930 weight savings

[GT2EvoGuy]

Just wondering what measures forum members have taken to remove weight from their 930s? As we all know, weight can have a huge impact on overall performance. What does your car weigh and what did you do to get it there? How much are you willing to sacrifice in terms of street comfort?

My car is 2200lbs with a half tank of gas and I'm considering another diet to get it down to 2100. But I threw out street compromises at the outset

[JBL930]

Originally Posted by GT2EvoGuy

Just wondering what measures forum members have taken to remove weight from their 930s? As we all know, weight can have a huge impact on overall performance. What does your car weigh and what did you do to get it there? How much are you willing to sacrifice in terms of street comfort?

My car is 2200lbs with a half tank of gas and I'm considering another diet to get it down to 2100. But I threw out street compromises at the outset

How on earth did you get your car to under 1000kgs? That is amazing, mine is 1380kgs (3080lbs) with a full-to-the-brim tank of fuel. I know the electric sport seats are really heavy but what else can i do to get rid of around 300kgs?

[David]

How did you get a 930 to 2200lbs?

[FAT930]

Mine is 1260kgs with full tank, spare wheel, jack, tool kit, original seats and the twin turbo and intercooled mods I've done, I think the wheels and tyres make a big deal.

[GT2EvoGuy]

My car was built for GT1R class racing...I just happen to be driving it on the street for now. It scaled out at 2200 when it was corner weighted last season.

Weight savings measures are very extensive -

-Started with a 1977 chassis - stripped to bare metal and acid dipped. No sound deadening.
-No street comforts: no heat, no A/C, no stereo, no interior (floors are painted same color as exterior), carbon dash, Sparco race seats, 6pt harnesses.
-Exterior weight savings - glass hood, flares, nose, base wing element. Carbon banana wing, lexan windows all around except windsheild.
-Engine converted to Motec EFI with lightweight mil spec harness, plastic intake manifold
-935 aluminum front suspension
-BBS magnesium race wheels
-Fuel safe aluminum gas tank

Really 2200lbs for a early chassis race car is not that remarkable. My shop built a 935 replica on an earlier 912 chassis that weighs just over 2000lbs race ready. My friend's DP 930 weighs 2450 and that car has real seats, carpet, stereo, heat and AC, etc.

My car still has factory steel doors, so going to full carbon would be a substantial savings, but would require that I extend the cage forward for safety reasons. So probably save over 100lbs on the doors but add back 50lbs worth of cage tubing. Beyond that I could get rid of the passenger seat and hardware (20lbs) and do really exotic things like titanium halfshafts, etc.

I built my car off a 1977 chassis for 2 reasons: 1) the 80s 930 chassis are heavier and 2) a 1977 makes it easier to get a car like this on the road.

[sand_man]

Like all my engine mods, I wished I would have taken a base line measurement. I have no idea what my car weighed when I started, just like I have no idea how much HP I was making before the engine rebuild.
-I ditched the A/C
-The no heat OBX headers were hella light, even lighter than the cracked B&Bs with heat that I removed
-I ditched the rear wiper, blade and motor
-Removed the rear US bumper pads
-Removed the rear lower valance and heat shield
-Removed all smog equipment (air pump, valves, and assorted hoses)
-Lightweight RarlyL8 passenger side exit muffler with no internal packing
-Removed the huge factory by-pass valve - replaced with the small 965 unit
-Swapped out the enormous factory radio/head-unit for a lighter Kenwood
-Momo Competition steering wheel

Some things that added some weight back:
-Weight gain from twin-plug ignition: extra plugs, wires, extra CDI box, extra coil
-18" wheels and tires: I try to keep my lightweight Fuchs on, but they are in need of tires and I'm looking into 16" tire options

Some things I have planned:
-Odyssey battery
-Lighter seats
-RSR door panels

One of these days I'll weigh it and dyno it...

[GT2EvoGuy]

For a street 930, I think the easiest weight reductions are:

1) lightweight seats - glass driver/passenger seats from sparco/recaro are about 15lbs each.

