Del sol has gone on a diet!

[phyregod]

Dont forget the wheels! Throw some Motegi trak lites on there!

Massive weight can be saved in the wheel department, and its unsprung weight too, triple bonus. Forged aluminum lugs if you want to get all crazy about it. Replace all glass with lexan or completely remove what you can get by with removing. Pull the supports out of the hood and trunk so they are just skins, remove all latching hardware, cables, hinges, etc and replace with those body locks or aluminum pins from autozone. That'll get you CF hood and trunk weight for damn near free, freeing up more fundage for seats, wheels, tires, etc.

I assume you've pulled up all the sound deadening material from the floor of the car? Thats something like 20+ pounds right there.

Getting picky: Pick up a set of el cheapo aftermarket side mirrors. Stock units weigh around 2 lbs each, those cheap ebay ones weight a little over a pound for the pair. "spoon" mirrors ftw! lol

P.S. Leave your bumper supports alone, they weigh less than 10 lbs each and you'll love them if you smack a wall or bump another car fairly hard. The safety they provide far outweighs the weight penalty of having them, and may save your car from being totalled in a minor collision.

Good god, I've edited like 10 times...

One more thought: I know you got headers already so you saved the weight there. You might see if its legal to remove the rest of your exhaust and have a pipe dump out right next to the front wheel. Lots of weight savings there. Aftermarket intake manifolds are usually alot lighter than stockers too, but thats $400 for a few pounds... kinda going too far there.

 

[B16]

Dont forget the wheels! Throw some Motegi trak lites on there!

Massive weight can be saved in the wheel department, and its unsprung weight too, triple bonus. Forged aluminum lugs if you want to get all crazy about it. Replace all glass with lexan or completely remove what you can get by with removing. Pull the supports out of the hood and trunk so they are just skins, remove all latching hardware, cables, hinges, etc and replace with those body locks or aluminum pins from autozone. That'll get you CF hood and trunk weight for damn near free, freeing up more fundage for seats, wheels, tires, etc.

I assume you've pulled up all the sound deadening material from the floor of the car? Thats something like 20+ pounds right there.

Getting picky: Pick up a set of el cheapo aftermarket side mirrors. Stock units weigh around 2 lbs each, those cheap ebay ones weight a little over a pound for the pair. "spoon" mirrors ftw! lol

P.S. Leave your bumper supports alone, they weigh less than 10 lbs each and you'll love them if you smack a wall or bump another car fairly hard. The safety they provide far outweighs the weight penalty of having them, and may save your car from being totalled in a minor collision.

Good god, I've edited like 10 times...

One more thought: I know you got headers already so you saved the weight there. You might see if its legal to remove the rest of your exhaust and have a pipe dump out right next to the front wheel. Lots of weight savings there. Aftermarket intake manifolds are usually alot lighter than stockers too, but thats $400 for a few pounds... kinda going too far there.

Ya, I have trouble finding good seats since I have a 38" waist and weigh 210lbs. Being fat sucks. The Cobra seat is around $700 and is very light. My buddy has one and says it is very comfortable. I'm 90% set on getting that seat.
Wheels, I currenly use Rota 15x7 slipstreams for the track. They already weigh around 11lbs each. And ya, I do have aluminum lugs for them, lol. All windows will be completely removed except for the windsheild, which I have to leave as glass. I already have the rear glass completely gone. I have left the side glass since I have to drive the car to and from the track. I'm keeping my eyes open for an old truck so I can buy a trailer for this thing.
Good idea on removing the support and latchings. How do I go about removing the support? The trunk is already going to have to lose the hinges and latching because of the rear bars that will be going through it. Yes all sound deadening is now gone. I think I got about 10lbs worth from the sol, since there were only 2 slabs of it.
About the exhaust, it depends where I run at. Sears point and Laguna seca have some strict sound rules, and you'll get black flagged if you're over 95db. Thunderhill is even starting to adapt this sound level. I think the only tracks left that don't have it are Reno and Buttonwillow. I suppose I could look at a different exhaust though, the one I have is from the muffler guy down the street, I have no idea how much heaver it is than some aftermarket piece.

 

[phyregod]

Not steet legal, but a few more things I thought about. Might want to run these through your racing organization, make sure they are legal.

remove the inner door frames, just cut right where the glue is, remove the inner handles and just hang a grab wire out to open and shut the driver door, remove window mechanisms and handles, remove all of the hardware from the passenger door and weld it shut. Dont pull the impact bars out of the doors unless your cage has side impact bars!
-30ish lbs

Windshiled wipers and motors, cowl cover and hardware, dash vents, the rear rubber section of the e-brake (keep the handle), the rubber boot from the shifter, buy a 4" hole saw and go nutz on the back bumper and dash pad.. -10ish lbs.

I wouldnt mess with changing the dash pad over to aluminum, stripped honda pads hardly weigh anything anyway, and are more comfortable when your knees smash into them.

