onikageka

Hey everyone. I plan to get a 3rd gen RX7 soon. But I wanted to know if you can drop about 300 pounds of weight out of the car. Here's a list of what I plan to do to the car to reduce weight and increase agility and performance:

Replace seats
Change rims w/ tires
Remove airbags and change steering wheel
Upgrade brakes
Carbon Fiber hood
Turbo and exhaust upgrades (nothing too serious)


What else can I do? I want to keep the spare tire and the stereo and AC. Anything else I can get rid of? Thanks.

SPOautos

Your probably not going to shed any weight changing the wheels on the 3rd gen. They are very light from the factory.....actually the entire car is really light. If you do a intake and full exhaust your weight about 2600lbs

STEPHEN

c00lduke

even a carbon fiber hood will dot loose that must weight. IT really all depends on what you want the car for but you can strip the whole int. and dash and take out the AC, PS, and AP get a lighter PPF. I've also seen light rear hatchs, check those out. Nothing you do by its self is really going to drop that much weight just a big list of things will get you to you goals. And why just 300 lbs?

M.Piedlourde

You do realize that the RX-7 is much, MUCH lighter than anything comparable, don't you? Mazda already did as much as they possibly could to keep the weight low on this car. I would think that any additional weight savings efforts would start to compromise safety.

Take a look at these figures from Carpoint. All figures were taken for the '93 model year, or '94 if '93 wasn't available:

Nissan 300ZX TT = 3532 lbs.
Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 = 3803 lbs.
Toyota Supra TT = 3475 lbs.

Mazda RX-7 = 2789 lbs.

The RX-7 weighs less than the nearest competitor by almost 700 pounds! I could understand you wanting to lose some weight if you're driving around in a fat-*** 3000GT, but the RX-7 is already pretty damn svelte!

rynberg

the stock seats are actually pretty damn light, racing seats will be lighter but less comfortable

As SpoAutos said, you will have a very tough time making the wheels+tires lighter. There are probably less than 5 wheels made that are lighter than stock (16x8 size) and are roadworthy.

airbags will save you some weight

If you upgrade the brakes, you will be lucky to MAINTAIN the same weight on each side

A carbon fiber hood will only save a few lbs as the stock aluminum hood only weighs about 20 lbs to begin with

Replacing the exhaust from the turbos back will be your biggest weight savings. Depending on the aftermarket parts you select, you can probably drop 70 lbs.

Also, intercooler and radiator upgrades will INCREASE the weight.

I think you need to learn more about 3rd gens, because most everything is already as light as it can get from the factory. In fact, we bitch about several parts of the car that are flimsy for this reason. Mazda spent incredible amounts of engineering time to make the car as light as possible.

apneablue

Take out the spare tire and jack and get AAA

rfreeman27

iTrader: (5)

That bose sterio crap was like 10 lbs. I took that crap out and i am in the process of making a custom mat to compensate for the new space, because the factory replacement was like $310

RonKMiller

I don't think 300 lbs. is possible unless you gut the entire car, and even then I doubt it. The precat and stock exhuast are heavy ******.

Frankly, you will not find a better horsepower to weight ratio in ANY production car except maybe for a Ferrari F40. And I really don't consider that a production car.

Leave the freakin' airbag in place......

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

My FD weighed right in at 2700 pounds with the mods in sig and half a tank of gas. Next I'm going to pull out the a/c and p/s....

LT1-7

air bag sensors
ABS unit
convert to manual steering
headlight kit
cruise control
single turbo upgrade
Power brakes- if you're up to the task
AC
exchange fuel tank with a fuel cell
CF driveshaft
Lightened flywheel


Those are just some of the things I've done to my FD.

onikageka

Ok here's my plan and why I want to drop 300lbs. I'm a Toyota man. So I'm getting a Supra when I have the income to afford building a 650hp monster. But I used to drive a 2000 Celica GTS and I miss having a very light (2500lbs) sportscar. I know the FD can generate just as much HP as the Supra and all that but I want the RX7 as a light nimble get around car. The Supra will be my cruiser car with the power to eat Vipers and the like.

I've never driven an FD but I've rode in one a long time ago. I like the rotary engine despite it's tendency to destroy itself. So I figure a modest 300 to 350 HP RX7 with fast spooling turbos would satisfy my desire for a car like the 2000 GTS. It was light, quick, and very responsive.

rynberg

You don't have to drop 300 lbs from an FD to equal the responsiveness of a Celica GTS. In case you didn't know, the FD was and still is one of the best handling cars in the world. The only cars with better turn-in are mid-engined.

