You may have seen my obsession with the Z24 and its weight in the previous weight topic when I listed the weight of many interior comfort pieces. I haven't done any work to my car recently due to the increase in gas prices but it really has me thinking about speed on a budget. I am thinking about the possibility of a database of pieces in 95-02 Z24's that can be lightened, rather than entirely removed. I mean, this will take some research and experimentation obviously, and will probably be tedious, but in a monitary sense, non-draining. I think there are many pieces that simply don't need to be as large or thick as they are, because car designers don't have forever to design every single piece, but I do have much time to think about how each piece can be optomized for weight. Sure, one, ten, maybe thirty pieces won't make a difference, but what if I'm thorough? What if I manage to reduce my car's weight by 120lbs just by altering unseen pieces? Or perhaps pieces that could stand to be replaced by similar but lighter parts that aren't too pricey? Am I completely insane for thinking that this budget-minded plan could produce some mildly pleasing results?
if they are unseen, then simply removing them should be the easier option, right?
when it comes to weight lightening, it should be efficiency first... so if its unseen and not needed, remove it all.
and no its not a bad idea, but you dont wanna be hole sawing structural pieces in place of weight savings...
That's alot of weight loss but always remember, weight is only good if you have power behind it...
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just turn it into a real race car. pull the passenger and back seat out, as well as all the interior carpet and sound deadening material, and all those plastic panels behind the drivers seat.
I was a retard, and now I'm permanently banned.
Well I do pull my interior when I go to the track (and get rained out.) But I mean, I don't like driving around all the time with a scummy looking interior. And your cams are unseen, but you wouldn't go yanking those out. So you raise a good point. It would involve finding non-structural pieces and things that could just stand to have some holes in them, and after enough of that, you've got some free weight savings. Also, about weight needing power behind it, that's not always an asbolute statement. technically, if you could somehow put 50 horsepower to the wheels and have a curb weight of 25lbs (not likely, but still, the point is, only 50hp) the car would shred. If you've seen that article floating around the internet about cutting almost everything except the seat and wheels off of a Nissan Sentra (I think it was) you'd see that even with the wussy 120hp or whatever it came with, they made it a 14 second car. I'm not going to go to that extent, because I need a roof and that sort of thing, but considering the Z makes more power, less weight loss would be needed to achieve the same results, and hopefully would come at little cost. Anyone interested in contributing to this philosophy or plan of attack?
I will start thinking of things you could do this to. Also, this is a list i would love to see. I dont want a shady interior either, but if you could drop lbs off of unseen stuff, that'd be sweet!
remove sound deadner, i was mounting my nitrous tank behind my seat, and damn, there must be a hundred pounds of that stuff in the car
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if you dont want a shady interior, then remove everything, and simply add back what you need. any open areas like on gutted doors, simply add sheet metal to close up the open spots.... two pillows for a backseat.
HAHA ive had ppl ride on towels before, thats gotta hurt
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Let me put it this way. The Z24 makes 150hp stock. At 2750 lbs, thats a power/weight ratio of .054545 If the Z24 made 160hp (which would require money) the p/w would be .0581818
To see the same improvement in p/w by reducing weight, rather than increasing power, which if done correctly could be free and not look the car look like ass, you need to drop 172 lbs. If you do both the hp and weight, your p/w is .062063.
That would let you have the same p/w ratio as a 3000lb car with 186hp. (For only whatever 10hp costs, then weight reduction of 172 lbs.)
So it sounds worth it to me, if it's done right. I don't want to have pillows in my back seat, but I also don't mind pulling the AC, drilling lots of unseen holes, altering minor pieces, and if I can find a good deal, swapping for lighter parts (I have a carbon fiber hood already.)
Not a flawless or proven method yet, but I'm willing to try it. (Also consider that whp and crank hp are different than listed for each vehicle and if you can buy relatively cheap pieces to help recuce lost HP to the wheels, you can also have an upper hand there.)
looks like i need a lighter replacement for my solid oak wood subwoofer box. that thing wieghs a ton...I just need a really nice hard hitting 10" woofer...all i listen to is rock.
sound systems is where people carry around alot of weight.
heres my list of things that you could make your car remain stock looking to an extent
light weight racing bucket seats, non electric
maybe put a couple in the rear to and get rid of the back seat all togather
get rid off sound deadening material and spare tire
you could run a short exhaust out right behind the front wheel, exhaust systems are pretty heavy
and last helium balloons in the trunk haha just kiddin
Rodimus Prime wrote:HAHA ive had ppl ride on towels before, thats gotta hurt
it shouldnt be TOOOO bad... not sure if its much different on the 2 door cars, but actually the 4 door cars, the chassis plate part has 2 indy bucket cups so to speak... hard surface no doubt...
but atleast somewhat containing.
well here we go with the great debate Power vs. looks. LOOk at the inside of a real race car and you will see only the essentials...now look inside of the cars in the fast and furious, and you will find more stuff then any of us could use in 10 cars. If you want to go fast you have to sacrafice something. So figure out what you want... all show and no go or all go and no show.
YOU CAN NOT HAVE BOTH!!!
