Ok, i have looked around and could only find stuff liek GUT it, remove all interior, carpet, this that the other etc... I want to lose as much weight as possible BUT i want th einterior to look stock. Any ideas? On one of my old cars that had a frame instead "subframes" i took off all the interior panels and hacked away most of the metal, then put the panels back on. I assume this would be ahorrible idea on an RX7?
I am doing a 5.0HO swap and will be pushing over 400WHP so it isnt completely necesary for me to gut the hell out of the car but i figure lose as much as possible while keeping the stock look. I did remove everything that isnt needed on the engine itself, and got some lightweight components for it too. Also removed all the A/C (even from behind the dash) and will be removing the sound deadener and such too. I am going to keep power steering though...


ANY IDEAS?

 

spare tire, jack, radio, speakers...

other than that if you want to keep it looking stock and you are already removing the sound deadening and the AC then thats about it. I really wouldnt recommend cutting out metal from the frame or subframe, you are going to want as strong a chassis as possible to handle the power and for better cornering.

 

not to mention a strong chassis incase you get into a collision god forbid

 

well, that kinda sucks. That will only drop like 50lbs or so...
IF i where to gut it, that would only ditch like what another 50-100 pounds? I guess rather than drop weight ill just add HP. only problem is that the 5.0ho block can only handle about 500HP, i do have a main girdle which is said to make it handle over 600HP but i dont think i wanna push my luck that bad. My goal is to have a high 10 to low 11 second car.

I have no clue what an RX7 weighs, but using one of those calculators, i put in 2900# and it says i would need 500HP just to break the low 11's. IIRC dont you lose like 15% of your HP before it hits the ground?

 

a stripped S4 weighs less than 2400 lbs.

And racing beat did a stripped S4 convertible that only weighed 2200 lbs

 

Don't bother with the sound deadening.

Is removing a couple of pounds from a 2700lb car really worth the constant extra noise\heat?

The FC is a lightweight car, there's not much you can remove.

 

didnt know they where that light. thought they where a lot closer to 3000lbs.
I did remove about 50# from the engine (5.0) not to mention all the A/C stuff. Radio and speakers is less than 10# so i think ill hang onto those for now...

Guess ill just be happy with what i have for now.

 

the 5.0 block can handle more than 500hp..... theres a guy in my town who's pushing 750 on a t88 on his with just heads. stock valve train and cams too .. . the 500hp limit is just an extremely safe number for reliability..... 750 is almost the ultimate limit on a stock block.

as far as the calculator is concerned.... its a best guess.... there are several ppl here with less than 500 who breaking 11's.

you also have to consider the gearing on your drive train that also helps with times

 

and driver skill

 

Im not sure how familiar you are with small block fords, but the 302 block has a NASTY habit of splitting straight down the middle at about 375-400whp. Without spending the money on a rather expensive aftermarket block you wont be pushing 400+whp for long. Not to rain on your parade.

If you can swap engines, and peripherals, quickly though you can use the replaceable engine theory. Break an engine.... replace it with a $100 junkyard block. But you WILL break that engine at over 400hp. The girdle doesn't seem to help much.


BC

 

I'm not going ot argue with you, but everything I have read and seen in forums and real life suggests that the 5.0L block cant handle 500 crank hp for very long at all. SBC, sure any day. SBF... not a 302. A 350W will take damn near whatever you throw at it, but the 302 literally splits right down the middle.


BC

 

V8 threads belong in the other engines section or general automotive section and do not belong in the 2nd gen RX-7 technical section. Any further V8 posting about reliability or any other crap will shut down this thread.

 

The weight that you can drop from your car is directly proportional the weight of your wallet

 

My goal was similar to yours: I wanted to lose as much weight as possible while keeping the car stock-looking and street legal. It's an '86 sport (s4 n/a) with no sunroof and manual everything (steering, windows, locks, etc.) so it was good to begin with. Further improvements include:

-A/C removal
-Spare tire, jack, big rubber mat removal
-Cruise control removal
-Cold start assist removal
-Windshield washer system removal
-Miata battery
-Aluminum hood
-RB aluminum flywheel
-BBS rims from vert model
-Aftermarket exhaust
-I went on a diet, j/k

This is not my daily driver so these are no-compromise items. The interior is almost completely stock, which I like. But if I didn't care, then interior removal and/or lightweight seat(s) would help. I need to put it on a scale sometime but I estimate it's between 2400-2500 lbs.

If I didn't care about the car being street legal (maybe you don't):

-Remove emissions (cat, air pump, etc.)
-Lightweight aluminum bumpers (like these: https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=592545)
-Lexan hatch


Good luck with everything!