dawicka2

^^^^Diamond tucked seats and door panels........... http://minitruckin.automotive.com/29...photos2-0.html

john ny

87 t-66

iTrader: (133)

dash looks pretty good. the door panels....not so much.

Hypertek

iTrader: (3)

hey Bounter that looks pretty good. Did the shop do that or did you?

SPDRACER

We get a lot of dashes flocked in race cars we build. Stops glare from the sun blinding you when it bounces off the dash.

iani1.1

iTrader: (13)

wow that looks really nice. might do this in the future

Bounter

iani1.1

iTrader: (13)

oh wow i really like

driftfcbuckey

iTrader: (8)

it looks like that spray on bed liner ****, but if its velvet, or whatever, then i guess not.

alot of 240 guys do it. looks cool, but i bet it weighs a ****-ton...

drftwerks

iTrader: (1)

hahah no where near bed liner ****.

does not weigh a ton.

RRTEC

iTrader: (13)

Wow, I hated it when I first saw it.. but it has grown on me a lot. I mean that would be a great way to hide a nasty dash...

You guys crack me up complaining about weight.. So funny. Unless you are on a PRO-circut and are driving a fully weight reduced and reinforced car, the small weight reduction is basically pointless. Gutting 200lbs worth of heat sheilds, floor tar, interior/Ac, PS..ect... Such a waste.

Seriously.. I have been autocrossing for 10 years, I roast all these "stripped" cars around the course in a fully stock interiored, running A/C Miata all the time..

backalleyracer

iTrader: (5)

I kinda feel the same way, I believe improving your driving will create a lot faster time than losing the weight off of your car

Tofuman FC3S

iTrader: (1)

Who cares how it looks? It's there for a reason... Doing for looks would be rice, right?

You are obviusly a very good driver, not so much a good competition/sports car-builder. Image how fast you could be in a well prepped car with the right balance and weight on each corner.

You love you're factory Miata, but the fact that Mazda engineers spend time on removing a just a couple grams of the weight of the Miatas mirror, seems stupid to you.

Riz.

OutCold

Hey Bounter are you registered @ Mazda-ogn? If not u should, i like your "creative" spirit, good going

RRTEC

iTrader: (13)

1- the only purpose that dash covering provides is reduced glare.. OR looks..

2- My comment was based on the TYPICAL users gutting the interior to "go faster"... I have been around the racing scene for a long while, and have driven some VERY well prepped cars, When set-up properly weight makes a difference (as long as it is counter balanced at all 4 corners)

Pulling out the rear bins, relocating the battery, and smacking the sound deading tar with a hammer won't shave seconds off your time. Taking a good drivers education class, a good set of track tires, and time behind the wheel will make the difference. THere is a guy that races out with us at the local SCCA events in a 4 door ford taurus SHO with 4 passengers that has achieved the FTD..

A little bit of poly-plastic shavings glued to a dashboard is un-noticeable.

Manufacturers DO NOT shave GRAMS off mirrors to reduce weight, but to save money. When you are running Hundreds of THOUSANDS of mirrors imagine the cost savings of a few grams of Poly material off each mirror. If you think they do it for weight savings you are misguided (i worked in manufacturing for several years, they make parts as thin and inexpensive as they can to save MONEY not track times...)

ElitetunerzRx7

the definition of rice (aside from a food product lol) is a car built around looks. if youve got the hp torque or driving to back it up then having a good looking car shouldnt be a so called ricer. I wouldnt put thousands into a car that looked like ****. if you put altezzas on a stock civic and a wing etc. and have nothing to back it up thats rice.

ElitetunerzRx7

ps. haha and as for the dash its really growing on me considering doing it. probably holds up alot better than fiberglassing and a little less showoff looking haha. =)

ElitetunerzRx7

that first pic is a civic eg not an evo.. if thats what you meant i mean. =)

Mr.FC3s

This does happen to be an EVO

Havoc

Bounter looks good from far away, can you take a pic from closer up
how long did it take to do ?

kenny senter

its not a material at all but rather its a spray on fiber, its called "flocking".

Tofuman FC3S

iTrader: (1)

It looks like the OR option would apply to most people here.

