weight reduction - how light?

[spitz7985]

anyone know how many pounds can be lost by completly ridding an s13 of anything unnecesary except powersteering? what's the lightest you've seen?

[Dattebayo]

a/c drops at least 100 lbs, if you drop the fan/coil unit like 150 but you wanna keep heat at least. The inner body pabels lost me maybe 100 total, and the rear seat was like 25 lbs with the seat belts. But if you want the real high money weight reduction weight, check out GT2 playstation and they give you the weight for top stage.

[stillmatic]

You could probably get it down to 2,000 lbs but it's gonna cost a lot of money.

Let's see for an s13 fastback you could:

Gut the interior out including dash, carpet, rear and passenger seatsLightened flywheel, driveshaft, pulleyCarbon fiber hood, fenders, bumpers, and custom carbon fiber quarter glassesReplace both winshield with plexiglassSand the paint off? Lightweight wheelsStraight-through exhaustRemove unnecessary stuff like radio, speakers, antenna, rear wiper, spoiler, a/c and power anything

[solaris22]

100lbs for AC? I don't think so, when I stripped my A/C it was around 50lbs at the most.

[BuudWeizErr]

I'll weigh my car when I'm done.

I have no A/C, no washer reservoir, no bumper support, no interior (just two seats and a dash), manual seatbelts, no rear speakers, no antennae.

EDIT: and it's a base model, so manual windows, no rear wiper, no sunroof, no cruise control, none of that crap.

[Thecollector]

Unless your planning on gutting the entire inside, relocating and making the fuel tank smaller, ripping out the whole AC/Heater, replacing hood and fenders to lighter carbon-fiber, then make it a race car, diet and lose mass weight.....why worry about a few lbs? Unless you spend mass $$, its not really going to make a difference for you.

[sxseguy]

My friend's SCCA ITE S13 race car weighed 2650 full of fluids with him in it. He weighs about 175. The massive roll cage is another 100 lbs at least.

The car is stripped naked. Roll-down windows are gone, interior is gutted except for dash. It's got an SR20DET instead of the KA, but the weights are pretty similar between the two.

So, I figure the lightest you could go would be about 2300 lbs on an S13.

[HolyShiznit]

I suppose this all depends on what you want to do with the car.....race car? Then you can strip out everything..... If you are daily driving......why?

Just for the record, without spare/jack/wash fluid resevior(I have CF hood), and I don't have AC mine weighs 2610 w/o me and w/ nearly no gas. *shrug*

[s14a]

hahahahaha sand off the painti wood check gt3

[IneedMoney]

take a s*** before the race (1-3 lbs)

[sideshow]

hack off your legs and make hand controls like paralyzed people have, you wouldnt imagine how much 2 legs weigh :chainsaw

[spitz7985]

yes, it will be a full race car

the lame jokes are not amusing

[sxseguy]

I should have mentioned that my buddy's SCCA ITE S13 racer is a coupe. Not sure if that makes it lighter than a hatch, but I would guess that it does by about 50 lbs or so.

[SeVa-S13]

Firstly, yes indeed, the sawing off your legs idea was funny.Secondly, yes, the coupes are a little bit lighter.Carry on.

[nlzmo400r]

go to your car, get inside and start pullin **** out, rip out everything u wont NEED in a race. The plexiglass is a good idea as the regular glass is very heavy. Hell remove the headlight motors if u want, that should save some weight, the horn, all of the carpets. Just start hackin away, and if all taht doesn work, the whole losing your leg idea wasnt bad

[MainEvent212]

yeah man, anythign that is not directly related to the mechanical function of driving the car can be removed, all plastic panels, carpets, speakers...get plexiglass windows riveted/screwed on and remove the glass and window motors. headliners, interior lights, trunk liners. rear seats, passenger seats, glovebox, airbags/airbag triggering system....

[spitz7985]

i know what to remove, i just want to know how much weight reduction i can expect. i'm actually toying with the idea of welding up a tubular chassis if gutting the car isn't light enough.

[Hellion240sx]

how much does the dash weight?????

[nlzmo400r]

id say if u gutted EVERYTHING, you could shave off a good 4oo-45olbs off of the 24o's 27oo lbs curb weight

[Hellion240sx]

400-450???

[Phax]

...But if you want the real high money weight reduction weight, check out GT2 playstation and they give you the weight for top stage.

Now I know the game is pretty accurate, but come on. Lets not bring video games into real life.

[MainEvent212]

if you do fiberglass body panels you can get really light

not to mention going hardcore pro racer and removing excess nuts and bolts :pface

[MarkEmark]

I saw a full blown SCCA GT-3 240sx coupe (1989 I believe) that weighed about 2000 pounds flat; I remember because I asked the guy and they said it was pretty hard to get it down to that weight. They had fiberglass everything pretty much, all plexi-glass windows, stripped to the max, etc....

But it can be done, the 2000 pound mark can be reached! I'd be happy with 2500 pounds. That's what I hate about honda civics--they're so damn light stock-the 92-95 hatches weigh like 2100 pounds in stock trim, WITHOUT any gutting whatsoever.

[civics91]

take the doors off u dont need them

[Hellion240sx]

LOL yeah just use the door roll bar things so you dont fly out! fiberglas seat too doesnt someone make one of those... or was it carbon fiber!!! eh its one of those. or carbon fiber doors i remember a post about those. i know some of you remember that one i cant remember what site it was neither. dammit. fu(k it go with one of those what is it made of fiberglass unibody things, yeah i dont know the name of it. who does?

[HashiriyaS14]

yes 2000 is accurate, but only with sr20. About 2200 with KA. You have to rip out all unneccesary supports in the doors and side panels as well as the front and rear (including reforming the dash). Unless you have a roll cage, this can seriously effect your drifting ability and your handling without proper modification. In your budget i'm predicting that you will only want to remove your a/c, inner body pannels and carpeting in the trunk. Its a cheap and good start.

[180fan]

What? an extra 200lbs just for the KA? No, I've lifted them both and the SR is not that much lighter at all if anything at all compared to the KA. If I also remember, SCC is commonly quoted to have the SR and KA's weight difference be +3lbs for the KA versus the SR.

If you're serious about looking for weight reduction, HPI Japan does sell carbon fiber doors and plexiglass replacements for s13's. For more weight reduction and increase in strength, you can replace each and every single bolt with titanium bolts. They'll cost you that leg that seems to be getting cut off and probably an arm too but if it was good enough for that soarer then it's good enough for a s13. Look for carbon parts from hoods to drive shafts to trunk, etc. Look for forged rims and rebuild your entire suspension in aluminum. You can grab the rear knuckles off a 300zx which are almost identical to the s13's and also weigh 8lbs less each. Many ways to cut the weight. Just a matter of money from there on.

[nlzmo400r]

you're right about the SR and KA weight, however the KA is heavier none the less, and hte KA transmission is also heavier than the SRs

[Chingon]

you want weight reduction?

lose weight...

[JustinStrife]

you want weight reduction?

lose weight...

hahahahah :ylsuper

I weigh 130-135 on any given day(damn metabolism) so i don't have to strip my car as much as you guys

I'll never be so serious a racer that i wanna take out the daily stuff...