Supra mk3 weight loss

fperzon

New Member
Feb 24, 2014
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Söderhamn
Hello!
I have a manual 7m-gte mkiii supra that i am going to use in small drift events and of course on the roads. I think the car feels a bit to hevvy. So what does your car weight and what have you done to make i lighter?
I want my car as light as possible without replacing stuff with exspensive parts.
I hope you understand my question.


My Supra as it sits right now. Pretty mutch stock but with Hsd coilover and Xxr rims :)




With best regards Fredrik from Sweden
 
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Rollus

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Jun 2, 2011
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Paris, France
Hi Fredrik

fperzon;2034755 said:
So what does your car weight and what have you done to make i lighter?

I kept it stock and increased power + coilovers and new bushings.

This make the car feels lighter.

You can remove stuf, but there isn't a lot to gain. I remember a table with lots of part weights, and aftermarket replacement is costy like caviar.
 

KKZ SupraMan

New Member
Jun 2, 2013
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ohio
Rollus;2034759 said:
Hi Fredrik



I kept it stock and increased power + coilovers and new bushings.

This make the car feels lighter.

You can remove stuf, but there isn't a lot to gain. I remember a table with lots of part weights, and aftermarket replacement is costy like caviar.
+1
If you are going to do it do it right it is not safe at all to be cutting all weight and safty stuff out of the car without roll cage and same goes for windows.
 

themadhatter

Member
Jul 5, 2006
760
1
18
Vegas
Loss the jack and spare and then swap out your ridiculously heavy front seats but other then thTs the supra is simple a big girl
 

tromspert

New Member
Oct 19, 2014
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PA
yeah i'm kind of curious of this too, running a 2j swap mk3 and they really do seem to be heavy pigs despite having quite a bit of power.
 

emiliorescigno

Supramania Contributor
Sep 17, 2006
1,199
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Woodbury, MN
If lightness is your goal, you're in the wrong car. Something like an RX-7 is probably more appropriate.

That being said, the cheapest/easiest two things that come to mind are removing the entire A/C system, and replacing the stock seats with some that are significantly lighter.

Rotational mass is also (relatively) inexpensive to tackle in these cars. The stock sawblade wheels are heavy, and lighter driveshafts can be purchased easily for less than $500.
 

Silver MK3

New Member
Jan 24, 2011
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Madison, AL
Supras are big heavy cars. There isn't much weight to loose. Everyone talks about how heavy the stock seats are, but when I pulled mine out to get a little more room on the inside to work under the dash I was really underwhelmed. The stock seat weighs nothing like I thought it would. I believe it weighs 80ish pounds, but the way everyone talks I thought it was gonna be like 200 pounds. Instead of ripping the car apart trying to loose weight, I would try and upgrade the suspension and such to make it handle better, but that's just me.
 

tromspert

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Oct 19, 2014
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Silver MK3;2034820 said:
Supras are big heavy cars. There isn't much weight to loose. Everyone talks about how heavy the stock seats are, but when I pulled mine out to get a little more room on the inside to work under the dash I was really underwhelmed. The stock seat weighs nothing like I thought it would. I believe it weighs 80ish pounds, but the way everyone talks I thought it was gonna be like 200 pounds. Instead of ripping the car apart trying to loose weight, I would try and upgrade the suspension and such to make it handle better, but that's just me.

that being 80 per seat? that's still 160 pounds or almost 2/10 of a second. They're right in the sense that it's not going to make a huge difference.

and to the guy who mentioned an rx7 my previous car was an 84 GSL-SE, lightweight blast of a car to drive but without boost in a first gen it's difficult to see much more than 185whp where I about maxed out. Great for drifting but nowhere near the capabilities the supra has.
 

akito

Keep Laughing.You're Next
Jul 31, 2006
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Springfield/Va
Seats are heavy. 80lbs is the driver side seat, those that come with motorized seats. They're not light. These cars are heavy :(
 

Silver MK3

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Jan 24, 2011
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tromspert;2034888 said:
that being 80 per seat? that's still 160 pounds or almost 2/10 of a second. They're right in the sense that it's not going to make a huge difference.

and to the guy who mentioned an rx7 my previous car was an 84 GSL-SE, lightweight blast of a car to drive but without boost in a first gen it's difficult to see much more than 185whp where I about maxed out. Great for drifting but nowhere near the capabilities the supra has.

