runamok

I understand the basics of bolt-on upgrades. I was wondering what the most cost efficient ways of lightening the Z are.

The car has a ton of plastic but I don't want to mess with the cosmetics.

I removed the spare tire. I could probably remove the jack too and get AAA.

I was thinking a Titanium exhaust would save 40lbs. and give better power too. Any models that do both well?

I have heard of Gel batteries. Are they a significant weight savings and cost effective?

What 17" rims would be the lightest/ bang for the buck

Are racing seats much lighter? They would also probably cost more than a grand though..

I guess pulleys would also save some weight.

I think focusing on rotating mass, ie. wheels and pulleys might be the most cost effective.

Ok, what do you think?

Finally, what kind of 0-60 times are you all running?

Thanks, Runamok

92hatchattack

ahhh -- yes -- ive been waiting for this post to come about -- yes -- of course rotational weight is a killer -- and reducing it without a doubt put down more whp....

but --- there is always unnessasary added weight on a car -- probaly at least 100 pounds of it -- id love for people to start chiming in on some ideas for weight reduction that do not have to sacrafice any look or function( like ac/ps ) --- im sure theres weight in ther --- lets find it!!!!!

350zdanny

1) Stereo removal - i'm personally against that one though.

2) Sound Deadening material under the carpet and the carpet in my opinion, but that's cosmetic.

3) All the trunk pieces - who cares if it looks cosmetically nice back there.

4) Battery - Dry cell is cheap enough and light.

5) JIC Ti Exhaust (19 lbs and cheapest Ti on market)

6) Titanium Y-Pipe

7) Airbags

8) UR Pulleys

9) Flywheel

I'm not really big on rims so I'm not sure what you could do there. But those Porsche ceramic brakes sure are nice I'm not really sure about my 0-60 time. Probably somewhere in the mid to low 5's.

mcclaskz

My Z lost 38lbs. going from stock Performance wheels to 18" TE37s: 8.5, w/ 245/40 fronts & 9.5 w/275/40 rear with Toyo T1s. I think when I researched wheels/tires that the Toyos and Kumho MXs were lighter than the S0-3s and the Pilot Sports. Of course losing 38lbs. cost me $3k, weight loss gets expensive... I also got the UR pulleys on, there's another ~10lbs. I just lost 30lbs. on the Atkins diet, so that's almost 80lbs lighter than stock!

D68enny

Get rid of the spare, jack, and the surrounding plastic in the hatch. Get a flowmaster muffler that people talk about on here. I purchased and had mine installed $160.00. The weight of the flowmaster muffler is 12.5 pounds, and the weight of the stock muffler is almost double that. I can weight it later for a true reading. The last thing would be some light weight wheels. The 17 inch Konig sub zeros are very light and very cheap, but i don't know if the make a wheel that will fit the Z. I had these on my RSX, and each wheel and tire weighed 26 pounds. That would be one of the cheapest routes to loose weight on the Z without loosing your functional pieces.

350zdanny

The weight of the flowmaster is not 12.5 lbs. The JIC is full titanium N1 sytle and it is about that weight. The stock setup is something like 60 lbs, so maybe your flowmaster is like 35? Does it have dual tips or is it single tip?

Zrated

The stock exhaust actually weighs a tad over 70lbs. A Ti exhaust is a huge weight savings. I would like to eventually get a Ti system, but I am waiting to see what else comes out and how pricing goes.

I think someone had posted that the spare, jack, tools, and spare mat was 35+ lbs.

Thats about 90lbs right there. Not too bad!

I would remove all plastic, cardboard, sound deadening, and carpet from the door panals back, BUT only if someone would make a nice light CF cover that would hide everything.

Any CF craftsmen interested in trying this?

zland

Hmm, interesting approach but i do not want a car stripped. I am going the easy route, just add a Turbo or SC and have it all.

D68enny

QUOTE: The weight of the flowmaster is not 12.5 lbs. The JIC is full titanium N1 sytle and it is about that weight. The stock setup is something like 60 lbs, so maybe your flowmaster is like 35? Does it have dual tips or is it single tip?


