what are some ways to lose weight?
im not one of those crazy "scrape the undercoating off the car" type of guy.
but what have some of you done for better weighting.
everyone knows the obvious, batt relocate, spare tire ect.
but lets see some creative weight loss.
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Weight Loss
mannythemanwhat are some ways to lose weight?
im not one of those crazy "scrape the undercoating off the car" type of guy.
but what have some of you done for better weighting.
everyone knows the obvious, batt relocate, spare tire ect.
but lets see some creative weight loss.
Buddy of mine shaved about a hundred pounds off of a baja bug with a 2" hole saw and about a day worth of going psycho. It was a race rig and did not make it very far in its career.
Not recommended for street aps.
YMMV
Wolf
Moving this to chassis tech section, please review the section descriptions.
depends on how much weight you want to lose and what creature comforts your willing to give up but you can get rid of all the hvac crap remove the carpet and all the sound deading chuck the back seats also you can get rid of the headliner....
This has been discussed 8940894305643548930 times. After seats, dash, sound deadening material, Swiss cheesing of the metal all throughout the car, removal of bumper supports, removal of stereo shit, A/C and all related components, heater core, blower motor, there is little else that can be removed.
as said , how many creature comforts do you want?
As with mine, i will have to weigh it when it's back on the road. Everything is stripped but i still have heater and stereo
since ive gotten the sr ive been adding interior. lol. kinda miss some
stripped but still street car is dope. I like it, i still have door panels,dash and all that jazzy jazz. Just got no plastic, carpet or ghey sound deading
Weight loss depends on the situation which you car is going to be abused, if it's for daily or "destruction derby" races.
you can also replace your quarter windows and sunroof glass with lexan (not plexiglass). might be good for 25-30lbs of weight loss.
theres going to be a point where shaving pounds becomes impractical, which should be substituted with adding more power.
Unless your going all out race track car I think stripping,gutting, cutting the interior/car is pointless and IMO it's ugly. But each to there own.
beauty is in the eye of the beholder....
i have no carpet, no door skins, no cruise control, no ac. I have front speakers...but no stereo. I still have sound deadening, headliner, and back seat. Everything in the trunk has been stripped out minus two sets of tools...oh, and i daily. I have been without a stereo since i bought the car like 9 months ago...i need to put a cd deck in it here soon...but i will need to find somewhere that still sells a bracket kit for this thing...
Mine never had a radio... probably the reason I ended up gutting the dash. There's a decent amount of weight to the A/C and heater shit, that's what I'd do if I wanted it to look clean inside.
Fiberglass/carbon fiber/whatever trunk (or hatch), hood, frnt fenders...
Im just waiting for someone brave enough to tackle making the molds and do her up,and then sell the kits...
I wonder how hard it is to do fiberglass or carbon fiber work... hmm... lol
And then lexan windows, light wieght rims, ditching anythng and everything un-needed/wanted...
bet you theres a good 60-80pnds of just wire in these cars, especialy mine with the voice, keyless entry etc etc...
I think the sound deadening material alone wieghed in at right around 50 pnds... (Some one wieghed it once in a thread I was reading...)
maybe a light wieght driveshaft? good for more than just wieght... (LMAO.. just kidding on that one..... too bad..)
I always wonderd.. you think about how much a pail of paint wieghs... now how much does the combined total of all the dried paint on our cars wiegh... ?
Clean the oil n gunk off the underside of the car... I've seen vehicles that prolly had close to 20-45 pnds of oil with collected dust perma-coating the underside of em...
dont swiss cheese it unless you're putting in a full rollcage/tube frame kinda thing.. but at that point in time, you're prolly just running the body as a skin anyhow... lol
on a side note, these cars are awefully light to start with... dont get a whole lot lighter from factory, even with all the plastic composites n such now-a-days...
seriosly, i'd just like to have a street legal Kart too.. even though I've never in my life drove one... but meh...
LyniumFiberglass/carbon fiber/whatever trunk, hood, frnt fenders...
Im just waiting for someone brave enough to tackle making the molds and do her up,and then sell the kits...
I wonder how hard it is to do fiberglass or carbon fiber work... hmm... lol
How much would people really pay for that though? I mean it probably wouldn't be worth it to do for anyone outside of your area. I wish someone would, that would be awesome.
How much weight do you want to lose?
My chassis is 2300LBS as it sits (normally, it doesn't have an engine/trans right now and with a 1/4 tank gas), that's:
no rear seats
no carpet in back (still have it up front)
no dash
no inside panels
no headliner
stripped/simplified down wiring harness
no insulation pad on firewall
no sound deadening
no AC
no power steering
All glass, just an AMP in the back and some speakers for audio.
