I know there have been several threads about reducing weight in the 350Z, but my question is a little more specific. What things can we do to reduce weight in the car and remain BSP legal? I read the 2006 rule book, and I could not find any particular mention of accepted removal of things to reduce weight. I have heard many people say how much the top cars weigh at nationals, so somebody help me out by letting me know what I can remove from the car and remain class legal. I am planning on getting the car setup and ready for Nationals next year during the off season.

Also, feel free to disect my parts list in my signiture if you see anything that is not class legal.

Thanks,
Vince

 

The quick easy things are pull the AC, race seats, light flywheel, remove cats and replace your battery with a small one. Those items can add up to as much as 100lbs depending on the car.

btw your radiator is not SP legal. Also if you cut a hole in the bumper for your CAI that is not legal. You can run those parts in SM2.

 

Crap! Didn't even think about the radiator not being legal. Guess I am gonna have to find a stock one this winter Is that really all I can do to save weight?

 

Wheels of course, the stockers are heavy and weak compared to a good forged set. Suspension components if you can find lighter ones. My other car lost a bunch of weight when I installed coilovers, because the old struts were steel and the coilovers were aluminum. A titanium exhaust would be legal, and lighter than stainless pipes. Worth looking into, anyway.

 

For the most part a serious SP car will not save much if any weight on wheels and tires over a stock class car. When you go to SP you will no doubt put on the biggest wheel and tire combo that will fit, at best if you go with very light stuff it will weigh about the same as the stock small stuff.

In SP you wont save much weight on suspension. On exhaust removing the cats and maybe a nice header will save a little.

 

So basically I can not remove any interior panels or anything that would get me sub 3000lbs? I have seen several people around here run in BS with all the interior panels removed from the rear hatch, is that not legal?

 

Thanks for the advise. I might look into replacing the Nismo with a titanium exhaust for some more weight savings. I already have 17x9" Enkei RPF1's which weigh in at about 15.9lbs each, so I don't see saving much if any more weight with wheels. If I could save some more weight with the wheels, I am sure it would not be worth the $ I would have to spend to save an additional pound.

 

Single .035" wall stainless exhaust with not cats or muffler saves 42 lbs.
Wheels and tires, even after upgrading to 285/30-18s on 10.5" wide wheels, saves 55 lbs.
Race driver's seat and child go-kart passenger seat saves 28 lbs.
Removal of all AC components saves 20 lbs (?)
Smaller battery saves 12 lbs (?).
Aluminum body shocks with 2.25" OD coil overs saves 15 lbs. (?).
Hollow CroMo tubular ARBs with aluminum pillow blocks and end links saves 10 lbs. (?).
Aluminum flywheel and 4.5" OD DD clutch saves 18 lbs. (?)

Right off the top of my head it looks like you can pull 200 lbs out of the car without resorting to update/backdate. A fully prepared SP car is typically 10 to 15% lighter then a comparable Stock category car.

 

Not legal in Stock or SP.

 

i am the king of lightened cars!!


lightweight battery will save you about 30 pounds, stock is about 40 and little racing on weighs 11 pounds.

airbags are actually heavy as well as the stock steering wheel. you could easily save 40 pounds with both of them taken out.

i dont have powersteering which all weighed around 40 pounds

you can cut down 10 pounds a rim of unsprung weight with no issues,

my tanabe lightweight single full exhaust weighs 18 pounds, stock is around 60 pounds, i forget but i weighed it....

factory seats weigh, 49 driver and 47 passenger, you can cut down 30 pounds out of this combo with racing seats (not CF seats, even more with those)

a great way of weight savings is to take and gut the car, then put back what needs to be in there, nissan LOVES to use 18 brackets for one thing, a lot of these can be taken out along with a lot of steel mounting brackets under the dash

i have had all the plastic gutted out from the front seats back, believe it or not it all adds up to a lot of weight.

remove all horns, windsheild wiper and weight in trunk, all window washing components, bumper reinforcements (if you are crazy like me) etc

i had my Z weighing 2780 daily driving weight with both seats in and the cab looked stock....

good luck and hope i help out some people, my car weighs 2920 koyo and greddy tt kit....

 

All of the above are not legal in SCCA Solo2 Street Prepared.

 

Crap! Looks like you can't do much of anything to lighten the Z.

 

yeah, they are pretty strict for sure

 

Anybody know stock weight of the OEM seat?

 

As stated above...

 

Hey Audible, what seats did you use and with what brackets? My concern with aftermarket seats is not being able to move the seat back and forth and clipping it to the factory locations for a secure fit. What was your experience?

 

That is something to keep in mind that most people forget about... You think hey sweet I am going to save 30 lbs because this seat only weighs 15 lbs but forgot the brackets. I helped a buddy build an ESP Mustang and the bracket/slider combo for the drivers seat weighed as much as the race seat.

 

Yes, that is a very good point. You need to get custom-lightweight brackets, because most aftermarket brackets weigh more than the seats themselves.

 

Most racers I know run either the Sparco/Cobra aluminum fixed brackets or the Toyota universal sliders as pictured here:

http://www.subesports.com/products/c...bra/prodID/676

 

The battery, exhaust, and seats add up to quite a bit. Losing weight in those areas doesn't affect the overall balance of the car much, either. A lot of the Z's weight comes from structural components that stiffen the car, too. When I compare it with my Neon (my main autocross car) the suspension components and overall structure is much more heavy duty in the Z. It's designed with plenty of room to grow in terms of grip and power. The weight is a disadvantage on the autocross, but the car shines on the track where huge tires and stiffness add up to a stable, predictable platform.