how much does your FC weigh?
jeez after hearing all these weights im still the heaviest O_O. 2920lbs with everything stock a/c p/w etc.. im going to weigh it again on friday this time this would be my race weight considering im going to the track. ill update later on the week.
Junior Member
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 30
Likes: 0
From: Mid-MO
and my singled t2 is about 2650
I'm shooting for as light as I can go - reliably. I'd love to get those aluminum irons for my motor, but let's face it - they could be toast after 3 laps. It's a 90 with a full TII swap.
I've gutted almost everything that I can. AC, HVAC, stereo, front bumper support, carpet, panels, 1/3 of my dash. 8Lb flywheel.
Going to make brackets so I can take out my headlight motors. When I throw a cage in there then I'll ditch the belt motors. I need to chip out the sound deadening material all over everywhere. I'll ditch the rest of the dash + make some brackets for my gauges. Also going to take the time to cut out unused wires in the harnesses. I'll gut the doors when I have the cage too. Maybe go the step to get full lexan windows all around.
Shooting for 2400 lbs. Unfortunately, the motor blew. So that's top priority. I'll keep in touch with this thread though.
I've gutted almost everything that I can. AC, HVAC, stereo, front bumper support, carpet, panels, 1/3 of my dash. 8Lb flywheel.
Going to make brackets so I can take out my headlight motors. When I throw a cage in there then I'll ditch the belt motors. I need to chip out the sound deadening material all over everywhere. I'll ditch the rest of the dash + make some brackets for my gauges. Also going to take the time to cut out unused wires in the harnesses. I'll gut the doors when I have the cage too. Maybe go the step to get full lexan windows all around.
Shooting for 2400 lbs. Unfortunately, the motor blew. So that's top priority. I'll keep in touch with this thread though.
i removed all the emissions, all a/c (under hood), all p/s, cuz control, i weighed it all at 85lbs
my fd wheel and tire are 3lbs lighter each than the turboII wheel and tire. add the radio and speakers and that puts you 100lbs lighter. that's all i have done so far
my fd wheel and tire are 3lbs lighter each than the turboII wheel and tire. add the radio and speakers and that puts you 100lbs lighter. that's all i have done so far
Full Member
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 67
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From: Oregon
My 88 vert is about 2850 with 1/4 tank of gas.
AC delete
Air pump delete
other misc interior pieces that I didn't think i'd miss
RB header + presilencer (this was about 14 pounds lighter than what it replaced)
Couple questions:
1) Is the stock curb weight rating from the factory with a full tank of gas?
2) I'd like to get a better cat back... I want something that isn't much louder than the RB dual system but is as light as possible and gives good power gains. Any suggestions?
AC delete
Air pump delete
other misc interior pieces that I didn't think i'd miss
RB header + presilencer (this was about 14 pounds lighter than what it replaced)
Couple questions:
1) Is the stock curb weight rating from the factory with a full tank of gas?
2) I'd like to get a better cat back... I want something that isn't much louder than the RB dual system but is as light as possible and gives good power gains. Any suggestions?
Weight
I have a 86 SE with a 4 TII 4 port motor, no emissions, no A/C, everything under the hood hoses vacuuming etc all completely removed nothing in the hatch area no plastic carpet or anything else. Essentially my car is 2 seats a dash and the shifter and I weighed my car in at 2380lb on the truck scale this year.
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Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 5,164
Likes: 167
From: Japanabama
There is ALL SORTS of **** you can get rid of on a car if you don't care about comfort and noise.
The body/race shop I hang out with builds EG6 Civic race cars into the 750 kilo range. That's 1650 pounds by the way...
One of the biggest things is glass. It is very heavy by volume and doesn't do much. The second thing is the exhaust, although depending no the car it can be the biggest single part weight loss. Mandrel bends and straighter designs save a lot of weight... The third is doors. Ungutted doors are surprisingly very heavy compared to gutted ones The fourth is the hood (for the money, fiberglass is plenty light) and front fenders (get a slight overfender while you're at it).
That's just what costs money...
For free you can remove sound deadening from under the carpet and undercoat on the bottom of the car (don't forget to paint it afterwards...).
After you remove the interior you can start cutting bits off the body off that don't do anything, like the speaker towers in the back.