Check the engine bay too.. Washer fluid resivoir+motor+tubing+hardware

Also, if you are going with an aftermarket intake, be sure to get the factory silencer from under your front bumper. Along with all of the rubber splash guards in the wheel wells and underneath.

p.s. $700 for one seat is a little on the nutz side. you can get really nice seats for half of that.

 

[killercannible]

All the internal ribbing under the trunk and in the doors, under the hood, ect. That stuff adds alot of weight. not everything can be solved with carbon fiber, although i wish it could be.

 

[office888]

Start hacking away at the floorpan...You could probably lose some weight by removing the trunk flooring and replacing it with lexan or something. Just don't wreck. Lmfao. I've heard of a CRX driver doing that...Also, you can always just take a circle cutter and slice 1" holes out of your stock metal doors.

 

[phyregod]

Nope, super bad idea. Unibody car = leave the floor alone.

 

[posol]

Kirkey. dont fuck around with "sport" seats if you're going racing.

 

[asmallsol]

For all of you that don't know, Mike is intrested in honda challenge, which you can't run a Carbon fiber hood. Not sure about trunk, but since he is going to be running a cage through it anyways, running just the skin without the skeliton with some type of hood pin style clamps is all you should need. Also, other suggestions in this thread are kinda out of the question. Remember, he is not drag racing which means when it rains, the fun doesn't stop. Windsheild wipers are key when its raining. Other then that, I can't think of too much looking at your pictures. Key cylinder maybe (switch to a good old switch).

Defently look at the one thread of Ian's. I think he bought a mount for his light weight battery which is just a peice of folded aluminum that mounts to the firewall somewhere. Looses the weight of the battery and stand (wich might be a pound) There are alot of random brackets under the hood that can be removed. Is it legal in SCCA or NASA to run a hood where you just pull the whole panel off (kinda like the targa top is now) and then you just run 4 hood pins. Removes the hinges.

 

[GSRCRXsi]

you can run CF in H1. carbon hood, carbon trunk, lexan windows, you just cant run a lexan windsheild

 

[B16]

Correct, you can even run CF fenders if you like. Since not a single person in NorCal runs in H3, I have to build my car as H1.

I can remove all the inards of the door, if I run NASCAR style door bars from the cage, which I do plan on doing (next year).

What is crazy about the Cobra seat? I have sat in kirkeys, I do not find them comfortable.

 

[B16]

Windshiled wipers and motors, cowl cover and hardware, dash vents, the rear rubber section of the e-brake (keep the handle), the rubber boot from the shifter, buy a 4" hole saw and go nutz on the back bumper and dash pad.. -10ish lbs.

I wouldnt mess with changing the dash pad over to aluminum, stripped honda pads hardly weigh anything anyway, and are more comfortable when your knees smash into them.

Check the engine bay too.. Washer fluid resivoir+motor+tubing+hardware

Also, if you are going with an aftermarket intake, be sure to get the factory silencer from under your front bumper. Along with all of the rubber splash guards in the wheel wells and underneath.

p.s. $700 for one seat is a little on the nutz side. you can get really nice seats for half of that.

Wipers and motors can be removed, but while I have to drive it on the street I'm going to keep them.

Engine bay, you're right, I still have my fluid resivior there. I really should get a small battery too.

Ya, that intake silencer and fender lining has been gone for a while.

Which other seats do you recommend? I need something that can fit a 38" waist, is FIA approved and can be side mounted. I've sat in the kirkeys, I don't think I could do my 3 hour drive to buttonwillow in that seat. I've been keeping my eye open for used seats, but they are hard to come by on craigslist and ebay. I'm not sure where else to look for racing seats.

 

[B16]

Kirkey. dont fuck around with "sport" seats if you're going racing.

The Sparco Evo2 and Cobra Suzuka GT are racing bucket seats, not "sport" seats.

 

[phyregod]

Corbeau has the Forza II and a wide version of the FX1 that will fit you. Both listed under $300.00 retail.



---> CORBEAU USA LLC - Products <--- clicky

 

[B16]

The FX1 looks good, but they don't mention their FIA approval.

 

[asmallsol]

if your a 38 waist, maybe you should go on a diet. If you loose 50 lbs, your car will be quicker

 

[posol]

kirkeys come in all shapes and sizes and padding is not included, so you can't judge what you sat in with what is available. Not to mention, you can go get fitted up in NY for you seat, and they will custom make it to your body if you really want to.

Seats

 

[B16]

if your a 38 waist, maybe you should go on a diet. If you loose 50 lbs, your car will be quicker

You sound like my fiance!

 

[B16]

Kirkey's are not FIA. I would prefer an FIA seat.

 

[posol]

you're kidding me, they aren't FIA? they are like the seat of choice by nascar and IT_ races

 

[vtecsir1]

my friend uses kirkey in his porsche race car.


can you remove the gas tank and add a fuel cell?