mchapman

iTrader: (1)

Ok this took a while.

As I can feel the difference in performance when someone else is in the car, a weight reduction of the below amount would be noticeable for myself. If you have comments on the weights feel free to post. I have tried to get the weights where people have said they weighed it. The below reductions are achievable things that dont change how the car looks in a negative way and doesnt cost that much for what you are getting. i.e not like carbon fibre doors that cost $10,000.

You might move some items between the lists but personally the easy list is what I am considering doing. Except the items which I have already have.

Feel free to fill in any gaps or correct any errors providing your info is from a good source. I dont have a weight for a total HiTech with mid pipe so if anyone has weighed theirs?

Legend
Name - Pounds Saving (Stock Weight, Aftermarket Weight)



Easy Weight Reduction

HT Exhaust - 13.5lbs (Total stock - 64lbs, HiTech - ?)
Cats - 5lbs (stock 17lbs, RT - 12lbs)
Battery - 22lbs - (stock - 35.5lbs, PC 680 Odessey - 13.5lbs * This seems to be motorbike battery? Optima is another option that weight about 22lbs)
Pulleys - 4lbs (UR 2lbs total)
Spare Tyre & Jack - 39.5lbs(spare - 37lbs, jack - 2.5lbs)
Weights in Hatch - 1.5lbs
Rear Wiper & Motor - 9lbs
Plastic Intake Manifold - 4lbs
Lug Nuts - 1.475lbs (Stock 2.6lbs, Light weight 1.125lbs )
Carbon Fibre Hood - 8lbs (Stock - 24lbs, CF - 14lbs)
Steel plate for subwoofer + bolts - 5 lbs
Sound dampening "pads" in that space behind the seats - 5 lbs
Matts over fuel tank behind driver - 3lbs
Wheels - 30lbs (Stock 18" 25.5lbs, Nisson available Rays 18lbs)

Total: 150.975 lbs or 68.48kg



Other Weight Reduction

Dont Fill Up to 100% - ??
Dont fill washer fluid to 100% - < 8lbs
Empty Glove Box - 2lbs - guess



Other Other Weight Reduction

Rubber Backed Floor Matt - (stock 6lbs, non-rubber 1lb)
Light Weight Cross Drilled Rotors -
Light weight stereo equipment - (stock 30lbs)
Carbon Creation Fibre Fenders - 7.92lbs (7.7lbs - 3.96lbs)
Carbon Fibre Mirrors -
Seats -
Steering Wheel -
Plexiglass/Lexan Windows(hard to see out of) -
Porsche Ceramic Composite Brake (PCCBTM) - 50% lighter than metal discs.



Note: I havnt found any of the sways to be lighter than the stock unit, though the handling gains would well outweigh the weight gain:
Stock Sways: Front 10.5 lbs, Rear 4 lbs
Hotchkis Sways: Front 13.5lbs, Rear 5.5lbs

toykilla

iTrader: (1)

great collection!. Also Titanium exhaust would shave about 40-50 lbs off

DavidM

HT Exhaust - 13.5lbs (Total stock - 64lbs, HiTech - ?)

The Best Motorring video listed the stock exhaust at 'around' 40kg. I'm only guessing here, but I'd say that ther Hi-tech exhaust is good 15kg lighter.

Seats -

The 350Z Track seats weight (from what I remember) 23kg for the driver seat, and 21kg for the passanger seat. 'Nice' custom seat will weight about 17kg each. Though, if you go tothe extreme, you can can seats thatweight about 10kg each.

Light Weight Cross Drilled Rotors -

If you're going for 'lighweight' then that will be very expensive ... so not sure if it belongs on your list here. Getting holes drilling into the stock rotors will only weaken them, and will not save muchweight at all (ie. 1kg?).

Dont Fill Up to 100% - ??

We have a 73L tank ... so filling up 1/2 way should mean that you're running around 30kg lighter.

Dont fill washer fluid to 100% - < 8lbs

I have no idea how big the washer reserve is on the Zed, but I do kow that on the S2000 it was 8L (ie. 8kg).

ps. I can't think of anything to add to your list .... well maybe tyres. Different tyres dohave different weight, and there are some that are recognized as 'light'.

scathing

Pull the sub and rear speakers out? If you're pulling out sound dampening, its not as if musical fidelity is high on your list of priorities.

The rear strut brace is a massive box-steel piece. You could swap it out for a thinner titanium one, that may offer the same torsional rigidity. You could swap the front strut brace out, too.

Actually, the bulkhead behind the seats (where the storage compartments are) is all metal as well. It contributes greatly to rigidity, but you need to ask yourself if you need it that rigid on a road car.