Even if you keep the stock dash there is a ton of stuff behind it (like tar), air conditioning, heater, speakers, wiring...
If you are making a race car, depending on your class you can remove the dash and make a simple replacement dash that's just a few pieces of carbon fiber with holes cut for gauges and switches.
On the engine, obviously the emissions is one (illegal) mod you can do, but the mod that saves the most weight is switching to carburetors. The upper intake manifold on the FC is a damn boat motor, and carbs will give you more peak horsepower anyway. Obviously you can't do that on a turbo.
You can (and should) remove the sunroof and weld it shut with steel. Because sunroofs are lame and only good for taking away precious headroom anyway. That's another 20-30 pounds (probably).
On a race car switching to a fuel cell saves many, many pounds but puts you out of a lot of classes. You also loose a lot of weight removing wiring hanrneses you don't need and only using minimal wiring (it also looks cleaner).
A bucket seat and fixed mounts saves a ton of weight, and an aftermarket race wheel saves a few pounds.
There's also piles and piles of bits of plastic and rubber that can be removed, and it all adds up, but most of it is worth keeping on a street car.
Obviously power steering and A/C gone saves a lot of weight.
Wheels and tires is another big saving, and also improve handling. Of course, a set of Rays costs more than most FCs...
Coilovers may or may not be lighter than the stock suspension, depending on materials and brand (cheap ones probably weigh more). More importantly, a lowered CoG is effectively the same thing as a lowered weight (to a point).
Of course, to really get a car down to that weight you have to strip it bare and then put only what you need back on. So it's more labor intensive than cash intensive.
I think some big brake kits are also very light.
On the other hand, if you go *****-nilly with chassis reinforcment, adding braces and welds and a huge roll cage you will end up sometimes adding more weight than you removed.
That said, if you partially drill out the spot you add welds do, you effectively are making the car stiffer without adding much weight. If you don't do spot welds anywhere else, the doors, windows, and windshield are a good place to do it. Again, veeery labor intensive...
The body/race shop I hang out with builds EG6 Civic race cars into the 750 kilo range. That's 1650 pounds by the way...
One of the biggest things is glass. It is very heavy by volume and doesn't do much. The second thing is the exhaust, although depending no the car it can be the biggest single part weight loss. Mandrel bends and straighter designs save a lot of weight... The third is doors. Ungutted doors are surprisingly very heavy compared to gutted ones The fourth is the hood (for the money, fiberglass is plenty light) and front fenders (get a slight overfender while you're at it).
That's just what costs money...
For free you can remove sound deadening from under the carpet and undercoat on the bottom of the car (don't forget to paint it afterwards...).
After you remove the interior you can start cutting bits off the body off that don't do anything, like the speaker towers in the back.
Even if you keep the stock dash there is a ton of stuff behind it (like tar), air conditioning, heater, speakers, wiring...
If you are making a race car, depending on your class you can remove the dash and make a simple replacement dash that's just a few pieces of carbon fiber with holes cut for gauges and switches.
On the engine, obviously the emissions is one (illegal) mod you can do, but the mod that saves the most weight is switching to carburetors. The upper intake manifold on the FC is a damn boat motor, and carbs will give you more peak horsepower anyway. Obviously you can't do that on a turbo.
You can (and should) remove the sunroof and weld it shut with steel. Because sunroofs are lame and only good for taking away precious headroom anyway. That's another 20-30 pounds (probably).
On a race car switching to a fuel cell saves many, many pounds but puts you out of a lot of classes. You also loose a lot of weight removing wiring hanrneses you don't need and only using minimal wiring (it also looks cleaner).
A bucket seat and fixed mounts saves a ton of weight, and an aftermarket race wheel saves a few pounds.
There's also piles and piles of bits of plastic and rubber that can be removed, and it all adds up, but most of it is worth keeping on a street car.
Obviously power steering and A/C gone saves a lot of weight.
Wheels and tires is another big saving, and also improve handling. Of course, a set of Rays costs more than most FCs...
Coilovers may or may not be lighter than the stock suspension, depending on materials and brand (cheap ones probably weigh more). More importantly, a lowered CoG is effectively the same thing as a lowered weight (to a point).
Of course, to really get a car down to that weight you have to strip it bare and then put only what you need back on. So it's more labor intensive than cash intensive.
