Why does my backdated Carrera 3.2 weigh so much?
 

Based on what is (or I guess isn't) in my car, I would have expected it to weigh less, but it weighed in at 2650lbs.

Relevant info pertaining to weight:
1987 Carrera 3.2 Coupe with
No AC compressor, condenser, front blower, heater blower (the black ducting on the left in the engine compartment), or plumbing
SSI's
RS carpets including rear parcel shelf conversion
Reduced sound insulation
No back seats or belts
No electric mirrors
RS America door panels
No Center console
No automatic heat-backdated to cables for heater boxes
No radio or speakers
No fog lights
No rear bumper guards
Lightweight battery
Fiberglass duck tail

It does have:
Electric windows
Central locking
High back Recaro sport seats
Sunroof
Extinguisher
Side sill trims

Does that sound right? I would have guessed based on the above something about 200lbs lighter. Do I just suffer from delusions? What's left to lose some weight besides the seats, ditching the spare, plexiglas windows, and fiberglass/CF panels/bumpers?

TIA,

Derek

elec. motors & G-50 are heavy

lots of undercoating & sound proofing also

are the scales accurate?

gravity is a beeatch....Did you remember to fill your tires with helium? :D

go to a FG hood, probably minus 20 to 30 lbs.

Seats weigh a lot. Probably minus another 50lbs. with race buckets

Do you have the bumper shocks? those are heavy. Are your bumpers metal?

How much sound deadening did you remove?

Doug

Hmmm.

My 87 Carrera Targa weighs 2,460 lbs. with the gas tank nearly empty. It was 2,880 before I started pulling everything out of it.

I will try to list things that may be a factor:

I stripped EVERYTHING out of the interior, including the center console.

The tank for the windshield washer fluid was full and heavy before I deleted it.

I use an Odyssey PC680 battery that weighs 12.5lbs. And, my M&K muffler is quite a bit lighter than the stock muffler. My front trunk is stripped (no spare, No jack).

I do still have the stock bumper guards.

The wieght I have is from the alignment scale at TRE.

Mike

P.S. Maybe it's the 917 style shift knob I have?

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1204595227.jpg

this was on a WA state DOT scale btw.

tell me about it! they do put helium in tires sometimes but i should have done that huh?

yea, i imagine that those high back seats are heavy, especially since the long hood guys always complain about how heavy the low back recaro sport seats are.

the interior insulation is all dynamat now, on the rear firewall/seat area. the sound pad is gone from the engine compartment.

still have bumper shocks and impact bumpers.

http://www.stanford.edu/~dtscott/dtsporsche17.jpg

pix of the removed:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1204595565.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1204595598.jpg

Wow, TIA your interior is AWSOME. That is where I would like mine to be someday. Unfortunately, I have some very tired manual Sport seats and no carpeting as of yet.

Fuel weighs 6.15 lbs. per gallon.

Were the scales intended for measuring 2,000 lb cars or heavy freight trucks?

Mike

My '71 was updated to a turbo look in the 80s or early 90s. The wiring harness was converted to the latter. I have a box full of wiring that I removed. It weighed between 15 and 20 lbs. It had the old school computers for cruise control, remote locks and all kinds of superfluous stuff.

I removed as much as was possible, but to remain street-able.

I like the Miura project in your signature! The car sounds jinxed.

Doug

What's the stock weight rating for the car before you removed the excess baggage? You should have lost about 100 lbs at least from what you described. I know those flag mirrors weigh almost 4 lbs. each. I know because I just removed my passenger side mirror. (freaking little brick hanging off the doors!). Go weigh it again on a different scale.
By the weigh the interior looks great. Nice and tidy and minimalist...

That seems about right to me. You probably shed what, maybe 200 lbs with that list?

I have similar set up and about the same weight. I can't remember exactly my last corner balance weights but I was in the 26xx. I have light weight seat but also have a roll bar. Next for me is fiberglass rear bumpers and tail decklid. I hope to get under 2600 but it's going to be tough and still have a streetable car.

