weights:

Entire complete door, wind up window, no speakers: 66.2 lbs

Window glass 9-lbs

Window regulator, outside mirror, interior door panel, door handle 6.4 lbs

Inner steel frame work (were the window crank mounts) 4 lbs

Entire window frame (part of the upper door) 3.2 lbs

Outer door skin, hinges, locks and the huge safety beam inside the door 43.6 lbs

So by gutting the door you can lose 22.6 lbs per door

I think the safety beam weighs 15 lbs (it is pretty massive), so you can probably get a steel door down to around 28.6 lbs

So for 2 doors, you could lose 75.2 lbs

You would gain some weight for a window net or a fixed thin plexiglass window.

Some where down the road I'll make a female mold for laying up fiberglass "shell" doors. I would guess that they would weigh around 10 lbs each

With fiberglass shells, the weight for 2 doors would go from 132.4 lbs down to 20 lbs.

Why all the bother? The weight you save in the 2 doors can be translated into a roll cage that stiffens the car and makes it safer, without increasing the overall weight of the car.


Doug

[F3BZ]

interesting. it'd be nice to have a sticky listing weights of the major components. i was surprised how much the whole bumper-re-enforcement assy weighed when i took one off. lotta weight fighting change of direction right out at the end of the car. same with the hatch n glass. never had one off but did remove the strut and it felt way heavy just trying to hold open by hand.
how do you way the parts? if i can, i hold the part close or overhead on a digi scale and subtract that reading from my previously read body weight.

[bhazard]

FMS used to sell a fiberglass hatch, just FYI.

[Doug Brown]

I did the my weight plus part minus my weight on the digital scale.

I have a bare front bumper laying around and the foam - I can weight that up in a few days.

Also plan on removing the rear hatch and seeing what it weighs. It is heavy as all get out.

Doug

[F3BZ]

the window weight really surprises me since i've had them in hand before. no wonder the winding mechanisms go bad. 20+ yrs crankin up and down a bag of potatoes.

[shadetree]

Saving weight ... Carb car doors don't have the safety beam and weight is much less . Also the carb dash is at least 15 lbs less as well .

[jennifermohn1]

Trade yet?

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