Well I absolutely agree that improving the driver is the easiest way to improve lap times. I myself wouldn't concidder me a good driver, and I hope to improve over time. But even I can see that a stock '91 TII is to heavy, and handles pretty crappy stock. Atleast compaired to the different track cars I have driven. Other sports cars are usualy to heavy aswell, exept for some extremes. Also Lotus seems to get the idea, however; even a Lotus Exige could be 50 to 100 Kgs lighter by removing unneccecairy weight. Back to the FC's handling... This has to do with 80's suspension design, worn parts, crappy tires AND the heavy weight! 1300 KGs, come on, it's supposed to be a sports car. So if I were to improve the handling of my car, I would certainly upgrade the suspension, and tires. But I would also try to get a couple of unneccecairy (for me) KGs out. In the end, weight saving is one of my favorite ways to improve a car.

May I suggest you talk to Lotus, Noble, Donkervoort, and maybe even Porsche and Ferrari. Yes, the last 2 still make lightweight sportscars or versions every now and then. Oh, and while you're at it: Talk to Mazda about their latest Miata, where they had to save weight everywhere so the new Miata with new luxuary wouldn't be heavier then the old one.

Choose: Ford GT40 or Ford GT which weight twice as much as the GT40... I can guess wich one would be faster around the track, even though it's 40 years older.

Notice the "Right?" part of my question. I'm not the one who calls everything rice on these forums. I don't care what people do to their own car, and wether it's just for looks. I'm getting pissed of when I read someone asking about removing the their rear wiper, or maybe converting to single front wiper, and that being called rice. Just because ignorant people call everthing that isn't getting a bigger turbo rice. There are many people who rather have a bit more unsprung weight by having bigger rims, so their tires are flatter, and deform less. If I were to convert my taillights to LED, how would that be rice? Main reason would be safety because they light up quicker, and they draw less form the altenator, making them ever so slighly a power upgrade. They could also be designed to be more leight weight, and they don't look bad. But I guess that's rice... 10 out of 10 people on this forum shout: "Needs to be lowered!" without ever thinking for more then 10 minutes about our cars suspension geometry, in the next post they call people ricers.

Sorry for this rant, it's just frustration building up over this (almost) past year. I hope they will make cheap Chinese altezzas for our cars soon, cause it will make many of RX-7 owners happy. And that's what it's all about. Who cares if people think/feel/say it's rice.

I have to say one thing before I go: One of my best friends is a ricer-boy, and I have never seen someone who loves his car more then he does. I still pick on him tho... ;-)

Riz.

RRTEC

iTrader: (13)

I agree with most everything you said. It is a stretch to compare a mass produced entry level sports car (80's-early 90's Rx-7's) to cars such as the Lotus, ferrari, porsche, ect.... They are not even close to the same class of manufacturing or engineering.

I am not debating that PROPER weight reduction when done in an educated manner is a good thing, but for street, and occasional track use.. very silly.

I had a fully road race prepped 1991 FC3S chassis weight reduced and balanced on all 4 corners that still sported full interior and A/C.... It was done by a race prep shop prior to my ownership of the car. They cut large sections of non structural chassis out and reinforced it.. I think for the weekend racer, suspension mods (including bushings, anti-sway package, good shock/spring combo, and tires with appropriately sized/offset wheels can really make a difference.)

A cheap set of race tires shave 5 seconds of my lap times vs sport street tires.

Tofuman FC3S

iTrader: (1)

Nope, that's where we come in and invest alot of time and money to get them in the same class... Ever driven a stock Lambo or something on the track? Not so impressive if you ask me.

I agree. Maybe I'm just to hardcore. I don't need all that luxuary on a street-legal track car. I like the F40 and such cars because they were real cars with only the absolute neccecairy equipment tomake them road legal. I don't have to daily my FC, I wouldn't even need it street leagl if it weren't for the Nordschleife. So I don't need more luxuary then a F40, or any car with the same built mentality.

Nice, any pics of that? Our Euro FC's have these useless rear seats, which realy makes no sense keeping in. It's not like you could ectualy use them. My AE92 is a 4-door but in all the time I have owned it, only like 3 times the rear seat was used for seating people.

Riz.

RRTEC

iTrader: (13)

Here are a few.

Tofuman FC3S

iTrader: (1)

Very clean FC!