weight reduction?

[buymeabmwm3]

So I keep hearing that the easiest and quickest (and cheapest) way to make your car run faster is weight reduction. I have a '97 cougar xr7. Can someone tell me specifically some of the things I should remove and about how much weight I could probably lose?

[Trigger351]

Weight reduction is really for race cars.

You can do things like replace the door linings with aluminium sheet, Remove the spare wheel, Fit lighter aftermarket seats, Lexan glass and Carbon Fibre or fiberglass panels.

But all these things make it not so nice for cruzin:smoka:

[Scott 02]

I don't think that weight reduction is cheap. Some things are easy to get rid of. I know it wouldn't be hard to take 150 or so lbs out of my car. I just don't see were that will make me much faster or make a whole lot of difference. 500lbs probably would. I just know is the more weight you want to discard the more spensive things will get

[YellowMaranello]

I heard somewhere that every 100 lbs you lose, your quarter mile time goes down .1 secs. If you really wanted to lose weight, you could take out the extra seats, spare tire, even some of the console. Or you could just buy lightweight stuff like a carbon-fiber hood and so on and so forth.

[replicant_008]

Simple weight reduction for beginners... remove the following

- Spare Tyre, Jack and Tools
- Carpets, mats and unwanted trim
- Remove non-essential parts eg driving lights, passenger sun visor, back seat (if legal)
- Lightweight alloy wheels
- Car alarm
- Car sound system and speakers (along with associated wiring)
- Electric window assemblies (although sometimes manual ones are heavier) and door openers
- Rear wiper and motor (if legal)
- Rear spoiler
- Air conditioning condenser, motor and pipes
- Heater assembly
- Install lightweight race shells
- Remove all passenger seats and seat belts etc
- Install a smaller battery
- Don't fill the fuel tank completely also includes fluids like washer bottle if you want to be picky

If you think I'm kidding have a look at a Porsche 968 Clubsport or sports model - apart from the spare this is essentially the kind of thing that was done.

Then you can choose to:
- Simple skins for inside of doors
- Replacing the window glass with Lexan (where legal)
- Composite doors, bonnet and boot (however the removal of side instrusion may require installation of a roll cage with side instrusion)

[Polygon]

Here is a good resource for weight reduction and balancing:

The Dodge Garage.

And yes, this stuff applies to all cars, not just Mopars.