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Removing Counter weight

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Old Oct 13, 2003 | 03:16 PM
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Default Removing Counter weight

Is it ok to remove that big iron counter weight in front of the driver side front wheel, I just took it off and it weight about 22 lb. Will that creat any problem by taking it off. BTW I have a 04 roadster.
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Old Oct 13, 2003 | 03:23 PM
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counter weight? Ive never heard of it
maybe they use it to balance the left side with the right side?

post pictures
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Old Oct 13, 2003 | 03:29 PM
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I think it's only on the convertible model, and i don't know what it's really for, but i doesn't connect to anything, it's just a big block or iron bolted on the car.
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Old Oct 13, 2003 | 07:26 PM
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It might be used to counter the weight when the top is down. Don't think it should affect much, but wouldn't suggest going top speed with the top down either, the front might lift up.
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Old Oct 13, 2003 | 07:53 PM
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yeah, or maybe it is used to balance out the motor of the convertible top. i have never heard of it either.

i am curious now though.

gary
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Old Oct 14, 2003 | 08:07 AM
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I have a roadster........where is the counter weight? You said in front of the drivers side wheel.....in the engine bay, or did you take off the wheel well to find it..............let me know, I'd like to lose 22 lbs too!
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Old Oct 14, 2003 | 08:10 AM
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yay! let's all hack our new car apart. I mean c'mon, Nissan engineers don't know what they're doing or anything
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Old Oct 14, 2003 | 08:18 AM
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Leave it in... Why does it matter to lose 22 lbs... if it is really 22 lbs.

You shouldnt be going too fast in a roadster anyways... If you are trying lighten up your vehicle for racing you bought the wrong model....

Pure Tremble is right... c'mon give Nissan engineers some credit.
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Old Oct 14, 2003 | 08:37 AM
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I found it while the tire is removed, but you can see it from the engine bay, I will try to take few pictures of it and post it up later, BTW i didn't take it off to loose some weight, it was in the way for they AEM intake
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Old Oct 14, 2003 | 08:41 AM
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Dude, leave it. There has to be a reason that during testing, the engineers felt the need to add the counterweight. If 22lbs means enough to you to risk loss of vehicle control over, go on a diet.


my .02...
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Old Oct 14, 2003 | 08:47 AM
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The AEM wont fit snug.... call them and see what they say...
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Old Sep 1, 2004 | 10:08 AM
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pics?
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Old Sep 1, 2004 | 10:39 AM
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Are you talking about the battery?
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Old Sep 1, 2004 | 10:46 AM
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This sounds interesting. Let's say the engineers didn't know what they were doing, don't think the Nissan bean counters would spend the extra $ to put an extra piece in the car, so we can take it off afterwards. Whatever it is, it's good to find out, but I would leave it in.
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Old Sep 3, 2004 | 07:35 AM
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Originally posted by tacomaboy
Are you talking about the battery?
So that's why it won't crank....
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Old Sep 5, 2004 | 08:43 PM
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Asked my service manager at North Coast Nissan yesterday. He said this is a vibration dampner and is found only on the roadsters. He said taking it off would not be catastrophic, but recommended not removing it.
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Old Sep 5, 2004 | 08:49 PM
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Asked my service manager at North Coast Nissan yesterday. He said this is a vibration dampner and is found only on the roadsters. He said taking it off would not be catastrophic, but recommended not removing it.
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Old Mar 9, 2015 | 01:18 PM
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There is another large one in the rear, under the foam the jack and tools are molded into.


It's a huge brick, nearly twice the size of a normal house brick. It is painted steel. Mounted to a left right pivot point similar to a suspension swing arm.

Bizarre. I can't imagine it having any sort of vibration different than hard top.

Makes no since. Why would nissan care if the car made noise or not

If they cared they'd made motorized vent flaps instead of the flimsy drier vent type vents in each of the rear corners. They let exhaust in. They are made much thinner than the 04 z I had which did not allow exhaust in the car.

The 07 I had to seal up with expanding foam due to the nonstop stinch of the burned gasoline.

Stomp the throttle and it really stinks if you roll a window down while u stomp it.
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Old Mar 9, 2015 | 02:19 PM
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Simplewon, when you drive the tires are constantly picking up energy as they roll over the graininess of the pavement surface. The back wheels will transmit vibration forward and the front wheels will send vibration rearward. So, looking at the vibration from the rear wheels it will take two paths as it travels forward, one through the frame and floor pan and a second path up and over the roof. The frequency of these vibrations is the same, but the longer path over the roof and down the windshield and A pillars will cause the vibration to arrive slightly later. As these two impulses collide they will effectively cancel each other out.

Roadsters and convertibles tend to only send the road vibrations along one path. At certain speeds the combined vibrations from the front and rear will form a harmonic wave that will be felt inside the car. The weights you see are suspended in a flexible medium. Any vibrations in the vicinity also set the weight to vibrating, however the isolation of the weight means that it vibrates slightly out of sync and will also cancel out any harmonics that are building up.

I’ve been reading this forum for over 10 years and I’m continually amazed that people call the smaller similar device inside the coupe’s hatch a “counter weight”. This is not its purpose; it is also a vibration damper to take care of vibrations that build in the hatch.
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Old Mar 9, 2015 | 02:35 PM
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same thing dynamat tries to do in other applications.. adds weight to a panel// increasing the amount of energy it takes to move the panels.. as well as lowering the Fs resonant frequency in which they do vibrate.
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