mkIII weight

[TriPocalypse666]

ok...i really wanna know guys...what makes the supra mkIII weigh so damn much....its ridiculous how much weight this thing has....im trying to find away to get int down to 3000....but i know switch out the hood with carbon fiber...the headlight vents....hollowing out the back and shit like that wont get it down to 3000......so exactly what else can i take off this thing to let it reduce weight.....whats on this car that makes it weigh so much??!?!?!?!

[Z32TT_maniac]

how heavy is this car anyway?

[TriPocalypse666]

3500 pounds..nearly 2 tons!

[projectsupramk3]

Get over it, you should have know the weight of the car before you bought it. If you want a sub 2500lb sports car that feels like a go-kart then get an RX-7 or a miata. I personally love the weight of the MKIII, it makes it very stable at high speeds, if you've ever driven an MKIII at 150 and an rx-7 at 150 you'll instantly know what I'm talking about. There is a simple way to make it faster and easily overcome the weight, it's called HP and the 7m-gte has plenty of it to spare when modded right.

[TcmaBoy]

Like anythig its a question of money. HP will overcome weight in the acceleration department. Handeling is another thing. The MKIII is a heavy tail happy car, and thats the way I like her. If you really want to lighten the car there is plenty to do, but most of it will be custom and expensive. First cheap. The seats are electric, thus heavy. Also you only need one. A/C...toss it its just dead weight and robbing power off the crasnk. If your hot roll the windows down. Carpet, sound deadening, underbody coating....DEAD WEIGHT! Who needs a quiet ride anyway. The stock stereo is a monster. Hell just ditch the entire interior. Replace the electric windows with manual units, or better yet just ditch them entirely. Then A/C will never be a problem. Don't forget to toss that spare tire. Junk in the trunk is not desireable. That goes for you too. If you can stand to lose some weight than do it. I can't believe some of the fat race drivers out there. Some of those guys are probably adding 80 to 100 lbs because they are carrying a spare arround their waist. Now pricy. The double wishbone suspension is stamped steel. You can have some lighter units made. Replace the glass with lexan. Carbonfiber replacement body panels. The hood, doors, front fenders, and rear hatch are the easiest. They don't exist, but there are plenty of companies that make anything for the right price. This includes the driveshaft. You can shed about 10 pounds off the flywheel. Here is a dirty but effective trick. Now this is illegal for a street car, but you can take every thing out of the bumpers and just put the shell back on. Be advised if you hit something your car is toast. If you are stiffening the chasie or caging the car then you can do some select trimming. Get a hole saw and drill out the inside of the door structure. The same goes for the rear hatch. Just son't over do it or else your doors will colapse under thier own weight when opened. DO NOT drill anything that is part of the unibody. This will cause chassie flex. You can go with a small dry cell battery. It all comes down to how creative you are and how much you are willing to sacrifice.

[TcmaBoy]

P.S. I am also crazy. My instructions will have your car looking like my truck(see avatar).

[TriPocalypse666]

u maybe a crazy man tc...but youve helped greatly...thx man

[projectsupramk3]

Opinions are opinions so if you want to drive around in an noise resonating oven then be my guest, but I still strongly suggest you buy another car and start off with something closer to what you want. Don't start hacking up a good MKIII just because you weren't bright enough to relize that. Lexan windows are illegal, they don't shatter into tiny fragments like auto glass, if you get in a wreck you will get cut up by huge jagged peices of lexan. As for the sound deadning and underbody coating, have you ever removed them personally? I did a few years ago and helped document most of the huge weight loss PDF file (it's unfortunately down right now) that was there. The sound deadning accounts for 38lbs IIRC, in exchange for a very loud car that resonates like a tin can and doesn't hold heat or cold near as well. The steel hatch is very light, the glass is what accounts for the weight. I would be hesitant to do most all of that on an all out track car let alone a daily driver. If your joking around then I'm with you but I really hope your not being serious. Also remember the weight helps keep the car planted, if you lose alot of weight or remove it from the wrong place in the car making it unbalanced, it will be hell to drive. I'm not even going to argue on removing the bumper reinforcements, if anyone is that dumb they deserve to get into a wreck without them.

[TriPocalypse666]

well i was just thinking about taking out the back seats...hollowing out the back of the ride...like the side panels and the back interior....and removing the passenger seat...personally...i knew the car weighed this much when i got it....not like i didnt no...i just want to have a light supra...if ya know what i mean...having a heavy ass ride lacks when going up against the lighter...quicker cars...but yea...i wasnt trying to go crazy with it like tc was saying...but thats all i had in mind...i was just wondering what else could i throw out that would benfit the ride and not take away from its potential

[projectsupramk3]

Watch what you take out of the back, remember the weight balance on a stock MKIII is front heavy. Taking more weight out of the rear will make it worse. It might not be very noticable when just daily driving it but racing will make it stick out like a sore thumb. It's hard to remove the stock seats, 8-way power and air bag lumbar are so comfortable after you have sat in anything else. The pass seat is roughly 30lbs, the drivers side on the other hand is around 70lbs. I wouldn't waste any time taking out the plastic panels and rear carpet, once you get them out and feel how much they weigh you'll understand. There is no exact rule for weight-1/4 mile time loss but the rough estimate is for every 100lbs lost you drop 1/10 second in the 1/4 mile. It seems much simpler to me to just do a few reliability mods and up the boost a few psi while keeping to luxury the Supra was made for.

[TcmaBoy]

Whats wrong with a noise resonating oven? Besides thats why you wear ear plugs. No more moise problem. Then you get a nice motorcycle helmet with a visor, remove all the glass, and drive really really fast. That will cool things right off.

[TcmaBoy]

I think the concept of a light weight Supra is great, but unless you are going for all out competitipon than don't worry about it. Its not worth the sacrifice in comfort. If you are really looking for a hardcore Supra, then buy another one and mod it. You don't want your daily driver to be your track vehicle.

And yes I have removed the underbody coating. Its fun. Nothing like spending the day under your car with a heat gun and putty knife scraping that tar stuff off. Had to be done though. Had a little incident. A piece road debries punched a hole in the passenger foot well. Big one abour 4 in across. Really fun getting that crap off to rivit a new piece of steel in place.