Century R1A1 weight reduction question

[dsol]

I have been a lurker here for a while, but do not know enough about FALs to speak intelligently. Registered here to read and learn, but one of these days, I am going to have to get side by side with someone actually working on one to really learn what everything is.

Anyway, I am the (not so) proud owner of a Century FrankenFAL R1A1 with the damn unibrow feed ramp. A little tinkering here and there with info from posts here and I got it to feed reliably. Now I am on a quest to reduce the weight of the sucker. Both it and its owner are going on diets... it will take me longer to lose my weight and I feel the need for a project. I picked the wrong election to be broke, so I am making due with what I can.

Side by side with my SKS, it is only a couple of inches longer and less than a pound heavier, but it feels so much more unwieldly. I am going to take the barrel down to 17 or 18 inches but am wondering if an aluminum lower might be the ticket. I have read the "ounces count" thread over and over, but to say again, I do not know the terminology as well as I should. I do not know what will fit and what will not. I know the angry beavers tossed all kinds of parts together to make these things. This one takes Inch magazines, but if all the parts are really Inch or if there are Metric ones in the mix is a mystery. I just do not know enough to tell them apart. I have a few metric alloy magazines, going to get some more and replace most of my steel ones. I have four Inch pattern magazines, anyone want to trade alloy ones for them?

I have searched a lot, but my ignorance is keeping me from doing anything too drastic until I can get an educated opinion. I am open to ideas, suggestions, comments, insults, snide remarks, and questions regarding my judgement.