From what I've heard on the guys working on Mike Fitzgerald's 350Z, there is a lot of structural bracing in the car, that only comes apparent when you pull the trim away and see the amount of metal in there.

scathing

[QUOTE]Originally posted by DavidM
Seats -

The 350Z Track seats weight (from what I remember) 23kg for the driver seat, and 21kg for the passanger seat. 'Nice' custom seat will weight about 17kg each. Though, if you go tothe extreme, you can can seats thatweight about 10kg each./QUOTE]

The fact that he's putting a "light weight stereo" in means that I'm guessing he'd like to keep the car streetable. I doubt anyone would install a stereo into a track-only car.

Unless your replacement seats have air bags in them, you're not legally allowed to remove them because it removes a safety feature from the vehicle.

But yes, with the electric motors, heaters, air bags, and centralised location that means you wouldn't be throwing the weight balance out as much, removing the 350Z seats would be a prime choice for weight reduction.

mchapman

iTrader: (1)

Originally posted by scathing
Pull the sub and rear speakers out? If you're pulling out sound dampening, its not as if musical fidelity is high on your list of priorities.

I wouldnt be removing that much sound deadening material as inside the Zed its already quite noisey. I think you would need the speakers to cover up the outside noises. You can get light weight stereo equipment from quality companies so for me I think this would be a better solution.

The rear strut brace is a massive box-steel piece. You could swap it out for a thinner titanium one, that may offer the same torsional rigidity. You could swap the front strut brace out, too.

Inside that massive box there is a normal strut brace. I dont know of any titanium strut braces but I do know of Carbon fiber ones which would reduce the weight of the front and rear braces by a good amount. I dont know of any for the Zed yet but a good suggestion. I'll keep an eye out for any.

Actually, the bulkhead behind the seats (where the storage compartments are) is all metal as well. It contributes greatly to rigidity, but you need to ask yourself if you need it that rigid on a road car.

It is a street car but most, myself included, would want to keep all rigidity and actually increase this for maximum cornering ability and control.

From what I've heard on the guys working on Mike Fitzgerald's 350Z, there is a lot of structural bracing in the car, that only comes apparent when you pull the trim away and see the amount of metal in there.

Yes the 350z chasis is very ridge and this is where most of the weight comes from I would imagine. But this is another asset to the Zed.

mchapman

iTrader: (1)

Originally posted by DavidM
The Best Motorring video listed the stock exhaust at 'around' 40kg. I'm only guessing here, but I'd say that ther Hi-tech exhaust is good 15kg lighter.

I would say it is around there too, has anyone weighed it?

If you're going for 'lighweight' then that will be very expensive ... so not sure if it belongs on your list here. Getting holes drilling into the stock rotors will only weaken them, and will not save muchweight at all (ie. 1kg?).

I know a full brake kit is very expensive but just the rotors from DBA isnt too bad. I contacted DBA to get the weight of the 4000 series rotors, i'll try to find the email. These werent cross drilled but I think they are lighter than stock.

MR RIZK

iTrader: (7)

I personally would not fill up your tank only half way as you will experience "tank slap" when switching driving directions.

DavidM

I know a full brake kit is very expensive but just the rotors from DBA isnt too bad. ... These werent cross drilled but I think they are lighter than stock.

Aaaah, I see ... but then the DBA rotors are not 'lightweight' by any means. I would have not thought that they'd be any ligher than the Brembo (ie. OME) rotors. I can't see how they'd make them ligher wihtout making them thinner (which is not what one would want).

Also the calipers weight a fair bit.

Though, when you mentioned 'lighweight' I pictured somehting like the brake system on the GT3 ie. all ceramic and carbon-fibre kind of materials. I think I read somewhere thast the brake system in the GT3 shaves off good 30kg from the car. Though, this kind of setup witll cost good $15k.

mchapman

iTrader: (1)

Originally posted by DavidM
Aaaah, I see ... but then the DBA rotors are not 'lightweight' by any means. I would have not thought that they'd be any ligher than the Brembo (ie. OME) rotors. I can't see how they'd make them ligher wihtout making them thinner (which is not what one would want).



These are the 5000 series but in the image here you can see the Kangaroo paw design, this may save some weight, the centre piece is very different from the stock chuck of metal, and all the materials used could be lighter.

Though, when you mentioned 'lighweight' I pictured somehting like the brake system on the GT3 ie. all ceramic and carbon-fibre kind of materials. I think I read somewhere thast the brake system in the GT3 shaves off good 30kg from the car. Though, this kind of setup witll cost good $15k.

I did mention the Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes at the bottom of the list, they save alot of weight and yes are very expensive. I probabally shouldnt have put them in, though they are very cool items. I found the guys who make them for Porsche but I cant find the link now.

frosty

PHARK again-

Why don't yer shave yer legs ?

FROZZLE

KY350

I'd love to be running around at 1300kg, but I'm definately not willing to compromise on luxuries, safety, reliability or drivability to reduce weight.
So if you can't lose weight, then more power to us all!