For a power leather seat that is adjustable in about 1000 ways as they are in most cases that isn't bad at all. The passenger I believe is about half that since it is not a power seat. Even if you put aftermarket racing seats in that weigh 30 pounds each you would only be saving about 60 pounds so less than a 10th of a second using the same formula you used. Not saying that switching seats can't help loose weight, but I believe that money could be spent elsewhere for more performance, unless the car has already maxed out those areas.

akito;2034893 said:
Seats are heavy. 80lbs is the driver side seat, those that come with motorized seats. They're not light. These cars are heavy :(

They are heavy, but that's what also makes them solid cars even with age. I'd much rather drive this heavy well built car then something that is lighter, but falling apart and made of poor materials.
 

Nick M

Black Rifles Matter
Sep 9, 2005
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fperzon;2034755 said:
I think the car feels a bit to hevvy. So what does your car weight and what have you done to make i lighter?

Because it is heavy. It weighs over 3600 lbs with the sport roof and additional bracing. It is a great GT, but not a great race car, especially on a budget.
 

tromspert

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Oct 19, 2014
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Silver MK3;2034988 said:
For a power leather seat that is adjustable in about 1000 ways as they are in most cases that isn't bad at all. The passenger I believe is about half that since it is not a power seat. Even if you put aftermarket racing seats in that weigh 30 pounds each you would only be saving about 60 pounds so less than a 10th of a second using the same formula you used. Not saying that switching seats can't help loose weight, but I believe that money could be spent elsewhere for more performance, unless the car has already maxed out those areas.



They are heavy, but that's what also makes them solid cars even with age. I'd much rather drive this heavy well built car then something that is lighter, but falling apart and made of poor materials.
I wasnt making actual calculations I know its 1.6/10th of a second but it just seemed like a mouthful so I said almost two
 

atmperformance

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Sep 17, 2013
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San jose
I still read these threads as "how do i make my grand tourer a miatia".
I tend to enjoy the other aspects of the car and the fact that it doesn't sound like a stripped s13 (unless you stitch weld it).
 

TurboStreetCar

Formerly Nosechunks
Feb 25, 2006
2,776
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Long Island, Ny
Ive owned my car for 10 years now (God damn, cant believe that its been that long) and i constantly contemplate ways to lighten up the car.

Over the past decade, ive settled with the fact that this car will never be "light". I Weighed my car at the track 8-9 years ago and it was 3780 with me in the driver seat at (Then) 130lbs. This was when the car was totally stock, full AC, spare tire, jack, 2 12" subs in a big box, stock wheels and a bunch of other miscellaneous junk.

Since then i have pulled the spare, jack, AC, Subs, replaced all 4 wheels with lighter pieces and put a CF hood on the car.

I think between the hood, A/C junk, subs and spare tire thats gotta be at least 100lbs. Wheels were prolly another 60-80lbs. The hood was about 20lbs savings alone. On top of that im running a TH350 that felt quite a bit lighter then the stock A340E that was in the car. The one piece driveshaft was also good for 15-20lbs.

I have yet to get around to weighing my car again but if i had to guess id say it would prolly be around 3500-3600 with me in it now. After cleaning all of the unnecessary crap out of the car, buying lighter wheels, i really dont see many ways of lightening the car without ruining it.

The driver seats is heavy, yes. But to remove the 80lb seat and replace it with a 20-30lb seat is only 50-60lbs and not worth it in my opinion because the passenger seat is only 30ish-lbs so the only loss is on the driver side. I could make up the difference with 1psi of boost and come out ahead.

I would like to find a manual driver seat and replace my driver seat with that, this way its still as comfortable as stock and looks stock aswell. Bolt in 50ish-lbs weight savings the sneaky way.

Other then those options there is really nothing else to take out. These cars were built with a lot of metal to give them a sturdy structure. Not much can be done about it. A hard top can be 200+LBS lighter then a sport roof. Thats prolly the best option for you.
 

1-2clutch-u

Member
Feb 18, 2006
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chi town and ohio
it really depends on how far you are willing to go. Its one guy on here that claims 3000lbs in his sig. Its a hard top with cage too. It can be done. If your gonna drag race its not worth it. Even really drifting I would say its not worth it but road racing Its worth it all day. Power helps but nothing like losing a few lbs to help with late braking.