Weight reduction

i am planning on buying a 3000gt SL in november and i am surprised by performance numbers for this car, even tho it does not have the twin turbos, it is still making 220 hp and for a sporty 2+2 it would seem that it would be quicker. The problem is the weight, and i have read alot of reviews and whatnot saying weight is a problem even in the VR4, since weight is the enemy of all aspects in performance cars. I was wondering if you guys know any relatively simple ways to reduce the weight while keeping alot of interior creature comforts (i dont want to gut it and take out the backseats)?

oh yea, i forgot to also ask this. im in highschool and going to be a junior next year, so this will be my first car. Because of this i am not going to have very much money, so i am trying to think of the cheapest ways the improve performance and hopefully kill all the little civics running around my school. Depending on what happens when i try to reduce the weight, my first mods will probably be in the summer and will be a new exhaust and a cold air intake. i have heard this engine is hard to tune, do you have any suggestions for companys to look at for this and what kind of hp gains i should expect?

First of all, the SL's are only around 3300lbs and aren't heavy. The VR4's weigh around 3800lbs depending on the year. Don't try and make the SL lighter, it's just stupid. Since this will be your first car, I would say get a Neon SRT-4. They are less then 20K and run 0-60 in 5.6 seconds. For another $400, they will run 0-60 in 5.2 seconds. If you can't afford the VR4, don't get an SL. Wait another year or two, then buy a VR4. You're just learning how to drive, you don't need to be out on the streets "killing" other cars. What will happen is you killing youself instead. I'm 19 and STILL run a 90 Camry. There will ALWAYS be fast cars, even when you're are older. You wont believe it now but you will learn it when you become an adult. Personally, I'm going to wait another two years for the new supra. :wink: Get a cheap car and save up would be your best bet. You will also run into the problem with insurance and up-keep for the 3000gt's. DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!

first off id like to thank you for giving me absolutly no useful information. the neon SRT-4? i told you i only have 4,000 so that is he most random suggestion i have heard. as to saving up for a nicer car, i get 15,000 when i graduate from college so this car just has to last me till then. Even if weight reduction is a stupid idea, you dont have to be an asshole about it. I am asking for some advice and not to be talked down to by a kid 3 years older then me. your 19, dont act like your all high and mighty. and if your telling me to buy a slow car, why. why would i ever buy a boring, slow cookie cutter sedan when i could get a sports car. also, u drive a camry. unless u have some kind of other car that u work on and this is ur daily driver, what reason do i have to give any credibility to what u say.

Originally posted by irrxbb2243
first off id like to thank you for giving me absolutly no useful information. the neon SRT-4? i told you i only have 4,000 so that is he most random suggestion i have heard. as to saving up for a nicer car, i get 15,000 when i graduate from college so this car just has to last me till then. Even if weight reduction is a stupid idea, you dont have to be an asshole about it. I am asking for some advice and not to be talked down to by a kid 3 years older then me. your 19, dont act like your all high and mighty. and if your telling me to buy a slow car, why. why would i ever buy a boring, slow cookie cutter sedan when i could get a sports car. also, u drive a camry. unless u have some kind of other car that u work on and this is ur daily driver, what reason do i have to give any credibility to what u say.

lol, bravo! bravo my son!!! well said!... hell i'd nominate u for an oscar!!! however if u like those apples, u should scoot on down to the honda civic forums... talk about abunch of useless turds!!! i swear just about quite posting cuz it gets absolutely nothing of any value there!!!! but... in the other dudes defense... just cuz u dont drive one dont mean he doesnt know about em! but thanx for the laugh!

first of all to marc, your a fuckin retard, read what people say before you make dumb comments and give them advice ya jackass, and other person if you say bravo ever again ill break your fuckin neck you gay bastard, ps, dont bitch about how people post shit that dont help wit what ur askin when ur freepostin urself dumbass, no hard feelins but your a bitch, peace

o yea, and u have a damn civic, people who drive rice dont deserve to be alowed in car talk forums considering the fact that there the bitchest cars availible, im glad your proud to be a bitch

Okay guys, just relax here. It was a simple question. To the person who initially posted the question about weight reduction, there is no home made way of removing seats and trunk space without making a mess out of it. I don't remember the names, but like he said, there will always be some shitty cars out there that will roll past you so forget about weight reduction. With about 220hp of the SL i think, the intake that exhaust that you said will installed should push the hp up to roughly 245hp - 250hp. Add the pulley and you should be around 258hp or so. You will lose a bit of lauch at the light after you install the exhaust though. Anyway, you can visit sites like www.3sxperformance.com. They carry all the tune-up parts for the 3000GT. Give them a call and see if they have any professional ideas with weight reduction. So far, I have not yet seen or read anything with weight reduction to the 3000GT.

