weight reduction

[1980c10]

You could convert it to a shortbed, rollpans both front and back, take out the inner fenders and a fiberglass hood would all be a good start

[team39763]

Take a long look at your truck.  Decide what you're willing to live without.  Then get creative.  When looking for suggestions on weight reduction don't limit yourself to just this bodystyle.  Some of the best tips I've soaked up were from F-body, Honda, and Caprice/Impala sites.  There's not a ton of weight to be removed from these trucks anyway...maybe nearly half a ton

[bobcooter]

Lexan windshield and side windows.  Get a fule cell.Everywhere it is double walled like the bed and inside the cab, cut out big sections of it. The inside of the tailgate too.  Cut holes in the bed floor as well and cover them with thin sheet metal and some rivets.J ust don't be in a wreck... Sorry no one in here had the magic, one size fits all answer you were looking for. The quickest, easiest way to shave weight that I can think is is to not sit in it.

[team39763]

LOL. Funny but true...I reduced my truck's weight by 50lbs with the driver mod.  I let my 170lbs brother-in-law drive/race my truck.  We're working on making the truck remote controlled for the even more weight savings.(J/K).

[bobcooter]

That'll do it!

[markdilljr]

Ok fitz like I said before my biggest concern is not mpg, I said if I could pick up 2 or 3 in the process it wont be a bad thing, from what I was told its only about 150 lb diff between the bed on a lwb vs swb, thanks to all for the other ideas

[1980c10]

btw 150 lbs is a huge difference. also a rollpan in the front would help too and looks decent.

[velojym]

While I like the look of a rollpan, and the weight reduction would be nice, a little old lady in a Buick convinced me that my heavy bumper needs to stay on the truck. She hit me in the tail at a Taco Bell drive-through. No damage at all to my truck, but she had a nice chunk taken out of her plastic bumper.

[N2TRUX]

The first thing you need to do is look at class rules. Are there any restrictions on what has to be there in the class that you plan to run in? That will determine what you need to consider removing, or more importantly repositioning.

While total weight is a concern, balance and distribution should be considered as well. If you haven't put it on 4 corner scales, that should be you first stop.

[Dr_Snooz]

Install an aluminum intake manifold and headers. Alloy wheels. Skinny front tires. Aluminum heads. Inflate the tires with helium. (Just kidding). Get a skinny girlfriend.

^^^ This. I'm assuming you haven't done it already. On my 454, the intake is cast iron, as are the heads, as are the exhaust manifolds. Lots of weight saving opportunity there. New heads are quite pricey though.

[drag80]

make sure you buy race wieght parts, fully finished fiberglass parts sometimes are no lighter then metal. I picked up a 4" harwood cowl hood and it's 5lbs heavier then a stock hood. You can also gut sheet metal parts so that they're just as light as glass, parts. take a look at some pics of my truck on old threads, might give you some ideas.

[bobcooter]

Back in the old days of funny car racing they would acid dip the bodies.

[rayfin interiors]

I am building an 83 chevy 4x4 1/2 ton for mileage. Already ripped out the entire interior and installed poly racing buckets and installed a really light weight shifter. Will make plastic inner fenders and make my own box out of angle iron or round tubing. Picked up an aluminum intake and water pump the other day. An electric fan would free up some power. I have a bunch of ideas. Email me.

"harwood cowl hood and it's 5lbs heavier then a stock hood." WOW GREAT INFO thanks. I saw a lexan hood for a jeep...

[HAULIN IT]

I am building an 83 Chevy 4x4 1/2 ton for mileage. Already ripped out the entire interior and installed poly racing buckets and installed a really light weight shifter. Will make plastic inner fenders and make my own box out of angle iron or round tubing.

Not to pick on you, but to more so make you stop & think a bit. I have a few questions:
 (1)What did your truck weigh when you started this "quest for milage through weight reduction"?
 (2) Do you have some accurate formula for XX pounds removed results in an average of 1 mpg.?
 (3) When you say "complete interior", do you mean floor covering, door panels, dash pad, seat belts, ect. Just what all did you remove & how much did the "complete interior" weight? How much do the new seats & bracket/hardware weigh?
 (4) What did you REMOVE from the original truck's shift linkage & what did that weight? What does the new shifter weigh?
 (5) Have you weighed an inner fenderwell of an '83 GM truck? What will the "box" of round tubing & angle iron weigh?
 Please try to answer the above questions accurately to the best of your ability.
 Now the reasons for my questions (& slight sarcasm if you noticed it). Not that weight reduction doesn't help fuel milage...it sure does, however with what you described I'd GUESS (which is why I asked for exacts) the WHOLE interior doesn't weigh 100 pounds, all of it. Take EVERTHING out of the cab, put it on a scale. Seat, seat belts, heaterbox, radio, door panels, extra wiring ect. ect. Leave only the items needed to run & drive the truck while sitting on a milk crate, likely you improvement in gas mileage would be a number of .02%.
 Gas mileage is largely gained in less ROTATING mass, engine efficientcy, maintaining a steady engine speed, lower engine speed, aerodynamics is a biggy, the actual weight is down the scale a bunch. Now if your starting with a clean slate like the auto manufactures, sure weight is a concern...to distroy the half-way convenience inside of a '73-'87 truck in search of "gas mileage" or even timed racing improvement just doesn't add up to me, they don't have that much in them to start with.   
 On a relevant side note, at work we have/have had a fleet of '88-'97 Ford tow trucks over a period of about 20 years. The ones I'm referring to are gas engine F350's, some 2wd & some 4x4. All but 1 have been 460 ci. engines. (the other a 351). They get an average of about 10 miles per gallon towing, not towing, ect. ect. sure it is slightly different unloaded, but if you you a 1/4 tank of fuel hauling the car somewhere, you better have very near 1/4 tank left or your not getting home...The engine running, moving that vehicle through the air uses XX in fuel, even adding Resistance & weight of another vehicle doesn't do all that much difference. Now if you hook up a "contractor special" van & go mostly uphills to the destination...sure things would be different. Oh the one with the 351, it gets 10 mpg 
 My friend has a '94 E350 regular van with a 460, on a good day, tuned up it gets 13 mpg avg.
 I have a 26' '86 E350 motorhome with a 460...It gets 9 mpg. avg. about 8 pulling a car hauler with my truck on it. Surprised? Not me
 WOW That was loooooong! Just my Two Cents, Enjoy your truck the way it is, unless you go to an efficient fuel injected engine & overdrive transmission, ect. your going to get about 10 mpg. Lorne           
 

[BBCurtiss]

It's adding the right weight that counts, if you know what I mean