Lets talk Weight Reduction

[Setsuko37]

Im sure people have done it but I was looking around and there's just not alot out there on it so I was wondering if anyone has stripped there mk3 and if so what did you remove that you found heavy?

Ill start with mine (which ill try to upload photos of later today for once)
from engine bay to the back
up front fog lights removed
ac lines ,condenser all removed
cruise control
charcoal canister
windshield wiper fluid tank
windshield wipers (track car keep in mind)
and exhaust cut off just straight pipe which comes out side exit by passenger door.

Interior
:::::::::::::::::::
I have the 2 stock seats in (i know im guna get em replaced there heavy as fuck)
a dash with gauges no glove box or heater core and other then that theres nothing in the inside

 

[honeydew]

The front and rear bumper beams have got to weigh 100 Lbs all together. This is for race only, It would be irresponsible of me to suggest doing this to a street car.

 

[te72]

Might be a good idea to point out that this is a track car.

-CF hood is good for ~30lb drop, and on the nose, which is a good thing
-Front bumper (the bumper itself, not the cover), but don't ever crash...
-Get rid of all unnecessary things: cruise control, heat, A/C, headlights (depending on venue), headlight motors, etc.
-All interior. All you need in there is one light seat, whatever gauges you need for the type of driving you're doing, a proper cage/restraint system, and a fire extinguisher.
-Get as light as you can afford: wheels, tires, suspension, brakes, lugnuts, glass, exhaust, radiator.
-Wiring. Go through all the wiring you don't need, and remove it.
-Concentrate on efficiency. Meaning, airflow, aerodynamics, etc.

There is probably more, and you're likely going to ruin the car enough that you'd never want to drive it on the street again, but you should be able to drop at least 1000lbs.

 

[Another MkIII]

Might be a good idea to point out that this is a track car.

-CF hood is good for ~30lb drop, and on the nose, which is a good thing
-Front bumper (the bumper itself, not the cover), but don't ever crash...
-Get rid of all unnecessary things: cruise control, heat, A/C, headlights (depending on venue), headlight motors, etc.
-All interior. All you need in there is one light seat, whatever gauges you need for the type of driving you're doing, a proper cage/restraint system, and a fire extinguisher.
-Get as light as you can afford: wheels, tires, suspension, brakes, lugnuts, glass, exhaust, radiator.
-Wiring. Go through all the wiring you don't need, and remove it.
-Concentrate on efficiency. Meaning, airflow, aerodynamics, etc.

There is probably more, and you're likely going to ruin the car enough that you'd never want to drive it on the street again, but you should be able to drop at least 1000lbs.

I'll be honest, 1000 pounds is a really ambitious/optimistic goal. Could it be done? Maybe. But you'll have to get really creative.

Take some of the suggestions in this thread.
-AM3

 

[suprarx7nut]

Unless you're building a car starting with only a rolling shell, massive weight reduction is dumb on a mk3. There are many better chassis for a stripped track car.

Many fat cars COULD be a good track car, but why not start with something already track friendly?

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2l

 

[spiller]

Unless you're building a car starting with only a rolling shell, massive weight reduction is dumb on a mk3. There are many better chassis for a stripped track car.

Many fat cars COULD be a good track car, but why not start with something already track friendly?

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2l

sorry dude but thats a useless post. not everyone wants a supra because its a comfy cruiser.

OP, i have stripped down a lot of stuff off mine. In the interior I removed everything from behind the dash, heater core, fan box etc etc. quite a bit of weight to be removed there, id say 50-70 pounds. Sound deadening is another 50 pounds or so. Seats are a huge amount depending on what type you have.

With the crash bumper, I thought about removing it because its a huge amount right in front of the wheels but even on a track car you should have some sort of reo there. Wouldnt want to hit a tyre wall front on without that there. I still need to remove my washer bottle but keeping wipers. Everything else is gone! Next for me will be fibreglass hood which ill probably do for weight and for better ventilation.

 

[radiod]

This might help:

http://trdsupra.com/library/A70WeightIndex.pdf

Enjoy!

 

[85celicasupra]

Not my car but a member over on cs.com.

I made an aluminum bumper beam, Definitely not the best for safety but it supports the bumper cover and is better than nothing.

I am also trying out the old racer trick, get a hole saw and find every open spot of metal and make it into swiss cheese.

Before:

After:

I have been having trouble with my Aeromotive A-1000 external pump sucking fuel from my pickup tube from my stock tank so I decided to move to a fuel cell...why not make it two, one for race gas and one for pump gas?

his entire build thread

http://www.celicasupra.com/forums/s...-lots-of-pictures&highlight=swiss+cheese+door

 

[te72]

I can almost guarantee I can drop 1000 lbs out of one of these cars. I like them too much as a street car to do it though, and with the lack of tracks near me, no real point to it for me either. Just saying, that with enough determination and time, a LOT of weight can be lost.

