Weight reduction

I'm not big on stripping my car down to Zero, but I need to do a weight reduction for my car. I know that my rims are slowing my car down (18x8) machined, so I want to counter it by reducing weight in my car. I know I can take the spare tire out, and crap like that - but what else? I do everyday driving for my car and I always got someone in my passenger. What I mean by stripping it down to Zero is I dont want it to look like shit inside (no panels, and that stuff). I need some advice - what type of things do you reccomend?

Backseat

back seat? theres not alot to take out, without making it look getto..

air conditioning... spare tire/jack... those are just some of the heaviest!

Sound deadening material, trunk carpeting, wing, stock seats, etc.

carbon fiber or fiberglass body panels are being made cheaper nowadays. Might look into some new fenders and hood, thatll reduce a little weight.

CF hood is a pretty good start, especialy if you don't want to reduce eye strain. other than that there are the basics that have been hit [that you don't want to part with...]

spare tire, jack, ac, put in lighter seats, cf hood, lexan windows, if you have power windows and locks change over to manual (just put on doors from a manual and paint em to match

The hood is an easy 20 pounds. Back seats arent even worth that much. Rear plastic, that everyone rips out, doesnt weigh much at all. AC is worth 35 pounds if you take it ALL out. I havent, because I still need heat ;) Spare and jack and all the crap in my little cargo net is worth 50 pounds, which is probably the single biggest gain.

Its not easy to get enough meaningful weight out of the car without going crazy. Remember that every hundred pounds equals a tenth in the quarter (and about 1 mph). So 10 pounds is a thousands of a second. Hardly worth the effort

The real kicker is that because wheels are rotating mass, they are worth even more weight than non rotating parts. About 8-10 times depending on where you read it. Not only does the motor have to accelerate it forward, but also has to spin it up to speed. So wheels are actually one of the cheapest places to save weight that makes a real difference. A 500 dollar set of rotas goes a long way, considering a hood costs nearly the same. ;)

Don't you love physics

CF Hood, or drill holes in areas where structural ridgity wont be questioned, and cover in epoxy to prevent rust (got from "tuner transformation"), also this months Import Tuner Mag. has a 5 page Article on weight Reduction, check it out

The 420A eclipse has a power to weight ratio of ~23:1 (stock) using the GVWR, therefore theoretically for every 23-24lbs. removed you RECOVER 1hp lost to weight. So, depending on your needs, you can modify accordingly

taking out all that stuff for 1hp gain! :screwy:

help yourself.

Thats not bad, almost 2 hp just from taking about the spare tire and the jack!

i guess it's a good way to brag about the fact that one is no longer stock LOL

I know those damn hatches are pretty heavy. If its legal going to a lexan hatch would lighten it up but will look like shit if not done right and not taken car of. Doesnt really look as good as glass either. The hood has some good weight to it. There isnt much wieght in the back seat sicne the actual seat is just foam w/ a cover over it. Dont know about the part fo the seat your back is on though.

Take out your AC shit and you wil lose some good weight too. I dotn know fi you would want to do all this crap to a street car though.

what's the power to weight ratio for our gst 2g anyone know?

Ditch the heavy 18's in favor of some lightweight 17's and a CF hood then you won't compromise the comfort of your daily driver.

Eclipses are jus too damn heavy. I will make you some composite parts if you want. Otherwise I say cut off the back half, and move your gas tank to the passengers seat.

what's the power to weight ratio for our gst 2g anyone know?
Take the power(Stock is I belive 205 hp)
Draw a slash
On the decal by the latch of the drivers door it will have your vehicles weight. Put that below. Now you have power to weight. to take it a step further do the math to find out how much weight each ponie is pushing.

You cant get the weight of the car without putting it on a scale. The weight on the door jamb is the GVWR, not the cars actual weight. For reference my stock 95 GSX weighed 3350 with me in it, no spare or jack (50 pounds together). I was 180 at the time (getting fatter by the day) so figure 3150 or so. Thats a lot lighter than people think these cars are ;)

my mistake
what does gvwr stand for anyways

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, its the maximum weight the car should experience with all fluids, and the rated number of passengers are average weight, etc.

That was what I originally thought untill some fairly competent car people convinced me otherwise. I knew my gsx was heavy but 4200 something seemed a little excessive

Ahhh.. so that's why it's so high... I thought about the same thing with my base model.. it's 3800. I didn't know that number included passengers... why would they include such a stupid number I have no idea. Funny how the actual weight of the vehicle itself isn't even on there anywhere.

Personally i think that if its the car u drive around everyday, there is almost no point to ripping out things. A friend of mine took out his AC a while back and he was like "dude i gained so much horsepower!" i was like alright man. Pretty sure the only difference i think i would notice from losing my AC is the sweat dripping from my balls to my butt crack during the summer. Unless you are gonna be like drag racing and u want every 100th of a second on ur ET i really wouldnt worry about lightweight seats or windows, seems kinda like overkill to me. But that is just my opinion so do whatever u want.

By the way lol this is the same guy who told me his muffler he put on added 10 horsepower, and that he had a new radiator that wouldnt allow his engine to heat over 120 degrees....lol. Also when he bought his car, the engine was messed up, he claims he bought an entirely new engine for it, and when he ended up selling his car he referred to it as having an "aftermarket engine".

ever since i put on the fiber glass kit, could just feel so much lighter taking off. CF hood's on my list next :)

ever since i put on the fiber glass kit, could just feel so much lighter taking off. CF hood's on my list next :)
Want a custom

custom what

custom hood?

i don't know what exactly he mean by that. meaning "HE" wants a custom hood or if "I" want a custom hood. provided that if it's hood he was still talking about.

yeah hood
or anything else for that matter

Ps would you be interested in getting something made.
I guess that was a little overabreviated