wow i never thought about that before makes alot of sense, thanks

 

interesting... does it actually save any weight at all? I mean even one full pound? would be icing on the cake....

 

No need to cut the dash - just remove those two trim pieces and you can see the bottoms of the bolts by either lying upside down with your head in the footwell (a pain), or using a mirror you can position a drill and drill upwards into the bolts by holding the drill vertically.

Or (and this just occurred to me), get the car up a foot or two in the air and do it leaning into the cockpit.

Once you get the trim off, it's pretty self-explanatory

 

Just grinding down the steering lock pin saves almost nothing. Taking out the whole ignition swtich/steering column mount saves maybe a pound. And then you have to deal with how you're going to wire up starting the car.

 

I doubt it saves any weight. In fact I added a tiny bit by having 3 switches instead of just one.

 

I see.... so that means, I'll be leaving mine alone....

Interesting info in case I ever get one to track, though...

 

Update...I followed M.M.'s directions, and the job was very straight-forward. I have the car in the air, removed the seat, steering wheel and the plastic trim pieces around the column and the heater controls. I center-punched each bolt, drilled a shallow hole and then took a pencil grinder and ground a small slot in each one and used a screwdriver to easily remove the bolts. I cut down and filed the pin flush. I will re-assemble the assembly tomorrow. Thanks guys...

 

Joe-

I just noticed the weights in your right floorboard... That's classic... Do you do curls w/those while you're waiting to race?

But seriously, what are they for- balancing or to hit a minimum weight for the class you're in...? Also, what does your car weigh & how much total do you have added in the car like that? Looks lke you have 40lbs right there...

 

I need to be 2600lbs with driver and zero fuel by the end of the race. That is class min weight. I weigh about 160lbs or so I and want to leave a little margin 15-20 lbs over min weight to allow for scale error. So right now the car is 2625 or so with 40lbs put in the legal ballast location and a passenger's race seat with a thick solid mounting.

I figure the car at 2450lbs or so as race. It would be under 2400 if I pulled the ballast and passenger's seat. I might be able to get it to 2350 if I pulled a couple more things too. I don't because I don't need to.

 

Very informative thread, I wish I'd seen this years ago. Thank you all, even if it's belated...