I would recommend starting with a junked hardtop shell though, one that can be made stiff again with seam welding and a cage.

OP, how serious are you here, and what is your intended purpose?

 

[destrux]

I like that aluminum bumper beam. If you design it right there's no reason it couldn't be just as strong as a steel beam while still saving a ton of weight.

500 pounds on this car is do-able without even stripping the seats and carpet out.

For inspiration, look at some factory "lightweight specials" for ideas. These are light weight demo cars that OEM's have built to demonstrate what their platforms can do when stripped down. Dodge built a pretty cool stripped down SRT-4 Neon about 6 years ago for press demos, it was much faster than a full weight SRT-4. They were pretty creative and took a TON of weight off.

 

[spiller]

I like that alloy bumper beam. I considered getting some made up for the front and rear but youd need a lot of material so i think it would be an expensive exercise. its tempting though, those things are just so damn heavy.

I want to weigh my, I never have. I like to think id be somewhere around the 1300kg mark but I could be horribly wrong. I would say at least sub 1400kg though.

 

[#04]

sell MK3 = 3450lbs..

purchase 240sx = 2700lbs...

^remove tar mat/carpet, entire A/C system, entire SRS system, titanium exhuast, JDM front rebar (2-piece), and a few other things = 2500lbs (roughly)

ta-da...

I don't think the MK3 is the best chassis to begin this discussion with.. but there are examples on this site.. someone has fiberglass doors on here..

 

[spiller]

^^ again WTF is the point of that shitty post? The OP didnt ask whether or not you thought the MK3 is a good chassis for a race car or for weight reduction. He has acknowledged to himself that he wants his car to be lighter so he has started this thread for information as to the best way to do that. If we all wanted to race 240sx's we'd be a planet full of sick dorifto fools.

 

[suprarx7nut]

It's not useless to inform a relatively low count poster that the extreme weight reduction they are talking about will be challenging on this chassis and that many other chassis will give them a huge head start. Plenty of cars will weigh under 2500 lbs without having to remove major safety components like bumpers...

I plan on doing a few track days in the mk3, so I'm not saying its dumb to track the car, by any means. However, if you're starting with a dedicated track car in mind and you're coming into it fresh, with no prior expertise on any model, why not start with something that's already light?

If I spent hundreds of hours and thousands of $$ lightening my mk3 for track and then come to find out I could have saved all that time and effort by starting with a miata, 240, mr2, 328, etc...I'd wish someone would have let me know.

The weigh index provided earlier in this thread covers most the major items.

 

[Nick M]

The front and rear bumper beams have got to weigh 100 Lbs all together. This is for race only, It would be irresponsible of me to suggest doing this to a street car.

Make them in aluminum. That is what Toyota did on the JZA80. Along with the hood and sport roof.

 

[Nick M]

I plan on doing a few track days in the mk3, so I'm not saying its dumb to track the car, by any means. However, if you're starting with a dedicated track car in mind and you're coming into it fresh, with no prior expertise on any model, why not start with something that's already light?

There is no shame in installing an large displacement LSx in a foxbody. Although some of my former stang banger brethren might have a problem with it.

 

[radiod]

There is no shame in installing an large displacement LSx in a foxbody. Although some of my former stang banger brethren might have a problem with it.

I've got a buddy with a 2J powered S13 as a track car. Needless to say....it hauls.

The weigh index provided earlier in this thread covers most the major items.

This....and why I linked it :icon_razz. If you are determined to use the MKIII chassis and working on reducing weight, that's about as good as you can get for reference. It will give you some real numbers of what things actually weigh and you can figure out modifications to those pieces, replacements, or deletes from there.

 

[te72]

Guys, for what it's worth, ANY car can be lighter, faster, tougher, etc. Doesn't matter what level of car you're talking about either. Hell, even F1 can be improved.

Nick makes another good point too. LSx engine in a Mk3, as a result, you get:

-weight reduction (might not be much, but every bit adds up)
-better weight distribution (shorter engine, sits further behind the axle)
-better response (high compression large displacement engine)

The only downside is the cost really.

 

[CJP28]

A Carbon Fiber trunk will make a difference. Without a spoiler ofcourse. Plexi Glass windows or Acrylic windows in other words. Carbon Fiber side mirrors. Or no mirrors at all. Haha

 

[spiller]

A Carbon Fiber trunk will make a difference. Without a spoiler ofcourse. Plexi Glass windows or Acrylic windows in other words. Carbon Fiber side mirrors. Or no mirrors at all. Haha

The problem with that is these cars are already front heavy. You really need to strip as much weight up front before you touch anything in the rear of the car.

I looked at an LSx upgrade earlier this year but to get it to sit right it was going to involve firewall cutting and it was too much for what I wanted to do. It would be insane though.