I think some big brake kits are also very light.
On the other hand, if you go *****-nilly with chassis reinforcment, adding braces and welds and a huge roll cage you will end up sometimes adding more weight than you removed.
That said, if you partially drill out the spot you add welds do, you effectively are making the car stiffer without adding much weight. If you don't do spot welds anywhere else, the doors, windows, and windshield are a good place to do it. Again, veeery labor intensive...
One of the biggest things is glass. It is very heavy by volume and doesn't do much. The second thing is the exhaust, although depending no the car it can be the biggest single part weight loss. Mandrel bends and straighter designs save a lot of weight... The third is doors. Ungutted doors are surprisingly very heavy compared to gutted ones The fourth is the hood (for the money, fiberglass is plenty light) and front fenders (get a slight overfender while you're at it).
1. Glass is not number one. The side windows are pretty light (I have no exact weight yet), and even the rear hatch glass with frame is ~41lbs. There is some weight to be saved in the hatch, but there is no commercial replacement.
2. Exhaust...yup. Plenty of weight there...should be number 1.
3. Doors...yup. I saved 97lbs total for both doors. https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generati...-doors-952650/
4. There is a misconception that the hood and fenders are heavy...TII hood weighs in at ~21lbs, and the fenders weigh in at a mere ~8.5lbs each. I plan on cutting out some of the supports in the hood, but I doubt I will save another 5lbs off of it...and as for fenders, I dont see how fiberglass fenders could be worth the money...even if the fiberglass fenders weighed 3lbs each, thats only a 10lb savings.
My STS-legal GTUs autocross car weighed 2455 with about 1/4 tank fuel. It had a full interior and all the stock body panels. Since it was a GTUs it had the four pot brakes, no sunroof and no rear wiper.
Mods were: 8lb battery moved to the passenger's bin, Koni-based coilovers with 2.5" springs, full-length single-exit 3" exhaust with two catalytic converters and two mufflers behind a rotaryshack header, 11lb Keizer wheels, no air conditioning, 25lb race seats on sliders, lighter steering wheel, and some other small mods.
Car had all stock emissions controls intact.
Mods were: 8lb battery moved to the passenger's bin, Koni-based coilovers with 2.5" springs, full-length single-exit 3" exhaust with two catalytic converters and two mufflers behind a rotaryshack header, 11lb Keizer wheels, no air conditioning, 25lb race seats on sliders, lighter steering wheel, and some other small mods.
Car had all stock emissions controls intact.
Lets rock.
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,355
Likes: 0
From: SLC, Utah
My stock '89 auto weighed in at 2960lbs when I first got it. I did a 5-speed conversion, pulled the A/C components, and replaced the factory exhaust with a straight piped single. I weighed it again and it was at 2610lbs.
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 25,581
Likes: 136
From: Smiths Falls.(near Ottawa!.Mapquest IT!)
I screwed up though and had the dash out and didn't take the "gadget" inside..
put the dash back in..(dammit!)
Lives on the Forum
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 5,164
Likes: 167
From: Japanabama
Although I agree with you on some parts, there are some things here that are not on the top of the list to remove or replace with lighter components:
1. Glass is not number one. The side windows are pretty light (I have no exact weight yet), and even the rear hatch glass with frame is ~41lbs. There is some weight to be saved in the hatch, but there is no commercial replacement.
2. Exhaust...yup. Plenty of weight there...should be number 1.
3. Doors...yup. I saved 97lbs total for both doors. https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generati...-doors-952650/
4. There is a misconception that the hood and fenders are heavy...TII hood weighs in at ~21lbs, and the fenders weigh in at a mere ~8.5lbs each. I plan on cutting out some of the supports in the hood, but I doubt I will save another 5lbs off of it...and as for fenders, I dont see how fiberglass fenders could be worth the money...even if the fiberglass fenders weighed 3lbs each, thats only a 10lb savings.
1. Glass is not number one. The side windows are pretty light (I have no exact weight yet), and even the rear hatch glass with frame is ~41lbs. There is some weight to be saved in the hatch, but there is no commercial replacement.