...or add power to reduce the weight/power ratio
adding power doesnt help in corners
Deezusadding power doesnt help in corners
and hence you dig into the suspension, to make her handle better,and get better traction, and put the biggest stickeist tires with the best traction for the situation/location/type of driving. and then comes splitters n spoilers..
insanity will surely begin to set in around there!
eventualy, everything gets maxed out at some point or another...
and another issue I'll never let go of... gotta loose the right amount of wieght in the right places to get a satisfactory balance to the car.
Being as they seem heavy up front, thats where id be inclined to loose the majourity of wieght. Of course I like the wieghtless sensation the rear has and its eas of slippage..
even my POS ca20e will kick out if I stomp the pedal going around a corner... with a bit of inertia behind it of course, but meh, beats the hell outta that understeer thats so inbred into my car... lol
slim fast, throwing up, exercise. you dont need to lighten your car, improve your driving skill. these cars do not way much, theres not really a huge reason to throw everything away. ooohh helium in your tires. but your car might float away while parked.
Yeah that's all fine and dandy, but the variables of Power and Driver skill will plateau. At this point what do you do? Buy a new car?
Weight reduction is the best modification you can do to a vehicle, as it is (mostly)FREE and improves everything. Acceleration/Handling/Fuel Economy/Braking.
MaxpowYeah that's all fine and dandy, but the variables of Power and Driver skill will plateau. At this point what do you do? Buy a new car?
that really is the ultimate result for a race car driver.
moving to a more modern, capable chassis to improve lap times.
-think before you start removing everything of creature comfort, consider you and your possible passengers comfort as well, do you want a defroster for cold humid nights? do you want a/c for hot summer days? do you want to hear every pebble your tires fling into the wheel wells?
demonic s12-think before you start removing everything of creature comfort, consider you and your possible passengers comfort as well, do you want a defroster for cold humid nights?
this and a stereo is all you need, fuck the rest of the creature comforts
demonic s12that really is the ultimate result for a race car driver.
moving to a more modern, capable chassis to improve lap times.
-think before you start removing everything of creature comfort, consider you and your possible passengers comfort as well, do you want a defroster for cold humid nights? do you want a/c for hot summer days? do you want to hear every pebble your tires fling into the wheel wells?
-Fuck Passengers. They are lucky that I have a seat at all.
-Defrost; I just roll down the windows and give it some time. I have sweaters.
-A/C; I really don't even like A/C. Its not hard to service, but its a power rob AND its heavy. A lose-lose. Plus our cars have a shit ton of windows that pop out/roll down.
-And after driving 26k miles without a radio, the pebbles become part of the sound track
Its more exciting to have everything bare bones, and there is a noticeable difference. I will admit however that I do eventually want another car that I leave clean and comfortable on the inside for commuting.
I wanted to revive this topic, I think it is a great one to think about.
I am now down to 1900lbs on my S12. This is with a heavy KA24DE-T
Here are my steps:
Gutted Interior, Sound Deadening, Stock Dash is gone (Aluminum universal & Auto-Meter Gauges)
Aluminum Drive Shaft, Spoiler Gone, Lexan Side Windows, Headlight Trim is all gone, Just lights and covers
Aluminum 10lb 15"x8 Fronts 12lb rears 15"x10
Aluminum Lugs
ARP Studs
Stop Tech OEM size brakes
new rubber brake lines
Aluminum Coil-overs
S13 Front Suspension
Aluminum 6061 Front & Rear Minimal Crash Bars
321 3" Dp, Vband, 3" Aluminum Dump w/ Resonator
Gutted Heater Core, Lines, AC, Box, All I have is a Defog Fan. I race with windows down and a SFI Window Net.
Re-pinned custom harness 3 pieces, dash, body, engine. 11lbs for all the wiring & Relays. I dropped 30 lbs in wires and loom.
2X Composite Seats @ 8lbs per seat with 3lbs of material.
Aluminum Seat Mounts
I cut out the webbing on the hood and put in pins
I am to the point looking for a lexan replacement rear window
I am hoping to get this car down to 1850, to get there I will be replacing the rear floor with a light weight fuel cell. I may go a little extreme with the grinder to get the weight down with the new 4 pt roll bar in it.
In for proof....
I_heart_VVL on 11:30:30 AM / 02-May-13In for proof....
Likewise. Pretty hard to believe you managed to get an s12 hatch down to that of a lotus elise.
My hatch with just simple strip down is 2200LBS...
Its not really that hard. A Lotus Elise, has more amenities than my S12. Its really not that hard to believe, This isn't my first build.
Lexan, Composite, & Aluminum is a big part of everything. As for proof, check out my build thread. As I install more, I post more. The final weight will be noted on the scales once I re-install some safety equipment. (Fire Suppression & Some Support Gussets)
