any vert owners out there now some good ways to lighten a 88vert

 

one thing you could do is loose the spare tire.

 

yeah i thought about that, but i fear no good would come out of that because i use the car for fun and everyday driving so as soon as thats gone i will get a flat tire murphys law

 

lose the A/C and P/S maybe. Get lighter seats.

 

sound deadening material under carpet, emissions if you can and want to

 

yeah how driveable do you want it.

seats are about 35# so lighter seats help... You could remove all the insulation, but you will loose temp control and noise control.

You can strip all the plastic and carpet out of the trunk... that might get you another 10#

If you don't care about daily driver, you could remove the top all together and replace it with just a roll bar (for strength) that would shave at least 100#

 

scrap the spare/jack/tools and keep a can of fix-a-flat in the car for emergencies (its enough to drive on till u find a gas station etc...then will wipe cleanly out of the rim if it's new). Lighter seats will save a lotta weight as very seats are even heavier than some other FC seats (speakers in headrest etc...). 30 lbs is the avg. for each seat and some non-reclining recaro/corbeau/sparcos will weigh about 10-14 lbs each. Also, you can remove various heat shields under the car throughout the exhaust and a nice aftermarket system will probably weigh less than the stock stuff (especially a single exit, the Apexi N1 for example). A titanium would be the lightest (JIC,HKS) but they are $$$$$$ A/C is heavy as well, but I wouldn't ditch P/S as the car becomes difficult to drive and ruins the whole convertible experience (I think). A good crank pulley will drop a couple pounds also, it all adss up... You may be able to drop about 100 lbs which is a nice advantage...along with the standard upgrades (intake, full exhaust, flywheel) the car will drop weight & pick up significant power making the 'vert a much more fun car. Even different tires (lower profile size) will drop unsprung weight (the best kind to lose) but stiffer/lower springs would really need to follow as the car will look dopey keep the 'vert wheels, they are beautiful but very light...

 

would removing the sound deading material under the carpet remove that much weight and how loud will it be?

 

DO NOT remove any heat shields,they are there for a reason.

 

A convertible is for hauling people that think the convetible is fast.... it's not... remember MONSTER GARAGE... It's a disappointment to the RX-7 family.... It should just be named MAZDA CONVERTIBLE.... It's heavy and that's all its gonna be...

 

from someone that has never driven a 'vert apparently...

 

If you're going to replace the entire exhaust take the shields off...it's not worthy dropping the stock exhaust just to remove them but if u plan on replacing your system throw them out, they are really just dead weight - I've had mine out for years w/ no adverse effects. they dont weigh much but every little bit counts...the trick is to add everything up when you r done

 

BOOOOO!!! go cry somewhere else.....

 

Yeah monster garage. That was agreat example. Because we all know that hard top RX-7's are are screamers in the sand.

BTW If you want to know the TRUTH. A Vert wheighs 3045lbs. NOT 3800lbs. I don't know where they got that number. All you have to do is look at the weight in you door jamb and subtract 160lbs for each passenger.

So a vert wheighs about as much as a T2 with a big guy in the passenger seat.

So, you can do what I am doing and put a modded T2 drivetrain in your vert.

There is a guy here (derb22 on the forum) who has a 285RWHP vert. Just in case you where wondering, it's not slow.

Mike

 

verts are not slow.

 

I spoke with one of the dudes who was on the rx-7/ sandrail episode of monster garage and he told me that the rx7 was predestined to loose. Ratings boost is what it actually came down to.

 

i was never as mad as i was watching monster garage (those bastards) bastardize that vert, and then gatling gun it for 5 hours for loosing. i have since boycottede watching that show, may they all be gatling gunned themselves.

i love the vert

BTW, if no one tows their car, you can remove the 4 towing hoops/brackets. theyre pretty thick and heavy. that has to be a few #. i also banged out the entire spare tire bracket in the rear. that and all the metal assoaciated with it took out 45 #. i weighed all the metal when i was done. then i put the re amemiya front end on the car, and that simply elimanited EVERYTHING in the front. headlights, brackets, bumper support, EVERYTHING. i never weighed that ****, i was more excited about putting the bumper on, and god help me if i get into an accident--wait i did. all well, i bought another re amemiya front end $1700 a pop, but any way, you save a **** load of weight by putting that front end on. i took out all the stock atereo amps and that 20 something pound stock head unit, and replaced it with an aftermarket headunit, over 25 # during that conversion. granted i got 100# back when i put the subs in, but i can easily take all that out when i want to race, and its an instant 100# diet. it all helps, and if i can find a place, im going to weigh it see how well ive done.

heres a link

http://www.geocities.com/b_timberlake/90RX7.html

 

#@$%