KY350

You could also floss the plaque from your teeth, clean the wax from your ears and use an anti-dandruff shampoo.

nuff

if our olympic swiming team does it, i don't see why we shouldn't

mchapman

iTrader: (1)

Originally posted by KY350
I'd love to be running around at 1300kg, but I'm definately not willing to compromise on luxuries, safety, reliability or drivability to reduce weight.

I agree with you on this and thats what I was aiming for with the first list.

I was going to do a ruff measurment to figure out how much weight comes off each corner of the car to see how the weight distribution would be affected.

If you have height adjustable suspension you could adjust the height of each corner to re-distribute the weight back into the right areas whilst on a scale.

Other ideas: Clip toe nails & leave underwear at home if you dont already.

harryw

Forgive me for being so vulgar, but, why would you buy a farking Z in the first place if all you want is a lightweight track car.

Perhaps you should have looked at a formula ford! The stereo is really light (and crap quality) in them, as is the seat, and so on. I wouldnt like to cruise around town in one every day though.

I just dont see the point in buying a Z and then spending a shiteload a cash on it to make it 60kg lighter! At the end of the day the $5k Charade with intercooled twin turbos will still kick your ****!

Statistically we are all "fat", not sure what sort of weight saving is in each of us. However, I make sure I have my morning constitutional before I get into the Z, never know when I will run into Frosty again.

As always

H

Muz, please take all this with a grain of salt.

MR RIZK

iTrader: (7)

Maybe we all just expected more out of the Z than we got.

mchapman

iTrader: (1)

Ok grain of salt taken, thanks for the warning.

Note: When I refer to the list i'm only talking about the first list that comes to 68kgs.

Originally posted by harryw,
Forgive me for being so vulgar, but, why would you buy a farking Z in the first place if all you want is a lightweight track car.

Nobody mentioned the 'track'? And for reference people do race Zeds . There are gains to be had at the track but the 'track' isn't the driving force for myself. Overall the car will be the same as before except it will have the benefits of being 4.8% lighter. I wont go into the actual benefits of weight reduction as i'm sure your aware of them.

Perhaps you should have looked at a formula ford! The stereo is really light (and crap quality) in them, as is the seat, and so on. I wouldnt like to cruise around town in one every day though.

I think i'll stick with my Zedd.

I just dont see the point in buying a Z and then spending a shiteload a cash on it to make it 60kg lighter!

If you ignore the things you would already be doing for other performance benefits like power and traction i.e exhaust, cats, intake manifold, pulleys, wheels & tyres, then IMO the rest doesn't cost that much to do. I already wanted to get rid of that ugly rear windscreen washer and a large part of the list is just removing bits that aren't visible and you could do without. If your talking about the other two lists then yes I agree they do cost a sh!tload and I have left them out for this reason.

At the end of the day the $5k Charade with intercooled twin turbos will still kick your ****

Harry, I consider weight reduction to be in the performance category of car modification and like most of the other performance mods: exhaust, suspension and grounding kits at the end of the day that Charade and a long list of other cars are still going to be able to beat you.

At the end of the day getting more out of my car is fun.

scathing

From what I understand, the rear strut brace is almost as big as the plastic covering thing surrounding it. Its not like you take away the trim and find out its some anorexic beam (like the front one) - its a big, solid piece.

I haven't peeled mine off yet, but yeah.

If 17" rims will clear the brakes, I'd consider going lightweight 17" rims instead (I've been looking at Rays Gram Lights myself). Not only should they weigh less than the 18" rims, you also have a better choice of track rubber.

I spoke to Stuckeys at the Procar on the weekend, and 235/45 R17 Dunlop D01J's are around $420 a corner. To my knowledge, the tyres don't come in 18".

While having a slightly lower profile might decrease some sidewall flex, its still a street car where having flex will help in bump absorption, and using a clubsport tyre will mean that, in the end, you still stop and corner better than running on 19" rims.

mchapman

iTrader: (1)

Originally posted by scathing
From what I understand, the rear strut brace is almost as big as the plastic covering thing surrounding it. Its not like you take away the trim and find out its some anorexic beam (like the front one) - its a big, solid piece.

Now I could be wrong but I pulled mine apart to get to the Bose Amp, long story everything connects together back there but im pretty sure there is another one just like the front one inside that box. Anyone want to double check this? Im not pulling it apart again. My memory is a bit vague as I wasnt 100% sober at the time.

While having a slightly lower profile might decrease some sidewall flex, its still a street car where having flex will help in bump absorption, and using a clubsport tyre will mean that, in the end, you still stop and corner better than running on 19" rims.

A guy who races his zed in the states was running wheels a few inches smaller than 17" with high sidewalls and was able to pull near 1.5Gs and he didnt think sidewall flex matters. Still I wouldnt want to be seen around in a 350z with wheels that small and sidewalls that large, it would look like its ready for a river crossing.