So where's all the weight???

[Wiisass]

So a bare chassis only weighs 550lbs. I was kind of surprised, I thought it was going to be a lot more. I was looking around for a weight list/thread but didn't see it anywhere. And figured everyone might be interested in this. It was an 87 hardtop and everything was off of it except for a couple plastic tabs and some of those small rubber pieces.

But now this gives me more hope of keeping the car as light as possible. With the right parts, I think it's definitely doable. I'm shooting for 2800lb race weight with the cage and everything. It's obviously going to be more race car than street car, but it's going to be street driven, so I'm not going as crazy with some things as I normally would.

So we'll see what happens. At least I know how much I'm starting with.

 

[TheNewRed]

I think your looking for this.
http://trdsupra.com/library/A70WeightIndex.pdf

 

[gofastgeorge]

First thing to do is to find all the noise dampening weights hung on the car.
Toyota has a habit of tuning out noise by hanging rubber mounted steel weights all over the place.
Found one in a friends 92 Cressida over the rear window, up above the head liner.
Damn thing weighed almost 3 pounds !
So we went over the rest of the car, and found 5 more (so far).
They were hung on the trans mount, the rear sub-frame mounts, the exhaust pipe.
Funny thing was, he couldn't tell the difference after they were removed.

 

[IJ.]

George: they're probably there for a very specific frequency and he may not drive in that range ever.

 

[Nocheez]

So much work in getting weight out of a Supra, making it something it was never meant to be...

My recommendation is to find a lightweight chassis and throw a Supra engine in it if that's what you want. The Supra was built to be a comfortable highway cruiser, and that's what it excels at IMO.

 

[Wiisass]

I think your looking for this.
http://trdsupra.com/library/A70WeightIndex.pdf

I saw that, I think I even have that saved on here somewhere, but it's missing the big stuff. But still a good reference.

First thing to do is to find all the noise dampening weights hung on the car.
Toyota has a habit of tuning out noise by hanging rubber mounted steel weights all over the place.
Found one in a friends 92 Cressida over the rear window, up above the head liner.
Damn thing weighed almost 3 pounds !
So we went over the rest of the car, and found 5 more (so far).
They were hung on the trans mount, the rear sub-frame mounts, the exhaust pipe.
Funny thing was, he couldn't tell the difference after they were removed.

There was nothing left on this chassis that could be unbolted besides the front tow hooks. Everything else was off. The supra probably has some of those weights in some spots, but I don't remember where or how many, it's been a long time since we originally stripped the car.

So much work in getting weight out of a Supra, making it something it was never meant to be...

My recommendation is to find a lightweight chassis and throw a Supra engine in it if that's what you want. The Supra was built to be a comfortable highway cruiser, and that's what it excels at IMO.

What fun is that. The supra has a great suspension design and is a good chassis, the only downfall is the weight. And I don't really like the supra engines anyway, too heavy and too long.

And it may have been designed as a comfort highway cruiser, but that doesn't mean it can't be awesome at a lot of other things.

And trust me, I kind of know what I'm doing.

 

[Wiisass]

Oh and in that 550lbs of chassis weight, there's at least another 50lbs of metal that can safely come out of the car. Maybe a little more if I get creative.

 

[IJ.]

LOL last build mine was 4020lbs wet with no driver

 

[foreverpsycotic]

How crazy are you going to get with lexan? And if you make a FG hood that Fits well (IDK about hinges, and hood latch) LMK, I might just get one from you.

 

[cartel1_950]

i'm sure the hood, hatch and doors account for a few hundred pounds of weight. ever have those stupid hood supports fail while bending over in the bay. it is not a good feelilng

 

[suprahabsfan]

Is that weight index correct? It lists the transmission weight as 99#, seems like more to me.

 

[Facime]

when you say bare chassis you removed the doos, hood hatch etc right? Thats not bad at all. Dorrs and hatch add a lot, hood not so much. Alot of people have a misconception that a FG hood is substantially lighter than the steel one. but I digress...

Are you going to retain doors and door glass? Some solution to the heavy hatch would be great, any ideas there?

 

[89TargaT]

i'm sure the hood, hatch and doors account for a few hundred pounds of weight. ever have those stupid hood supports fail while bending over in the bay. it is not a good feelilng

:word8kn:

 

[adampecush]

After completely disassembling my car and partially re-assembling, it is safe to say that the weight is pretty evenly distributed about the various parts of the car. Weight loss could be achieved by replacing the bumper supports with aluminum, using lightweight suspension components (moreso in the rear end) and re-working the subframes with lighter materials. Unfortunately, the differential, transmission, and engine pack quite a bit of weight, which you really can't do much about. There is moderate weight savings to be had on the interior (seats, heater/AC unit), but for the most part, there isn't one single piece that weighs a lot more than it should.

As for the rubber vibration dampeners, there are only two on our cars - attached to the front of the rear subframe.

