Weight Reduction

[aspera]

Be careful. I got rid of the bracket that's by the oil fill tube, and now have a chewed up throttle cable. I think that it happened in a drive-thru car wash when I turned on the defrost. I need to replace it sometime, but it still works fine.

I guess this is still on topic if I mention that I got rid of some extra weight by unknowingly removing the cable shielding. ~

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[ellisnc]

hey, I thought I'd bring this back to life since I have some results to report...

The car as of yesterday is down to just under 2830 pounds with a quarter tank of gas, no rear seat and no driver. I corner balanced it and checked the weight while it was on the scales. The rear seat is just under 30 lbs.

It's very fun to drive


I can list the weight reductions and mods if you want.

aspera,

I still didn't take the stuff out of the rear doors like you told me to. Or the injector covers, or trunk torsion bars, or the things in the rear subframe. Gotta save some for a rainy day :

[ZERO26D]

Yeah list what you have done to your car I am trying to do the same thing.

[subarud]

ellis~

Could not only post the list of your weight reduction mods but maybe some photos too? I am anxious to see what your car looks like. Don't you have some RC2's with 235 rubber? I would appreciate some interior/exterior shots and hopefully some engine bay shots (I would love to see under the hood without all the A/C crap and battery and windshield washer tank gone- Must have a pretty open space!)

Thanks
Evan

[ellisnc]

I'll post pictures soon enough...

Need to get the car washed up first though... it's been sitting in the garage all weekend. It looks very badass though with the A032R's

whiterabbit (David) and I have a plan to post new pics in the same thread since our cars are kind of cousins.

here's the list... maybe it's almost the same as others I may have posted.

Godspeed down and up-pipe
JDM JIC 505 Ti
Blitz DBSC Spec R
Recaro Pole Position seats w/ wedge brackets and recaro sliders
Fluidyne radiator - maybe weight gain
JDM HID projector headlights - yes the black chrome ones - weight gain - I swap in the stockers for track use
JDM front bumper beam
17x8 RC2 with 235/40 A032R
JIC FLT-A2 (first one in the country )
Cusco stabi bars - weight gain
Cusco strut bars - weight gain
Cusco Type 2 under brace - weight gain
Aluminum front control arms - weight gain
Greddy shift knob - weight gain
S202/Spec C steering wheel - no cable reel - special homemade horn adapter
STi foglight covers
remove passenger airbag
remove radio, all speakers - use Honda block off plate
remove all A/C equipment, including evaporator and condenser
remove metal plates under steering column and assistant glovebox
remove washer bottle
remove intake snorkel
remove cruise
remove door handle supports
gut the trunk
remove seat rear seatback supports
remove rear seatbelts
remove rear seatbelt braces under the rear seat
remove hood padding
add small battery
remove bracketry under the IP - anything you can get your hands on
remove boost control solenoid cover bracket and cover
remove all heat shielding except from the manifolds
remove all unneeded switches and replace with blanks
remove rear muffler heat shield

I think that's everything, or close to it - if you have any specific questions I'll do my best to answer.

This week I've got STi rear lateral and trailing links coming

If I keep the car instead of getting an STi there will be significant changes...

Things I'd like to do if I keep it are:

Brembo F40 kit
ARC intercooler
ARC intake box
STi hood scoop and Zero Sports splitter
at least STi mission and drivetrain, possibly 2 liter engine.
Revlab steering rack
Autopower rollbar
Cusco vented hood
painted Monster sport trunk lid

Acid dip the car and seamweld it - haha, maybe someday

The diffs are the only thing that really stink on the car now and I won't address them until the 5-speed is gone some way or another.

Or I could get an STi

[bemani]

How come you don't take out the DRL diode & control unit?

What is removed when you say remove door handle support?

[ellisnc]

I did, just didn't post it

if you take the door panels off, there are metal brackets where the interior grab handles are... no need!

[bemani]

Originally posted by ellisnc


if you take the door panels off, there are metal brackets where the interior grab handles are... no need!

How much weight is removed? I'm just weighting the benefit of this since taking the door panel off seem like a lot of work.

[aspera]

I don't remember if I already typed this, but I removed all four grab handles above the doors. Anytime you remove four of anything you are saving some weight.

[bemani]

There's also the center sun visor + ash tray(+ rail).

If I switch the sun visors for ones without vanity mirror, how much lighter would they be? (okay, now we're getting ridiculous )

[aspera]

Good point about the ash tray and it's rail. There's also a little light bulb in there.

EDIT: this is ridiculous http://www.imp.mc/rocwebsite/newpictures/CrashKings.jpg

[ellisnc]

Originally posted by aspera

EDIT: this is ridiculous http://www.imp.mc/rocwebsite/newpictures/CrashKings.jpg

what the hell does that have to do with anything?

I've had enough weight reduction for now

Someday when I get bored and ambitious I'll start taking other crap off like you guys are suggesting. I think I could get the car down to somewhere in the neighborhood of 2750 just by taking more stuff off the car and 2700 might be attainable with headers and a few other tricks like the carbon trunk and swapping out the rear glass when the STi gets here. Of course the car would be more unstreetable than it is now, not that that means much anyway at this point

Maybe one day I'll take everything in the interior out and weigh the car just for fun, but I doubt it will be soon. Acid dipping would get rid of all the tar and undercoating on the car now which is probably worth around 30 pounds I'm guessing.