The factory aluminium bumpers and all the associated hardware ( mounts etc ) weigh a lot. Fibreglass bumpers will save you a lot of weight, and IMO this is the easiest way to significantly lighten an impact bumper car.

I would second that your seats probably weigh a lot too.

I weight in at 2396. I have stripped all mentioned here, all interior sound proofing was chipped off ( interior is bare metalplus sunroof panel tracks and motor 40+ lbs.( high up weight). Replaced with FG panel. That weight is with a full rollcage so I say something is off. I now have FG front and rear bumpers and FG hood to install. I'm hoping to get down below 2300. I remember seeing a few weight loss lists and will try to locate them.

thanks for the complements all. the scale is for all WA state vehicles, so it should have fine enough calibration to get a reasonably good number.

Ed Scuba that's interesting to me because that's really more where I had imagined ending up. Here's a link to Dane Burns' car to see how much it takes to get under 2300, though he still has a radio you'll note: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-cars-sale/310469-well-sorted-79-rgruppe-3-6l.html free plug too if he's still trying to sell it.
I'm going to keep the impact bumpers because I still park around idiots and the car gets used a fair amount. Plus I kind of like the look of it this way because it's essentially a dead-ringer for a 74 Carrera. Seats are worth considering, maybe some Nurburgring Seats, though they are a bit too early looking for what this car is supposed to be. No tilt back either...
Fiberglass front deck might eventually make the cut although I have a stigma that's tough to shake with that...it would look cool with a sticker crest instead of a cloisonne one...

btw the car had cruise control which is now gone

DOT-mandated door beam x 2 are not lightweight. Same with already-mentioned bumper shocks.

Full use of Dynamat is not lightweight.

WW tank in LF fender has large volume. Heavier if full of fluid.

Sherwood

I'm on the road and don't have my notes with me, so the following weights are from my memory:

There are fiberglass copies of the stock bumper blades. No impact protection but you can lose around 25 pounds total and still look stock. You can save a few pounds more by fabricating aluminum bumper mounts.

You can replace the windshield washer fluid tank with a small reservoir made for the intensive washer system.

I'd suggest replacing the seats with Recaro Pole Positions, if you don't need access to the back seat area. You'll lose 45-50 pounds, for the pair.

There are dozens of little things you can do to save a half pound or a pound here and there. Individually they don't do squat but if you do enough of them....

JR

I have a light weight ish Targa 83sc
Got lost of F/G parts. Bumpers, rsr wings, duck tail, bonnet, and stripped inside, Door braces(1.1/4" tube with plates)
Light weight sparco seats, harnes belts, replaced washer bottle under wing(fender) with a small bottle in the boot (trunk)
In the region of 1040kg(2290lbs) with spair wheel, tools and 1/4 tank

Paul

Impressive weight reducing results here.

I have a completely stock 85 Carrera with A/C that tilts the scale at 2660 with half a tank of gas.

hell im showroom stock and we weighed in with no tire/jack/no tools/full tank of sunoco race fuel and me in it at 2820#

me=230#

RUF front rear bumpers no shocks
no rear seats/belts
recaro race seats/harness'
fire suppression and fire ext.
no mats
no a/c belt!
setrab oil cooler lines/fender cooler/engine cooler=17qts oil+/-
windshield water bottle empty
carbon fiber doodads here and there.
GHL exhaust 2in/2 out,headers

i gave up trying to lighten it!

Big boy you are Charles!

I should have mentioned my 84 is Euro which I believe start off slightly lighter IE no door beams etc. I do have very light weight seats 2 Kirkeys.

Interesting about Dane Burns car. It's a give and take thing. My rollcage must weight at least 200lbs.( I never weight it.. DOH). So all his FG parts, nice interior and light weight battery makes up for that? I don't know weight diff. with his 3.6 VS my 3.2. So when I install my FG bumpers,hood and lite weight battery (saving 25lbs alone) I should reach my under 2300lbs. goal COOL.