 

[Wiisass]

LOL last build mine was 4020lbs wet with no driver

Is gravity heavier down under? Or are you just keeping a spare trans and diff in the back just in case?

when you say bare chassis you removed the doos, hood hatch etc right? Thats not bad at all. Dorrs and hatch add a lot, hood not so much. Alot of people have a misconception that a FG hood is substantially lighter than the steel one. but I digress...

Are you going to retain doors and door glass? Some solution to the heavy hatch would be great, any ideas there?

Bare chassis meaning anything that can be unbolted.

We're keeping doors and door glass, it's going to be a functional street car, just not really for everyone.

And we did some more weighing of the stuff just lying around.

Complete front subframe just missing shocks and sway bars and on Sawblades with stock sized tires - 302lbs.

Complete rear subframe minus shocks and sway bars on 18x9.5 XT-7's with 235/40/18s and including diff, but also missing the e-brake shoes on one side - 398lbs.

TIP Suspension - 42lbs.

Hatch with glass and hatch struts, no wiper, wiper motor or interior panels - 54lbs.

Door with glass, speakers, wiring but no door panel or mirror - 70lbs.

Steering column with switches and hub but no steering wheel - 19lbs.

Headlight assy, no motor - 5lbs.

Hood, which we cut out most of the support bracing under and just used 4 hood pins to hold it down - 24lbs.

Front bumper support - 24lbs.

Rear bumper support - 26lbs.

Bride brix knockoff - 23lbs.

And that's all we had measured. I have sway bar weights somewhere as well, but they weren't too much. And I want to weigh the gas tank once I dump out the old gas.

But with that stuff, I'm still about 1500lbs short of what the car weighed.

And the R154 weighing 99lbs, sounds about right, I think that weight was without the bellhousing.

Does anyone have an accurate 7mgte weight, with accessories and turbo and misc. crap?

But for doors and hatch and hood, there's some savings, I will be doing a lexan rear window. But right now our stuff weighs 218lbs. And there isn't much that I'm going to take out of the door because I still want windows. So unless I can figure out a way to make them manual, they will be staying about that weight. I would like to make a better hood, but until I find someone good with fiberglass work, it probably won't happen. The gutted hood is good, it's just flexible and we're putting some venting/ducting into it, so it's going to have even less metal.

Tim

 

[Wiisass]

After completely disassembling my car and partially re-assembling, it is safe to say that the weight is pretty evenly distributed about the various parts of the car. Weight loss could be achieved by replacing the bumper supports with aluminum, using lightweight suspension components (moreso in the rear end) and re-working the subframes with lighter materials. Unfortunately, the differential, transmission, and engine pack quite a bit of weight, which you really can't do much about. There is moderate weight savings to be had on the interior (seats, heater/AC unit), but for the most part, there isn't one single piece that weighs a lot more than it should.

As for the rubber vibration dampeners, there are only two on our cars - attached to the front of the rear subframe.

I found a way to lighten the engine a good bit, but it's kind of hush-hush right now until I can find out the true difference in weights.

And I know what you mean, the stuff doesn't seem that much heavier than on other cars. I do a lot with 240s and have had them apart way too many times and everything on the supra is kind of comparable in weight, it's just a bit heavier. Like everything is x% heavier. I mean it's a little bit bigger of a car, but still 3500lbs is a lot of weight. My Honda passport weighs the same as the supra did stock.

But we will see what happens. I will be replacing as much as feasible with lighter components. I would like to redesign the subframes and make them out of tubing, but that's going to be a winter project if it happens at all. But the arms are getting redone. I think I could save some weight with a better brake setup or at least take better advantage of the weight being used with different calipers and rotors. And I already took almost as much as possible out of the springs and dampers. And I will be remaking the bumper supports.

So it should be fun. Like I said my target is 2800 and that's just because I want it that light. I haven't really started adding everything up too much or trying to figure out what's reasonable. But I had the car down to 3022 before and it was only missing a couple small things and parts have been removed since then. But that was also without the cage, but with the heavier motor setup. So I don't know, I think it's possible. And I think even more would be possible if it were a track only car. But I want to be able to drive it around.

 

[IJ.]

LsX

 

[Wiisass]

I wish, sadly no. Lsx prices have gone through the roof here recently. I have one of the bigger LSx specialy salvage yards about 20 minutes from my house and their prices jumped from 3500-4k last year for motor, 6speed, ecu, etc to 5k+ at the beginning of this year.

 

[IJ.]

Damn

1uz then

 

[sogi99]

that's alot info there wiisass you should compile all those weight with alternative weight saving right next to it. I know you are going 1UZ since i've seen you posting at lextreme alot sorry to give it away.
I was going that route at one point if I did get the 7mgte running right again which I did. I've been following Jake's car progress which is about done. waiting for CJs90 supra I think that's his handle to get his project done.
I will go that route If I ever have the funds to do it. I saw a 1uz nissan 240sx on lextreme kinda wanna do it ono my S14. the way he did adapter was very simple so he can use the stock setup with a different flywheel and pressure plate. Good luck with your project can't wait to see it.