Re: Chevy power , 300+ hp Inlines, Gremlin weight....con't.

[Gremlingts@xxxx]

 Ok, I won't tell you then about the guy down in South Carolina who has a 
fast strip Gremlin running a small block BowTie, and is beating the pants off 
the competition down there! LOL! They hate him...but anyway, I don't see why 
you can't get over 300 hp out of an inline, it's entirely possible to do so. 
Some folks think that you have to have a V-shaped engine to get power, and 
that's not so, a straight six can be really fast with the right mods, just 
like a v-8 can. 
Anyway, here's the weights of all the Gremlins that I can find :

'70 2-pass. - 2497 ( lb's )
'70 4-pass - 2547
'71 2-pass - 2503
'71 4-pass - 2552
'72 6 / v-8 - 2494 / 2746
'73 6 / v-8 - 2642 / 2867
'74 6 / v-8 - 2855 / 3094
'75 6 / v-8 - 2694 / 2952
'76 6 / v-8 - 2774 / 3023
'77 4 / 6 - 2564 / 2824
'78 4 / 6 - 2556 / 2834

Some of the Custom Gremlins weighed 3 lbs more than a standard in '76-78, so 
I used the heavier weight. :) As you can see, the earlier the Gremlin, the 
lighter the car....they used less interior bracing in the doors, etc than 
later models. Probably swapping the doors out, and removing the A/C will get 
a late-model Gremlin down to around 2600 lbs to match the early ones, and 
maybe they used heavier bumpers on the later years, with the hydraulic 5-mph 
bumpers its highly probable that added extra weight as well. Here's the 
weight for the '79-80 Spirit sedan, they're lighter as well :

'79 Spirit sedan ( Gremlin lookalike ) - 2489 / 2706 ( 4 and 6, no v-8 
offered for sedan)
'80 Spirit sedan - 2512 / 2714 ( same as above )

So, you could make a light-weight racer out of the later model Spirit Sedan, 
don't think anyone has done that, the hatchback was preferred for aero 
purposes by then, though. It'd be different. And I see more Gremlins in 
junkyards than Spirit sedans, I don't know what happened to all the Spirits ( 
probably the low production numbers ), there's one in a local ( 2-hour drive 
) junkyard, that's beige ( shudder ) and on my website pics, and is only 
missing a front wheel hub. it's in nice shape, I might have to go back to 
check it out again sometime, see what year it is. Well, that's all for me, 
just thought I'd pass on some info. I have paint chip books now, too, so if 
anyone wants a breakdown of their paint code, what it's called, etc, I'll be 
happy to look it up for you. AMC ya!

Jerry
Woodbridge, VA
Getting Gremlin Garage ready for it's second "baby"...