Is fiberglass worth the hassle
 

I race in a local Small tire N/A class out here on the west coast. The engine makes enough power but the car is too heavy. I have a strip car that I think can still see the street occasionally. My question is- are fiberglass doors and front clip worth the hassle? What kind of weight savings could i potentially see. My car is all steel/ original right now. Runs mid 5's in the 1/8 at 3515- that includes a 250lb driver.

The lighter front clip is what I would go with first.

That weight loss way out there means faster weight transfer and better consistency when the green comes on and a bunch of races are won and lost right there.

Every 100 lbs is about half a tenth in the 1/8th. I wouldn't do glass doors on a street car, first gen doors aren't that heavy. Pin on hood will drop weight, especially because you remove the hinges and race weight hoods don't have the bracing that a bolt on hood requires. If you don't have cage bars bracing the front subframe, I'd leave the steel fenders. Front subframe is heavy, you will drop a good amount of weight with an aftermarket tubular frame. You need to decide if you want a trailered race car, or a street car that you race. There's a lot of areas where you can cut weight if you don't street drive. Maintaining streetability makes it more difficult and expensive to drop weight, but after having race only cars and street/strip cars I will never build another race only car.

Car has a full moly cage welded to the sub frame connectors- which is welded to the Smith Racecraft tubular front end. The cage comes through the firewall and ties into the the SRC front end as well. Car has a fiberglass hood now. I'm thinking 1-piece fiberglass front end, air brush the emblems and lights into it and a couple small LED light bars next to the painted blinkers so I can see in the dark... Not sure if I could incorporate actual headlights into the fiberglass front end

Since you have the chassis adequately braced, you could easily ditch the inner fenders if you haven't already. You can do the bolt on fiberglass fenders and header panel which would allow you to retain the headlights. The weight difference between that route and a one piece front end is only about 35 lbs. Is there anyone running an ASAG(all steel all glass) class where you race? Sounds like your car is currently a pretty good fit as it sits. On my 68 Camaro, I had 2 kirkey front seats, used sheet aluminum wrapped in vinyl for door panels, removed the backing from the carpet so it weighed next to nothing. Heater only, no AC. With a mild steel 8 point bar and me in it (225lb), race weight was 3190, fiberglass hood only, inner fenders removed. I ran a stock front frame, was going to change it but got an offer on the car I couldn't refuse and sold it. I went through everything on the car, every bolt was shortened to the minimum, race brakes all around. Monoleafs with caltracs were lighter than the multileaf springs. Chromoly driveshaft too.

My friend with a 9.90 Vega swears the biggest benefit he found after ditching the sheet metal and going to a clip is the ease of maintenance. It takes 5 minutes to pull the clip off so if needed he can pull if at the track. And in the off season he has rigged a block and tackle so it hangs 8 feet above the car from the roof of the garage.

I lost a a good 300 lbs. But first good hook put it on the bumper. Your suspension may need some adjustments with the weight change...Its a 1 piece removable flip front end and fiberglass doors.

Mid 5's at 3500 lbs is impressive! I'd love to hear more about the combination.

I would double the want to know more about your combination.

i would like to see a time slip.

my fiberglass doors on my 68 bird were 9lbs each

Ok- to be fair it is a 565 BBC with a th400 and a 9" 5500 converter. 1.47 60' 5.53 @ 126. I'll find a recent slip and post it. Smith Racecraft front end, Moser 9", CM cage tied to front clip and sub frames. Ladder bar car, Viking DA shocks and Strange disk brakes on all corners. All steel, all glass except for hood. Car weighs 3287 without me in it.