[ellisnc]

Originally posted by bemani


How much weight is removed? I'm just weighting the benefit of this since taking the door panel off seem like a lot of work.

you can take the speakers out while you're in there

[aspera]

If you go really hardcore (and had a rollcage with side bars) you could saw out the inner door and remove the beams and window junk. The doors have lots of heavy stuff in them, but most of it is important for a road car. The tweeters and their brackets can be removed if you replace the front speakers with ones that have built-in tweeters. There's also a guy on the board somewhere that sells boxes to mount speakers in the footwell.

[aspera]

Originally posted by ellisnc



what the hell does that have to do with anything?

I was just showing what something that was really ridiculous looks like.

"okay, now we're getting ridiculous"

[QAboy]

don't flame me if i'm wrong, but i bel;ieve that there's a ~150lb u-shaped impact peice under the front of the car. it's for the 45 mph offset crash. mine will probably come out soon. my feeling is that if pre 02 subies didn't have it . . . well i thinkn you see where i'm going with it.

--eric

[ellisnc]

Originally posted by QAboy
don't flame me if i'm wrong, but i bel;ieve that there's a ~150lb u-shaped impact peice under the front of the car. it's for the 45 mph offset crash. mine will probably come out soon. my feeling is that if pre 02 subies didn't have it . . . well i thinkn you see where i'm going with it.

--eric

I've had it off before when I replaced the front control arms... it weighs maybe 30 pounds. Trust me it's not that heavy.

Also I believe from what I've seen that the radiator supports attach to this part. There must be a couple threads floating around here since I think someone posted the underside of the S202 in another weight reduction thread. In that thread I discuss what is probably needed to remove the front subframe. I think you'd need another part to bolt on under the very front to support the radiator.

btw, I posted pics in the member's gallery for those who want to see what the engine and interior look like now.

[aspera]

I finally got around to removing all of the rear seat stuff. I figured hey, when was the last time anybody rode back there?

Anyway, I pulled a ton of junk out of there including the big gray bar. That sucker is heav-vy.

Here's the deal. Does anybody have proof that it stiffens the chassis? It appears to just be a side impact beam to protect passengers and (maybe) the fuel tank. I have a hard time buying the idea that it is only a brace because it mounts to a place where there is plenty of steel. I looked under the car and it didn't really line up with obvious hard points.

[ellisnc]

actually when I took mine out it felt a little bit more flexible back there so I put it back in. It would be nice to lose the weight but like someone pointed out in my other thread you have to start taking stuff off the front end of the car sometime as well. Fortunately I've been able to maintain about the same weight distribution as stock 60/40

did you take all the seatbelts out too??? The shoulder belts weigh a TON.

[aspera]

All of the seatbelt hardware is in my living room (getting pretty messy).

I am to the point now where I can admit that I have full blown "grams disease"...hehehe. After reading Grassroots Motorsports' new article on weight reduction, I attacked the '91 Jeep Cherokee that I got handed-down from my Dad. I removed all of the carpet (which revealed a rusty hole in the floorboard for Fred Flintstone braking), seats, headliner, trailer hitch, spare tire, etc. It became quickly obvious how much better my Subaru is made when yanking all of this stuff.

Odds and Ends:
*The Jeep is partially metric, I think.
*It uses a dozen assorted screws where a Subaru would use a couple of bolts (all the same kind) and some plastic rivits.
*It uses Torx bolts for the seatblets. I assume this is done so they can never be removed, EVER.
*If had a time machine, I'd go back in time Terminator-style and slap the dude who decided to plug up all of the drain holes with metal plugs. They are metal (pro-rust), and stop the water from draining. Was this Jeep designed before rubber plugs were invented or am I taking crazy pills?

[ellisnc]

haha, yeah I know how the living rooms gets when you're ripping parts out of the car

the rear belts are pretty heavy eh?

actually dude I found something else you could probably dump yesterday. The rear lower seat cushion has the two metal retaining brackets bolted to the floor on either side of the car. If no one is riding in the rear you can probably take those off and still get the cushion to stay in place.... Probably around a pound each.

oh yeah!!

[ellisnc]

Originally posted by aspera
If you go really hardcore (and had a rollcage with side bars) you could saw out the inner door and remove the beams and window junk.

actually I was looking in Option the other day and saw an Altezza that had this done

The inner panels were cut out of the doors and also on the sides where the doors meet with the sills he had taken a hole saw to them and cut about 6 holes up the side of each door now that's devotion

speed holes

[aspera]

http://www.subaru.net/cpd/events/200.../1/pages/k.htm


Lookie what I found. Even the PROs do it. Havir's car even keeps power windows!!

[aspera] looking around for a drill

One of the pictures shows plywood jammed down into the door so you don't drill ALL the way through.

[aspera]

http://www.subaru.net/cpd/events/200.../1/pages/l.htm

[music playing in the background]
"Murder by Numbers" by the Police

[ellisnc]

WOOT

THIS IS THE BEST THREAD EVAR!!