Weight Reduction?

[Rocko]

Iv got a 240 project car that im trying to lighten, yesterday I took out everyhting behind the front seats, but what else can i take out to lose weight, I know people have made huge differences in their 1/4 mile times by lightening their car, but whatelse can i take out. any suggestions would be appreciated, I know a guy with a probe that made like at least a .7 difference with lightening the car

[Syntax360]

hmm....i think most people who are "hardcore" enough to seriously reduce the weight take out the AC, carpeting, start w/ a car w/o power anything, any excess brackets, metal, etc not needed after unnecessary seats removed, aftermarket exhausts that weigh less (i think?), no windshield washer tank, etc....excess hoses gone, all speakers, audio, misc electronics removed. u get the idea....basically take half the fun out of owning a car

[bj180sx]

yeah take the interior panels out. Will save you 60lbs. But do you want a street car or drag car? You can't have both.

[Calvin]

Standard car batteries are heavy as hell. Switch to a high-tech lightweight model.

The stock cast iron exhaust manifold is pretty heavy; there's a chance headers would be lighter (though I haven't personally weighed any).

After that, its up to you what you want to live without... A/C? P/S?

[lessthanjakejohn]

This guy knows what he is talking about, he took out like 30 lbs of screws from his car:

http://www.racingstrong.com/ae86/default.asp

[Rocko]

its going to be a drag car..iv stripped it and im going to take out the AC....i need more weight reduction though...err

[Structure240sx]

i never weighed them but my hoshot header was definitely lighter than the stock exhuast manifold. u can rip out the dash get a custom one with jsut the gauges that u need and use zip ties instead of screws wherever u can. everything people have pretty much said

[Calvin]

This guy knows what he is talking about, he took out like 30 lbs of screws from his car

You can get real fanatical about that stuff. Some dude (Russ?) at the Tampa meet last summer had all the excess metal cut out of his fenders-- the areas that normally would be under the airbox and under the battery were completely opened up-- the metal was gone. (Needless to say, the air filter and battery were no longer in their stock locations.)

He also had all the excess metal shaved off the outside of the intake manifold runners. And I don't recall seeing any of that ugly emmissions stuff (AIV, EGR, BPT, etc.) And of course, he had a lightweight carbon fiber hood. I was really impressed with how clean the work was.

PS... I've heard of people getting rid of thier bumper reinforcement, but that would be suicidal on a street car. Even CF hoods can be bad in an accident if they guillotine you instead of folding like metal would. And good luck getting your car past emmisions if you ditch the alphabet soup. The point is, you really need to decide what the car is going to be used for, because everything is a tradeoff.

[Structure240sx]

yea i removed my front bumper reinforcement cuz it looked terrible with the kit. it probably wieghed about 30 lbs if orget tho. lets hope i never get in an accident

[Scott McLellan]

....There is a point where you should stop taking stuff off of the car and start adding power. Sometimes power adding stuff cuts weight anyway like a lightweight flywheel or something. I've also read about some forged centerline wheels that were so light that when they put them on a stock honda accord with factory 14 inch steel wheels, it made it feel like a 6 hp gain. I know you can't believe everything you read but rotating mass like wheels, flywheel, driveshaft, ect. are a lot more effective than non-rotating stuff. P.S.-"cuz it looked terrible with the kit." -body kits are a great way of adding weight with no positive effect on cars performance.

[240canuck]

would switching from auto to manual save weight or add weight????

[Structure240sx]

i know that the kit adds weight. i'm not the one here looking to be as light as possible. if i could go back i would have never gotten the kit a waste of money. looks nice but doesnt do anything. i got all wrapped up in the fast and furious crap and wanted sumthin like that. hell i bought it before i even got my license and did anything to my car. nothin feels better than making your car perform better and thats what i'm all about now. i have most of the ka stuff out gettin ready for a sr. i know this is the all motor forum and i would love to stick with the ka but the sr was a better choice, money wise, for me.

[Holisticbeatz]

Light weight definately makes a difference. You can take out your entire A/C unit, crusie control, front & rear bumper supports, the heating unit underneath the dash, all your exhaust heat shields, windshield wiping motors & wipers and entire stereo system. If you're really serious, replace all the glass with Lexan. Take out the passenger seat and carpetting. Don't forget to use a heat gun to remove any sound deadening materials underneath the carpet. Replace your driver's seat with a MOMO carbon fiber bucket seat. Take out your entire dash and just bolt on some gauges to your steering column. Am I forgetting anything?

[Holisticbeatz]

..oh yea, don't forget to take out your power steering unit. And hollow out your doors. You'll be surprised to find about 25 lbs of reinforcements in there.

[raging panda]

Dude, if you got the money, you can get carbon fiber hood and doors (yes doors), fiberglass front fenders, lexan windows and a fiberglass trunk lid, lightweight wheels, carbonfiber driveshaft, along with taking absolutely everything else out that you possibly can. if you really want, you can get your metal fenders acid dipped.