Try driving even a stock FD and see how crisp it handles before you start on your weight reduction plan. You might be surprised. Assuming that you're not driving an 80k mile FD with all original suspension parts.....

mjw

iTrader: (1)

I agree with Rynberg 100%... go drive an FD and then make your decision. I have driven a Celica GTS before, no comparison.. the FD is in a different league.

GoodfellaFD3S

iTrader: (213)

Rynberg seems to be right an awful lot .

I'm thinkin' that that pesky fwd might make the celica perform a bit......less......when compared to an FD.

turbojeff

iTrader: (30)

2600lbs with just an intake and exhaust? No.

Losing 300lbs will be hard, not impossible. Like others said, a 2800lb FD will be WAY more responsive than a 2500lb GTS.

You can lose some weight, might as well start off with a Base or R1 instead of a Touring. The sunroof alone weighs another ~30lbs.

Light flywheel, saves ~10lbs
Remove spare and Jack ~25-30lbs
Cruise ~5lbs
Airbag and sensors ~10lbs
Exhaust ~30lbs

Carbon fiber hood probably won't save anything, weights for the hood don't include hinges. I've heard people say that including hinges it is 1lb lighter.

The FD is such an awesome machine the way it is. It just kills me to see people "lighten them" and pretty much turn them into a shitty looking POS by taking out stuff that is really functional on a street car.

Jeff

c00lduke

i dunno man, if you want something that compares to the celica gts you might wanna look at the new civic si HB, now with that being as light as it is, it has to be a great handling sports car.

jk, drive a good running FD first then come back as tell us that the GTS has better handling

r0t0r-rooter

Go on an extensive diet.

stran6781

There are a few things you could do:

Replace the seats(not much unless you get something like Sparco Pista seats)

Strip the interior(Don't think you want to do that)

Take out spare tire.

Use lighter rims(Fikse are about 17lbs each)

Lightened rotors(Pain in the @$$ if you want to rebuild your engine)

Take out air conditioning(Another option you might not want to do)

rerx7

Well to shade off some weight in a RX7 significately is very hard as the factory stuff are already very light. Mine is the base model so it is lighter to begin with. I like PS and ABS, so those weren't on my list, but I have done these: dp, mp, cat-back, remove air pump, removed all the sound prove, plastics from behind the seats, changed steering wheel and ****. I will be removing more and replacing most with CF.
Well I haven't driven a 2000 celica before so I don't know but I would think HOW CAN YOU COMPARE A CELICA WITH A FD!!!!! The FD should be compared with NSX about weight/power ratio. The Supra doesn't even come close not to mention it is butt ugly.

mightyslash

What do you mean the Supra doesnt even come close? If I remember correctly Supras power/weight ratio is no less than FDs. And no, they're not butt ugly.

onikageka

Supras have a better power to weight ratio than RX7's and every magazine review I've ever seen says the Supra is faster on a track than an RX7 too. The Supra will be my Supercar. The RX7 will be my light weight nimble little fun sportscar.

I'm not saying the FD isn't a great car. But I like the Supra better. And I wasn't comparing the FD and the GTS Celica. I was saying I want to make sure an FD will be as agile and nimble as the Celica.

Mr rx-7 tt

iTrader: (5)

Uhh, Yes Steven is correct.
My brothers R-1 with an exhaust, intake weighs 2620 with 6 gallons of gas.....Mine weighs 50 lbs less..

RXcetera

A Mk4 Supra Turbo has a BETTER power to weight ratio than an FD.

FD: 2800lbs/255hp= 11 lbs per 1 hp (every 1 hp has to move 11 lbs)

Supra: 3450lbs/320hp= 10.8 lbs per 1 hp

P'cola FD

I work at a toyota dealership, and have drivien the **** out of many celicas. The FD is WAY more nimble, responsive, and better at everything (except gas mileage) than the celicas. If you get an fd, you may like it so much that you forget about supras all together. Then again, if you can afford going from a celica, to an rx7 and a supra, then you must be doing something right (or is it something wrong ).

RXcetera

Add 500lbs of sand bags in the hatch of an FD and it'll still be MORE agile and nimble than your old Celica.