2. Exhaust...yup. Plenty of weight there...should be number 1.
3. Doors...yup. I saved 97lbs total for both doors. https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generati...-doors-952650/
4. There is a misconception that the hood and fenders are heavy...TII hood weighs in at ~21lbs, and the fenders weigh in at a mere ~8.5lbs each. I plan on cutting out some of the supports in the hood, but I doubt I will save another 5lbs off of it...and as for fenders, I dont see how fiberglass fenders could be worth the money...even if the fiberglass fenders weighed 3lbs each, thats only a 10lb savings.
Also, in most cases ounces are what make the difference in the long run, so any time you can still take pounds off for a couple hundred dollars is still a big deal as long as you have a budget for it.
Ya,seriously,I took the AC crap off as soon as I got the N/A I am working on.
I screwed up though and had the dash out and didn't take the "gadget" inside..
put the dash back in..(dammit!)
You can easily get the AC evaporator out from under the dash with the dash in the car.
When I did my AC delete I initially used a section of reinforced fabric hose between the heater core and fan using the stock clamps. It worked fine except water that entered the system through the fresh air duct at the base of the windshield would drip through the cloth duct fabric.
I had to make sure if I parked the car outside the vent controls were set to recycle.
Later I searched the FC parts schematics and found and ordered from Mazda the actual plastic AC delete duct as well as the firewall plugs.
I screwed up though and had the dash out and didn't take the "gadget" inside..
put the dash back in..(dammit!)
You can easily get the AC evaporator out from under the dash with the dash in the car.
When I did my AC delete I initially used a section of reinforced fabric hose between the heater core and fan using the stock clamps. It worked fine except water that entered the system through the fresh air duct at the base of the windshield would drip through the cloth duct fabric.
I had to make sure if I parked the car outside the vent controls were set to recycle.
Later I searched the FC parts schematics and found and ordered from Mazda the actual plastic AC delete duct as well as the firewall plugs.
Haven't corner weighed my RX-8 yet, but here is the rest of my Mazda fleet.
--------------
'87 RX-7 TII 400hp, emissions stripped, full interior with base conversion, AC removal, blah blah blah
With full 16.6 gallons of gas *100lbs* and me in it *200lbs*
LF=772lbs RF=660lbs
Total weight=2909lbs
LR=766lbs RR=713lbs
Left=52.6%
Rear=50.8%
RF/LR=49.2% (corner weighted 50/50 w/out driver since always have passengers)
Right=47.4%
-------------------------------
'93 RX-7 R1 stock interior, spare removed, big wheels/tires
With full 20 gallons of gas *140lbs* and me in it *200lbs*
LF=803lbs RF=731lbs
Total weight=2950lbs
LR=743lbs RR=672lbs
Left=52.4%
Rear=48%
RF/LR=50% (not as fun as TII- no passengers)
Right=47.6%
----------------------------------------------
'08 Mazda3 base 2l stock on stock FD wheels
With full 14.5 gallons of gas *87lbs* and me in it *200lbs*
LF=930lbs RF=873lbs
Total weight=2937lbs
LR=580lbs RR=556lbs
Left=51.4%
Rear=38%
RF/LR=49.5% (good work Mazda)
Right=48.6%
--------------
'87 RX-7 TII 400hp, emissions stripped, full interior with base conversion, AC removal, blah blah blah
With full 16.6 gallons of gas *100lbs* and me in it *200lbs*
LF=772lbs RF=660lbs
Total weight=2909lbs
LR=766lbs RR=713lbs
Left=52.6%
Rear=50.8%
RF/LR=49.2% (corner weighted 50/50 w/out driver since always have passengers)
Right=47.4%
-------------------------------
'93 RX-7 R1 stock interior, spare removed, big wheels/tires
With full 20 gallons of gas *140lbs* and me in it *200lbs*
LF=803lbs RF=731lbs
Total weight=2950lbs
LR=743lbs RR=672lbs
Left=52.4%
Rear=48%
RF/LR=50% (not as fun as TII- no passengers)
Right=47.6%
----------------------------------------------
'08 Mazda3 base 2l stock on stock FD wheels
With full 14.5 gallons of gas *87lbs* and me in it *200lbs*
LF=930lbs RF=873lbs
Total weight=2937lbs
LR=580lbs RR=556lbs
Left=51.4%
Rear=38%
RF/LR=49.5% (good work Mazda)
Right=48.6%