Wow, I thought I was pretty nice in my post. I was trying to tell you the "real deal". Go ahead and purchase an SL. 3K's are awesome looking cars but if you're looking to win (against most cars now-a-days) more races, then I'd say wait untill you have more money.

The camry is the only car I own. I don't think I'm all "high and mighty" but from my experiences, I try and help out others. I know how you feel because I've wanted a VR4 for several years now. I've learned what I needed to learn. If you don't want to respect my answers, then I guess you can make your own mistakes. :smile:

Also, I was very un-coordinated in my last post. I had a lot of stranded sentences. (My fault) The reason I brought up the SRT-4 was for the fact it's an inexpensive car that will put up a fight with the VR4. I was also trying to convey to you that there will ALWAYS be faster cars on the road. (becoming cheaper and cheaper each year) Just wait a few more years and buy a nice 20-25K car. You will never regret the feeling.

As from one 3s'er to another, lets try and act our age. :thefinger

i told you i only have 4,000 so that is he most random suggestion i have heard. as to saving up for a nicer car, i get 15,000 when i graduate from college so this car just has to last me till then.

When you graduate college, six years will have past. You will want another car once you go through your first semester in college. Believe it or not, I see so many nice cars on campus. Its a shame most of them are in accidents.

Bro, I'm just trying to help you out. I almost made a stupid mistake myself. I was about to buy a 1994 Blue VR4 with 28K miles! (This happened two weeks ago) I thought about it for a day or two and realized it isn't worth purchasing. The simple reason is the cost for insurance, up-keep, and gas. With this POS camry I own, I only pay a hell of a lot less on insurance, barely any up-keep, and it gets me from A to B. I let the little ricers fly by me because I know they've wasted there money. See what I'm trying to get out? I didn't mean you any disrespect.



Even if weight reduction is a stupid idea, you dont have to be an asshole about it. I am asking for some advice and not to be talked down to by a kid 3 years older then me. your 19, dont act like your all high and mighty.

Sorry, I didn't mean to be an asshole. (Was late at night) I was just trying to give you some facts. The lightest cars are around 2900-3000lb's. The SL is only about 3300lbs. You wont have to worry about weight reduction because 300-400 pounds wont make a HUGE difference. It could mean .01 on a race track but not on the streets. On the streets, you will need learn how to launch correctly to win. (Unless you go from a roll. :wink:

I may be only three years older then you but you learn a shit load in that time frame. I wouldn't believe it myself but now I know from experience. The stupid mistakes I made and the "why the fuck was I so stupid" questions that would repeat in my head. You don't want that to happen to you, so I'm trying to help. At my school, there was mostly BMW's, 1 94 Single Turbo Supra, 1 honda S2K, 1 3k, tons of hondas, RSX's, Cougars, Celicas, and my 1990 camry. :bigthumb: Let those kids in the big fancy cars win there "street races". All I know is that when I'm in my twenties they'll be shitting there pants. :tongue: Again, there will always be bigger, faster, cooler looking cars. No need to rush.

easy killa!!!, just breath.... count to ten! ur gonna work urself into a stroke dude.... just try sitting back and enjoying life, yo! simma... yeh, im not realy bitchen tho, man i dont realy care... and im sorry u dont like my bitchass civic, but hey.... see what marc is doin with his camry.... same here man, just used a civic! and when u are hard pressed for cash.... man that thing is a beauty!!! real cheap overhead, like NO maintenence, and like 350 mi. to a tank! so it'll suffice till i can drop on another pimp ride! ive already started lookin for my VR4 soo! but yeh, no hard feelins yo... everyone gots their times! and marc... holy poop man! im impressed! i figured u'd fly off the wheel like krazy killa! u are very wise my friend!! and ur in the exact same position as me man! lol i been running my cheap ("bitchest car ever") civic, so's i can afford me a VR4 or somethin nice!! not far off now! and to ewang... thank u for saving the post!!! but u've not heard of like weight reduction plans on a VR4?? cuz there is a dude, i saw on like 3si.org (least i think it was 3si.org) who said he had a VR4 that was currently weighing out at like 3300, and he said he had planned to reduce it to just under or at 3000... could u do that like without losing the a/c and crap and screwin up most of ur ride???