I am talking just about the muffler weighing 12.5 pounds without the tips on it. Not any of the exhaust pipe. I also weighed the original muffler and it weighed 26 pounds without the tips on it. You are right that the whole JIC setup from the CAT back weighs like 12.5 pounds, but I am just talking about the muffler and none of the pipe. So for like $160 I lost about 13 pounds, and also got a nice deep tone from the flowmaster muffler.

350zdanny

Yeah, I get you now. I thought that might be what you were talking about right after I posted. That is a pretty considerable gain. Are you going to replace the whole setup later with a full cat back, or are you happy with the flowmaster muffler?

dan

D68enny

Truthfully I think this is the best bang for the buck. It sounds great, but it is not stainless steel. I sometimes wonder what actually gives horsepower gains on aftermarket exhausts. Is it more the less restrictive muffler, or does the the piping have a lot to do with it. I think it is just a less restrictive muffler.

When my muffler was first installed I also had the resonator removed. Big mistake. It sounded like crap, and I felt like I lost power. It may have been I just did not like the noise when I put my foot in the throttle, and it put me in a bad mood hearing my car sound like a Civic or something with a bee's in a can muffler. I had my resonator put back on. I had RSX type-s that I also just put a less restrictive stainless steel muffler on for like $100 all together, and it sounded just like a $800 dollar exhaust. I am sure there is some performance gains, but I am not sure how much. If money was a little easier to come buy I would put a full cat back exhaust on, but if I see a nice resonable axle back stainless steel exhaust by a reputable company I will check that out just becasue it is stainless steel.

Pedal Pusher

Remove rear wiper and motor. There are grommets for the hole.

D68enny

Tell more about the grommets for the rear window wiper. I was going to do this on my RSX, but I got rid of it for the Z. Do you know any part numbers for the grommet? On the RSX the wiper and motor weighed in at around 35 pounds.

dwnshift

iTrader: (1)

Our race car is at 2900 lbs.........with roll cage....empty on gas.
It wasnt easy getting it there either.

ranger5oh

The thing is, weight reduction gives a better feeling for the road than just adding a turbo. Power increases make you accelerate faster, but that is all. Weight reduction plays a role in every aspect of your car. Braking, brake wear, clutch wear, acceleration, cornering, suspension and ride .... etc.. the list is reeeeely long.

Anyone weight a CF hood compared to the stock aluminum? Also, look into lightweight aluminum radiators, save some weight and increase your "cool" factor. Underdrive pulleys wont really save a noticeable weight savings, but supposedly they will reduce the parasite effect from your accesories. You could also remove stock water and fuel pump and replace with electric, saves weight.

Pedal Pusher

I went to an old local auto parts store and we found a grommet that fit. It was in a box of grommets, therefore, no part number. Sorry.

D'oh

That's true, but on the other hand, it's quite a bit easier to add HP than it is to reduce weight. Let say that you could save 400 lbs in weight (probably would require completely stripping interior, A/C, radio, rear wiper, glass, etc). That gives us 2800 lbs/ 287 hp = 9.75 lb/hp. If we stay with the 3200 lb weight, actually, lets add 100 lbs for turbo or S/C or whatever we have 3300 lbs / 350 hp (estimated) = 9.42 lb/hp.

So, for a pretty modest FI setup we can get better lb/hp than a completely stripped car with a stock motor. I think that's the reason most people consider going with more power. Simply because it's much more feasible than trying to save weight, even though the weight savings pays off in every area of performance.

-D'oh!

Zrated

How bout we shave the weight and add FI

TheBigShow

iTrader: (2)

if u just add power to the car, u won't screw up your factory weight ratio though.

Zrated

Actually FI may add 100lbs to the front of your car, thats not so good for weight ratio.

I figure..Bolt on the FI, and do what ever lightening tricks your going to do, maybe put a battery box in the back. Then get some good coilovers and spend some time corner weighting.