where do I start dropping weight on this thing

wacky73t · 10:54 PM

73 911t 2.4
whats the quickest way to shave off weight on older models without spending too much money.

82SC · 02-04-2002, 04:05 PM

take out A/C if you have it
take out heating if you have it
take out radio
take out your clock
RS door panels
robotek has light wieght door latchs
take out shocks for hood and trunk
take out latches, use the rubber latch
take out sound insulation (engine pad)
take out rear deckshelf and sound insulation under that
take out rear seatbelts
take out carpet use lightwieght RS carpet
take out your center console if you have one
take out rear seats
take out fresh blower motor and ducting
lightweight battery
hollow torsion tubes
take out your window washer apparatus
replace seats with lightweight seats
fiber or carbon for bumpers, hood, doors, fenders, rear decklid
I heard glass is a huge weight...replace with thinner or lexan

take out your ashtray...put nitogen in your wheels instead of regular air...

anymore guys???

DonNewton · DonNewton's Garage

I've found that the biggest bang for the buck is for the driver to lose a few pounds, and for the driver to attend a really good driving school! All that stuff mentioned is great, but really, nitorgen is used because its more stable than "air" and doesn't grow a much with heating (less water content).

GeorgeM · GeorgeM's Garage

Don,

As long as you don't have to drag that oversized US Navy nitrogen cart around to the track with you....

pwd72s · 02-05-2002, 08:26 AM

undercoating is heavy.

DonNewton · DonNewton's Garage

George,
I thought you were off flying those things that go boom! Nice to hear from you. . .the most important question is if you'll be attending any PCA Potomac events this year? Of course, if your squadron is heading towards points east, the answer is NO!

cstreit · cstreit's Garage

Skip the doule bean burrito the night before... Saves time, keeps the cabin cooler...

Here's my car's interior... Extreme lightening in progress.
So far down to about 1800-$1850 pounds without fuel..

cstreit · cstreit's Garage

Oops, here they are. These are in progress shots... Wiring and dash have been cleaned up. Floorboards replaced with drilled aluminum from GT-racing (not lighter, but much cleaner.)

cstreit · cstreit's Garage

...and the front

widebody911 · widebody911's Garage

Over the past few months I've done some stuff to lighten my car, or so I *thought*. I weighed it a couple months ago: with 1/2 tank of gas, spare, tools, helmet, etc still in it was 2680. I weighed it Sunday, now that I have SRD's instead of the stock leather seats, a lighter tail, no center console, *and* for fun I removed the spare, tools, etc and had it weighed again, at the same place, and it came in again @ 2680. It's either the changes I made were a wash(?!) or the scale just can't weight light cars accurately.

stevej37 · 02-05-2002, 05:07 PM

Why not start with the spare tire? With good tread, chances of needing it are slim. When was the last time anyone here has needed to use theirs?

orbmedia · 02-05-2002, 05:19 PM

This is the definitive article on 911 weight reduction.

http://early911sregistry.org/jCalzia.html

wacky73t · 02-05-2002, 05:31 PM

I guess it doesn't weigh too much
did I forgot to mention it's a daily driver.?

I just realized I forgot to mention that.

I like the sport seats and the idea of having the glass and rubber to keep the (most anyway) rain out . and the clock doesn't weigh as much as a Big Mac either- net time I just won't get fries to go with it. as far as me I am weighing in at a whopping 145.
I could always lose 5 or 10 more.

the bumperettes- consider em GONE.

GeorgeM · GeorgeM's Garage

Don,

They say the JFK is finally ready. We start flying to the boat tomorrow afternoon. We'll spend a short time off the coast carqualing, then a few days of cyclic ops before we head east. Our destination is still undetermined, but we're certain we'll see some sort of action, but not many (if any) port calls. TR is on their 3rd beer day. Not looking forward to that part.

Decided not to sign up for any Potomac events this early. Not sure how long we'll be gone, then I'll be up for orders after the October fitrep cycle. Hopefully I'll be able to get in to an event or two when I get back.

Anyway, we'll keep in touch.

Wham

DonNewton · DonNewton's Garage

Wham,
Be bold, sweep the wings, let 'em know just how much we like 'em! Ain't nothing wrong with left arm lock, and don't worry, we'll send you more gas. Keep in touch, and I may have some info for you on our long lost brother Dave. Guess he and Carol are in Japan now. . .

GeorgeM · GeorgeM's Garage

Roger that.

Internet on the boat should be at least intermittent, so I should be able to monitor the BBS. I'll send you my work email if you don't already have it.

Regards to MB.

Wham

304065 · 02-07-2002, 01:07 PM

Cstreit- how about details of the fuel safe install? It looks like you have run a piece of aeroquip, I would be interested in the details of that. My 71 race car has factory hoses and hard lines which were good enough for RSRs but don't mate well with the
-8AN fittings on my ATL 17 Gallon Cell. Interested to know how you plumbed fuel system.

I would not recommend removing the spare for street use, it is part of the crash protection of the car. But for pure track absolutely.

Also, consider WHERE the weight will be removed-- I just went to a single battery setup which will be mounted in the smuggler's box, and am going to replace the rear bumper with a lightweight fiberglass one from GT Racing (so much for crash protection). These have the effect of reducing the polar moment of inertia, e.g. weight at the extreme ends of the car, which should increase the yaw rate/turn-in. But could have unpredictable results, the factory actually bolted in cast-iron weights into the bumpers of the early cars to improve the handling, but the jury's still out on whether it worked, and whether the whole oversteer thing was largely a function of aerodynamics as opposed to weight. We'll see what happens on my car.

Graham Archer · 02-07-2002, 01:18 PM

John,

How do figure the spare tire is part of the crash protection of the car?

304065 · 02-07-2002, 05:29 PM

Graham: I'll see if I can find a reference for this, I think there might be one in the Frere book. I actually heard this from our tech chairman, who recommends we leave the spare in on the autocross course, both from a balance standpoint and from a crash standpoint. It seems reasonable to me that the spare tire, mounted horizontally over the fuel tank and bolted down to the fuel tank, would absorb impact from a frontal collision, both from the tire and the wheel itself. If the front pan were folding up, it would probably transmit some of the energy to the rear of the tank, which is designed to be compressed to a fraction of its volume before ripping open. There are threads elsewhere on this board about the fuel tank. I heard also from a dealer that the vertically mounted spare in the new cars serves a similar function, could be apocryphyal.

Not that I am interested in testing it. . .

stevej37 · 02-07-2002, 05:51 PM

For the little extra protection that my spare might give in a head-on collision, I will opt for the weight savings that come from discarding my spare and jack. Maybe I have been lucky, but in 25 years of driving, I have never had to use the spare or jack on the road. I doubt if many owners reading this drive their cars with badly worn tires.