Some may be expensive, but here are the easiest things to do to reduce weight.

1) Remove the back seats (loses 70 lbs) ($40 to make it look nice)
2) Replace the stock power seats with racing seats (loses 75 lbs) ($550)
3) Carbon fiber (or fiberglass) hood (loses 58 lbs) ($600)

if you wanna go balls to the wall.......

4) strip out carpeting and trunk plastics (loses 50lbs) (free, lots of labor)
5) lightweight trunk (replaces the whole back glass and closure) (loses 75lbs) ($500)
6) carbon fiber driveshaft (loses 30lbs) ($800)
7) lightweight aluminum rims (loses 50lbs) ($1300)
8) go to the gym (loses 10 lbs) (free)

all that shaves off a good 418 lbs or so. Of course, some of those depend on certain things, like the replacement seats, rims etc etc. My estimates are mostly off of replacements from 3000GT parts sites. Like GTPRO, 3sx, or extreme motorsports.

As for "killing civics". The SL's will kill a stock civic without mods. I had an SL, they "can be" some bad ass cars. If you want to liven it up cheaply, get an FIPK ($168), replace the fuel filter ($20), run 2 bottles of "OUTLAW" octane boost per tank ($12), and whenever you get the money, better exhaust, and a 100 shot of NOS. That's all i did to my SL (other than lightening it up a bit) and i was murduring CRX's, Civics, and and stock GSX eclipses. Not bad for an NA 3.0.

just a racing tip, any time you plan on racing........ try to keep your gas at 1/4 tank. It shaves off a good 60lbs or so.

1) Remove the back seats (loses 70 lbs) ($40 to make it look nice)

Are you kidding me? Have you ever seen the back seats out of a 3S? They're nothing but maybe some thin board, foam and fabric. They'll net you about - 4-6lbs. Trust me, I just finished my 2-seater conversion.

4) strip out carpeting and trunk plastics (loses 50lbs) (free, lots of labor)

Once again I say :eek7: . It's carpeting and plastic. All that trunk trim and even the trim in the back seats will give you maybe 10-20lbs. Now get rid of the jack, spare tire and ok you're getting somewhere.

5) lightweight trunk (replaces the whole back glass and closure) (loses 75lbs) ($500)

Where did you get this from? Not very many companies make these and they can be a huge pain in the ass.

get an FIPK ($168), replace the fuel filter ($20), run 2 bottles of "OUTLAW" octane boost per tank ($12),

Get an intake off e-bay. Same thing as a FIPK, just as good and will only cost you $50. Don't really know that a new fuel filter will gain you anything unless yours is really dirty to begin with. And there is no point in running octane boost. When you know you're racing, gas stations have 97+ octane gas and you won't need it all the time so don't waste money.

and whenever you get the money, better exhaust, and a 100 shot of NOS.

Exhaust should be one of the first things. And he's 16, you honestly think advising him to strap a 100 shot on his first car is real bright? Come on man.

Like someone else already said, forget weight reduction it will cost too much and you'll lose too many things if you're really gonna do it right. Go with mods and you'll be alot happier and better off. First things are intake and exhaust. Then an underdrive pulley or lightened pulley. Then a new clutch and flywheel then plugs and wires and you'll be taking all the rice crap.

P.S. 91VR-4boy, sorry, didn't really mean to bag on you here but I just felt he needed some clarification. No offense intended at all, after all, we're all here for the same reason, to teach and learn.

edit: Must have been spacing out...just noticed you own a 3000GT. Still kinda makes me wonder about some of your claims. Ah o well.

so i see... well for the record mods is deffinately the way i would go first anyways, that was just a curiosity thing, about the weight reduction cuz i constantly hear that the car is realy heavy... so, im a FIRM believer in mods and planned on using those as a primary anyways... second.... the original poster of this thread is 16 wondering... im 19 and just had a stroke of curiosity but have had experience with all kinds of car performance mods, and cars with just too much power (ie moded up Trans-Am) but... i like i said had heard abunch of crap floating around about the 3S's weight issue... so.... thanx for the clarification yalls! however i think the most sensible way would be losing the spare and jack and junk (good call 2fast) carbon fibers , and if still vigilant on the weight, lighter rims and crap... (sorry, i became unlazy and checked up on this stuff for myself and imployed a secret tactic of my own... common sense! but thanx anyways! ) peace !

