Good one hehe. Other than that being a lil over the top, for someone who actually uses the accessories, it's kinda pointless, since the power locks, functional windows, speakers, etc all make up a good percentage of the weight of the door.

 

That's why I'm removing most of that stuff and going with Lexan windows!

 

glass_man, you do a group buy on the doors and im in...and where are you gettin lexan side windows? i want those too :-)

 

I have to ask...

I'm as big a fan of weight savings as anyone, and I've removed everything on my car that wasn't absolutely necessary, but I draw the line at certain things, like the ABS, the heater, or gutting the interior. I recognize that my car will be a street car, not a race car, and I'm not about to make it rattle or leak for 40-50 lbs. of weight savings when I could just make 40-50 more horsepower instead. Damian is excluded, because he has a track-only car (lucky bastard that he is), but I truly hope the rest of you know exactly what you're getting yourselves into.

Does anyone know what the potential downsides of buying these parts are? Maybe your cars are already noisy enough that you don't care if they get noisier. It does seem like the hatch might be a well made piece if it allows you to keep the interior trim. Lexan windows can be polished or replaced when they get scratched, but it will be one more thing to worry about, and they won't insulate against road noise like glass does. And finally, if your car isn't just a fair weather track car like Damian's, you might be concerned about how parts fit that are intended to keep water out of the interior. Have any of you asked or even thought about these questions?

Just curious.

 

The car has rattled and leaked since the day I've owned it! Even before I started modifying it. My car is very close to becoming a track only car. It will spend most of it's time at the Glen, a few auto crosses and the occasional drag. I can only hope to get my car as light as Resource.

 

The Helium in Eric's head helps, I hear...

 

I don't want to gut my 7 either but the VIS hatch with stock glass removes weight without many negatives. There aren't very many places on the 7 that ~40lbs can be removed without losing function or comfort. Someone earlier in the thread had installed the VIS hatch with no reports of leaks or noise and minimal installation effort. It's not like doing a motor swap that adds weight or installing all new bushings that add vibration and noise . Adding horsepower won't help the handling, breaking, reliability, and gas mileage like weight reduction does.

Also the stock hatch rattling/squeaking is one of the common problems with 3G 7s. Mine sits slightly crooked and out of alignment to fix the problem.

I do find it kind of ironic that you're the one asking these questions. However, you do make some good points. There is possible fitment problems with any composite body panel. I would also like to hear how the glass is removed from the stock hatch and fitted in the new hatch. What to do about the hatch shocks being too strong hasn't been solved either. Hopefully these are the biggest problems to deal with.

 

Hey Jim

You ask good and important questions, which is why I'm going to be using the stock glass on the hatch. I need defrost, and I need the window to weigh down the hatch a bit...don't need it rattling all over the place. Also, I've heard of people having problems w/ the lexan glass seal not being waterproof. Plus my spoiler's a bit heavier than stock to the point that the stock hatch shocks aren't powerful enough to hold up the hatch as is right now. So hopefully, w/ the CF hatch, stock glass, and my spoiler, it should work out pretty nicely.

Oh and while I don't plan on making my car a track car ONLY, I don't do much street driving w/ it as it is anyways. Once a week if I'm lucky...minus summer.

The only hitch I haven't figured out 100% yet is how I'm gonna fasten/reinforce the spoiler into the hatch, so it won't rip right out... (I'm going back and forth between Tim's and Pettit's methods)

 

Good to hear. I didn't see a report on noise or sealing.

 

good points in your post above jim, i want to make sure everyone knows that I do all this crazy sh_t to my track car for function. I would never put half this stuff on my street car.

 

i would think another concern woud just be safty, As far as how much changing ot these light weight parts would effect impact ratings and what not.

 

That's what the cage is for!

 

You're a small guy, huh? I couldn't fit in Crispy's FD w/ the Kirk roll BAR...

 

5'9" or so. I'm having a custom bar put in and removing the rear bins.

 

i just talked to simon, looks like they wil only take a money order for the purchase.
shipping was $150, so total was $529...does that sound right to you guys?

 

Simon hasn't called me back yet, but if that's the case I may just balk. I don't have the time to get out and get a freaking money order out!

 

Only take money orders? What the hell is that about? Granted I'm not in on the group buy now even though I would have if Simon would have been there Friday to take the order. They do know that with X-mas right around the corner that people will tend to pay with the credit card for large purchases and not want to actually have an outflow of cash for a more or less splurge on their car.

Is that the only payment option with all their orders or just our group buy?

Tim

 

i dunno, im guessing with the lower price for the hatch they want to eliminate the percent that visa takes for a credit card charge....they get all the $$ with a money order.

 

Thank people like AARotary and jkisineffect for that. Credit card fraud has made a lot of vendors change their policies, especially when people can dispute the charges after receiving the product. It's a little harder to say you didn't purposely get a money order to purchase something...

Damian is also right that they probably don't want to have to pay the credit card fees too after cutting their profit margin in a bulk deal.

 

Damian, did Simon call you or did you have to call him? Did he give you the details where to send the money order to? Man the wife's freaking birthday and Christmas are coming up!

 

good points, but I'm sure most would have like to know that when they placed their order with Simon, hell maybe he did with some since I didn't through to him. Looks like David didn't know about the MO thing and he did order through Simon.

Tim

 

hmm, interesting, ur right, i dunno whats up then?

 

i called him to check up on it since i didint hear anything on my order. he did give me the addy to send the MO.

 

Money orders are cheap at the Post Office.

 

double post!