"The Duke" has spoken
A wise man once said "sweat the ounces, and the pounds will take care of themselves". You'd be surprised how quickly those ounces add up. Unfortunately, there's not much to a J-body interior. The biggest weight savings would actually be in removing the dash and hvac box, but since you want a useable street car thats not a good option for you i'd bet. Seats are very light, carpeting too. If you're talking about drag racing, try to limit your weight removal to whatever's behind the front edge of the front door.seats, carpeting, all that stuff. If you want to go nuts, cut out the floor in the trunk, weld in two pieces of tubular or square stock to make up for the loss of rigidity, and rivet in a big sheet of aluminum with some rtv to seal the edges. Carbon or fiberglass trunk lid too (of course this doesn't fit into the free/cheap realm, but its definitely valuable). There's just not too much weight reduction that can be done in a J while maintaining full streetability that can be done for free.
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Eco
Turbo
Megasquirt
'Nuff said
I'm currently working on taking unnecessary wires out of my wiring harness
Example: my car has two big thick wires for a rear window heating circuit. Do I need those if my rear window doesn't have the circuit? NOPE
I'm also taking out all the door switches (sense if the door is open), AC, power steering, ABS, stereo, and all associated hoses and wires. The only comfort factor will be windows that open (needed in case I ever has to drive in the 120 degree summer heat, since I don't have AC anymore, and my daily drivers love to break down at the most ionconvenient times). Oh yeah, I don't have any interior panels either (nope, no dash, no HVAC unit, just a rear-view mirror, driver's seat, and guage cluster)
So, it all depends on your definition of "streetable". My car will be "street legal", but not "comfortable" or "pretty".
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The '03+ 2200s have a smaller more powerful starter, that fits the older 2200s and 2.2Ls. The weight savings might not be worth going out to buy just for saving weight, but when the time comes to replace it might be a good idea.
MadJack wrote:The '03+ 2200s have a smaller more powerful starter, that fits the older 2200s and 2.2Ls. The weight savings might not be worth going out to buy just for saving weight, but when the time comes to replace it might be a good idea.
Yeah, I forgot about that. It's been posted a few times before, and is a very easy swap. Heck, if you're cheap enough (and I am), just go pull one out of the junkyard. The car probably will have had less miles than any pre-99 anyway.
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battery
aluminun seat brackets
carbon deck lid and hood
slimfast
exlax
remove all metal that holds wires down and replace them with zip ties.
acid dip the doors and fenders.
see ya!
My cavy last time I went to the track weighed 2917 w me 190lbs included. And I am an auto Z24 with all the power options. Weight reduction consisted of no pass seat . no bottom part of the back seat. not trunk lining , no spare or jack. and thats it. I think I can get it down to about 2600 without driver at least. Today I pulled my amp off the back part of the back seat. < also pulled that pita thing out finally. The side back window plastic pieces along with foam and insulation. no rear seatbelts or speaker deck. Rear speakers are the only think left besides the trunk popper from the driver seat back now. Next I am diving into the ac setup and dashboard. air bags and sterring wheel after that and I may do the rear window in lexan. The doors I will leave for now until i figure out a way to roll them down w/o motors. Also pulling my exhaust off and running just my downpipe along with a resonator and thats it. Heck I may even be 2500 lbs without driver real soon.
http://videos.streetfire.net/player.aspx?fileid=979E564B-5772-4713-87E8-250FE519F5AF
http://videos.streetfire.net/player.aspx?fileid=39460E69-53C7-4521-A301-341B20599F0C
01 Z24 Turbo
Did you guys know 100 pounds equals one tenth of a second on the track. Do you really think it is worth it to take out all the sound dampening and other various parts to save not even a quarter of a second
Nick Backmeier wrote:looks like i need a lighter replacement for my solid oak wood subwoofer box. that thing wieghs a ton...I just need a really nice hard hitting 10" woofer...all i listen to is rock.
sound systems is where people carry around alot of weight.
heres my list of things that you could make your car remain stock looking to an extent
light weight racing bucket seats, non electric
maybe put a couple in the rear to and get rid of the back seat all togather
get rid off sound deadening material and spare tire
you could run a short exhaust out right behind the front wheel, exhaust systems are pretty heavy
and last helium balloons in the trunk haha just kiddin
Solid oak isn't a good box material anyway, get some mdf board, lighter and stronger.
2012 HD VRSCF
2010 Ford Explorer
2006 Ford Ranger
2004 Chevy Cavalier
Take out all the supports under the hood and the trunk, the hinges and brackets, as well as the trunk springs and use dzus fasteners instead of the hinges and latches. You will have to lift off the hood and trunk and they won't be lockable but you will save a fair amount of weight. Thats pretty much free weight reduction. You could probably even cut out a lot of the inside of your door and put a plastic cover over it so it would still look ok. Pick up some lexan sheets from home depot and replace all your windows(not free but not incredibly expensive)
just take off all the body panels lol
I was a retard, and now I'm permanently banned.
what people should be thinking is the majority of people that i've seen that own jbodies are overweight (unless you're like event and do lifting for a hobby/profession
)
people should go on a damn diet and loose 100 lbs for their track speed, and their damn health.
i love reviewing old topics of fat asses saying "i did this weight reduction to my car" then you look at them posing next to their car is the photos and media forum....no wonder they run a 18.0
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- Sold my beloved J in April 2010 -