Sorry, I didn't mean to be an asshole. (Was late at night) I was just trying to give you some facts. The lightest cars are around 2900-3000lb's. The SL is only about 3300lbs. You wont have to worry about weight reduction because 300-400 pounds wont make a HUGE difference. It could mean .01 on a race track but not on the streets. On the streets, you will need learn how to launch correctly to win. (Unless you go from a roll. :wink:


are you kidding me? .01??? i forgot how exact it is, but i read somewhere that every additional 90 pounds is about 1/10th of a second. Ok, I just looked it up, roughly every 100lbs is about 1/10th of a second. that's almost half a second. that's someone more than a car length in front of you.

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread/t-109566.html

Trogdor, glad you're thinking mods and useful ones at that :biggrin: . Ya weight reduction CAN help but the originial poster is 16 on a tight budget so I didn't feel the need to suggest carbon fiber hood and hatch and lighter rims, etc. But if you have the money they're worth it because they will lighten it up and look soooo nice :smokin: .

Ya people bitch and moan about or weight all the time but it's not THAT huge of a thing and there are other issues holding us back. Like the driveline (try finding a decent aftermakrlet one that won't cost you a house mortgage) but oh well. Good luck with the car man.

Trogdor, glad you're thinking mods and useful ones at that :biggrin: . Ya weight reduction CAN help but the originial poster is 16 on a tight budget so I didn't feel the need to suggest carbon fiber hood and hatch and lighter rims, etc. But if you have the money they're worth it because they will lighten it up and look soooo nice :smokin: .

Ya people bitch and moan about or weight all the time but it's not THAT huge of a thing and there are other issues holding us back. Like the driveline (try finding a decent aftermakrlet one that won't cost you a house mortgage) but oh well. Good luck with the car man.

yeh man! and the wieght thing... for reals ! the VR-4 dont weigh much more than a typical muscle car (ie Trans-Am, or whatnot) and yet it puts out more hp (TA=310 VR-4=320) so i dont see the big deal! and plus, as mentioned before, its more stable at high speeds. but oh well... people will always bitch about somethin... most of the time its just cuz their abunch of dumbass rednecks driving 80's era rust buckets (while shirtless and equiped with their mullets) and are jealous cuz these are sweet ass rides and chix dig 'em! lol but oh well.

im not sure if this is off topic but im about to strip my car down to bare and i was wondering if you all knew if theres anything interior that would be illegal to remove like the dashboard for example

Wow, this is an old ass thread. Haha, my comments were pretty funny back then.

Why are you stripping your car down? If you are looking to lose weight, I wouldn't recommend taking the dash off. I wouldn't want to take the dash off for anything. It's a pain in the ass.

I really can't think of anything that'd be illegal except messing with the seatbelts. Other then that, tear her up. (Don't mess with the crash bars)

Ask a local shop that does state inspections for a list of what they look for in terms of saftey equipment and emissions and tear out everything else they you don't need for what your doing. Or oyu could probably find one online, it can be confusing online though since its all legal speak.

umm, if you enjoy having a nice car than I wouldn't strip the interier. The additional road noise and lack of well... panels make a daily driver kinda annoying. If it's a track car go ahead, but since you're concerned about state saftey laws... I'm guessing it's not.

umm, if you enjoy having a nice car than I wouldn't strip the interier. The additional road noise and lack of well... panels make a daily driver kinda annoying.


This is very true. I took out the rear seats, spare and all of the plastic in the trunk. I can now hear every pebble I run over in the street. :iceslolan Mine's not a daily driver though.

I went overboard with a 240sx I bought. It has a dash and door panels and that's it. It's fun to drive but the road noise and a crappy radio make it hard to stay in for more than 30 mins.

dude do what you want, its your car, be different. i owned and raced a 94 escort gt for the longest time, i killed civics and preludes, and i only had some minor mods. now i have a 91 stealth base model. i am going to gut it out, i love the look of the machine, and not all of the fancy looking carbon fiber and all that crap, just remember to be different.

Sadly you did make a mistake of geting a SL... but ever heard of loans? if you had $4000 you could had gone and got $3000 from the bank and got a vr4 and got a job and payed off the rest. now ive seen the arguing and stuff and im not here to do that. the reduce weight frist thing is to never get a sub system, two gut the hatch in back, 3 if you have a 91-93 modle, then front "venture skirt" or the big plastic thing in front that goes up and down is very heavy, it is powered by 2 motors and is renforced with metal, ive heard many people saying it weighs 80lbs some say 120lbs, but still i know its heavy. and thats about all the other wieght reduction that would be free. now you could always go carbon fiber, and get lighter rims ;).