I did a search, nothing really. What is the best way to lighten your car. I cant think of anything because removing the back seat is out of the question. Anything DIY? Any inexpensive ways? The easiest way to get a faster 1/4 time is to lighten the car. Thats just what I heard. Any suggestion?
Sstyle

light weight bumper beems about $120. from subaruparts.com
CF hood 15lbs, aluminum trunk lid also 15lbs. then take out every thing else out of the car. oh and if you don't care about your safty that much you could take out the steel beems from under the dash. that should save you about 14lbs. Keep your stock rims, they are lighter than most after market ones.

Lightweight bumper reinforcements are >50 lb (some say 70 lb) weight savings, but I've heard that some insurance companies don't like it because they're "for off-road use only". There are also some lightweight batteries on the market that some people are using (ex. DynaBatt) which will save 20 or 30 lbs. These are the cheapest weight-savings mods I can think of. Lightweight Flywheels and underdrive pulleys also help with weight AND drivetrain efficiency.

you can get rid of your spare tire

The aluminum trunklid only saves 1 pound, and has like 15 holes in it for the ver 5 wing

The bumper beams are @78lbs as measured on a scale.
Light weight flywheel, Crank pulley, Racing seat (as light as 5 lbs) , Strip the interior down to nothing but the dash, ditch the AC and power steering, strip the trunk, the weight in the glove box, the weights in the front cross member, Lexan glass all around, ditch fog lights (5lbs), Drill holes in the floor in your trunk and floor board, come on we could go for days here.... :p Hope some of this helps you.

I have removed about 100lbs from my 2000RS and I can tell you that it made a noticable difference. Weight reduction is the best modification that you can make to your car. You get better acceleration, better brakes, better suspension, better gas mileage, etc. It helps ALL of the systems on your car...

The spare tire, jack, and associated parts I weighed total 32.5 lbs.
The bumper beams are a good way to reduce weight, but they are there to make the car pass 5mph impact with minimal damage. If you don't have them (or something a lot weaker) your car will be more seriously damaged, costing your insurance company more to fix. They don't like that. ;)

Nice Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V subarumantoo...:)

Aluminum control arms, light weight bumper beams, carbon fiber doors, 22B style kit from stever (they are also carbon fiber and probably weigh less than the steel fenders), light wheels (don't know how much the stock wheels weigh), remove spare tire, remove air bags, remove all seats, and put in one light driver's seat, lexan glass, remove rear spoiler, remove air conditioning, remove radio, remove carpet as well as the sound deadening, remove speakers, light weight flywheel and pulley. While you're at it, you might want to switch hoods with an L for better aerodymaics.

Do you have the recent SCC? Read the article about the VW, that guy did some serious weight savings. :eek:

MPREZYA,
Homer Simpson: "They're speed holes." :D

I heard somewhere that removing sound dentening foam saves about 70lbs. Some honda owner told me that?
Sstyle

hey once again you all are forgetting the most important wieght loss...lightened wheels rotating mass reduction is better than normal mass reduction...some engineer will bring up the equation to prove I'm right

all that...and go on a diet.:D

Lighter suspension and brakes should make a big difference. Also, remove all the carpeting and what's under it. Remove muffler and midpipe if you want to get crazy, but just for short amount of time. You might be slower with the loss of backpressure though.

I believe the aluminum control arms save no weight. They're just stiffer, that's all.

Since you mentioned that removing the rear seat is out of the question, I imagine that this is your daily driver, which limits your options for lightening. My suggestions would be to remove the spare tire, the jack and tools. Get a lightweight battery, remove the counterweight from the glovebox, maybe get some racing seats.

Keep in mind, however, that a general rule of thumb is for every 100lbs you remove from the car, you only gain 1/10th in the 1/4mile. IMO, it's not worth the trouble beyond getting the junk out of the trunk unless it is track-only car.

Originally posted by wcbjr
Nice Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V subarumantoo...:)

What does that mean?

subarumantoo: cut and paste

what is the glove box weight that some of you speak of????

there is a plate inside the glove box to make it close more solid supposedly 3-5 lbs. then there is a damping plate under the front cross member.

If you don't care for your safety, then take out the steel side impact beams.

Also, the beam under the rear seat.

Lighten the fly wheel.

Run with only enough gas in the tank to make the run and get back to the pits, maybe a little more. Do you have any idea how much 16 gals of gas weighs?:D

Ok I removed the metal weight inside the glove box last might and I tell you what I like they way the glove box closes now, oh I also weighed the piece and was exaclty 3 lbs. Now about this dampening plate under the front cross member. What part is it and how do you remove it.

Actually, I weighed it on a postal scale, and it came to four pounds. The stock 2001 wheels wheigh 16 pounds! Leave them.
Kevin

Evertime I have ever heard of some one using a postal scale that it adds like 1-3 pounds or so. that way they can charge you more, but I weighed mine on a digital scale gauretted to be accurate + or - .25 pounds. But like its a big deal now about that crossmenmber thing?

Took out the metal plate under the dash on my WRX...hope I don't wreck.

move battery to back of car, old drag racer trick, helps weight transfer

The lighter battery, flywheel, pulleys, seats and wheels all make sense, but several people have said that the stock wheels are very light. Are there not reasonably priced wheels that are lighter?

Nobody's said lightened racing seats. Good mod.

No, there are not really any reasonably priced wheels that are lighter. Superleggeras are 15lbs. stock MY00 and 01 are 16lbs. Superleggeras are $230-280. Besides those, once you start going into that weight group, wheels start getting very expensive, like $500+ for alot of them. For instance a P1 weighs about 21lbs. and I think Supertourismos and many wheels out there weigh in around 25lbs. Then there are the light wheels that will shatter when you run over a squirrel. The stocks are very strong and reasonably light.