Removing Counter weight
10-13-2003, 03:16 PM
#1
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: San Jose
Posts: 18
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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.
10-13-2003, 03:29 PM
#3
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: San Jose
Posts: 18
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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.
10-13-2003, 07:26 PM
#4
Registered User
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.
10-14-2003, 08:07 AM
#6
Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: columbus oh
Posts: 72
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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!
Trending Topics
10-14-2003, 08:18 AM
#8
Charter Member #45
Join Date: May 2002
Location: Austin, TX
Posts: 578
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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.
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.
10-14-2003, 08:37 AM
#9
Registered User
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: San Jose
Posts: 18
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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 
10-14-2003, 08:41 AM
#10
Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Queens, NYC
Posts: 2,136
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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...
my .02...
09-01-2004, 10:46 AM
#14
New Member
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Canada/USA
Posts: 676
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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.
09-05-2004, 08:43 PM
#16
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: North Coast
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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.
09-05-2004, 08:49 PM
#17
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: North Coast
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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.
03-09-2015, 01:18 PM
#18
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Bowling Green, Ky
Posts: 35
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
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.
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.
03-09-2015, 02:19 PM
#19
Registered User
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.
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.
The following users liked this post:
badchoicez350 (10-06-2020)
03-09-2015, 02:35 PM
#20
350Z-holic
iTrader: (16)
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Scottsdale/coyote drophouse
Posts: 8,213
Received 399 Likes
on
227 Posts
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.