2) fiberglass hood - mine is pretty high quality and I cannot tell the difference from steel painted.

3) lightweight headers and exhaust - really a freebie - aftermarket headers and muffler save weight and add HP. My car doesnt really run a muffler - just a straight pipe off the turbo with a burns stainless strait-thru 12" race muffler - weighs maybe 5lbs.

Those items right there will save you well over 100lbs. Beyond that you have to start making bigger concessions for a street car.

[Willy Leon]

I got my 79 to 2590 with half a tank of gas and a full cup cage. Normal things such as stripped out interior and FG front and rear bumpers. All panels and glass are stock and can have some more opportunities as well. Sunroof is a FG panel and inner roof cut out for rollcage. Sure makes a big difference on how the car feels,acceleration,braking and handling. replaced stock exhaust with custom headers and no muffler. Interior sound deadening, stock seats are are big weight opportunity and are all gone as well.

[David]

I dropped my 930 from 2900 (with C2 FG bumpers) to 2750 after the EFI change with lighter Carrera intake, lighter flywheel & clutch, lighter starter, muffler, and A/C delete (about 65 lbs).

The full bay intercooler added about 20lbs over the previous B&B IC.

Future changes will be lighter seats but a roll bar will offset most of the savings.

[DDDD]

My car weighs 2512 lbs with a topped off tank of gas. I have retained all luxury items (except the AC) and still have interior carpeting and full leather everything, as well as heat and even extra circulation from the AC fan in the smuggler's box. Stereo works, entire body is steel except bumpers and tail.

You cannot tell anything is different when looking at the car, the interior looks mint. Exterior looks steel, which is important to me. I don't want somebody to look at my car and see fiberglass parts and gaps between the hood and fenders, ect.

I still could go much further but I don't believe I want to. Long term I may go to flush rear view mirrors and a fiberglass hood is always a possibility.

If I had started with a stripped down racer, I would keep going but anything I do at this point will make the car look less luxurious.

I removed the door pockets, AC system, insulation behind upper and lower back seat, spare tire, window washing system, fog lights, installed a lightweight DEKA battery, lightweight exhaust system, bumpers, tail, removed rear seat speaker deck.

You cannot achieve such quick and discrete weight savings on a 78-89 because the cars weigh another 150 lbs or so with the better brakes and heavier engine. You really need to remove more from the later cars or use a lot of fiberglass.

[fredmeister]

I could save 30 lbs. if I joined weight watchers!

Seriously, what is a normal weight for a 79 930 to start from the factory?.....I always thought the owners manual was really underestimated when you actually weigh the car.

[AFM744]

My car (965) weighed 3190 full-wet with B&B headers and muffler (EDIT: and FG rear wing). There's a lotta heavy stuff on this car over and above the heavy ancilliary 930 heavy stuff (like smog pump and plumbing). Airbags, power steering... and do you guys have the auxiliary electric heaterbox fans in your rear fenders?
Right now my weight reduction plans are simple: ditch the 30lb dual-mass, ditch the smog pump and plumbing, ditch the CIS (for EFI), ditch the 50lb Interstate for a 24lb PC925. I don't need much heat and may try plumbing the heaterboxes directly off the fan (old-school) and taking the twin boat-anchor electric fans out of the fenders.

[David]

A stock 79 930 is a hair over 2900.

[hobieboy]

Every time I read about weight reduction, I'm at a loss Maybe gravity is more Up North here

I did the usual reduction - sparco seats (saved 100lb per pair), removed interior (sound deadening / rear seat/ carpet worth ~70-80lb from memory but the felt carpet add ~5lb back), "stripped" rear bumper (bumperette, bumper shocks, rubber strip etc. saved ~25lb), FG rear wing (saved ~40lb), A/C with all hoses (~65lb), battery (~30lb), B&B (probably saved 20lb) and custom 10lb muffler (another 20lb savings?). Still have all steel panels, glass & sunroof. The full bay interooler probably adds ~25lb up top And the full cage probably adds 130lb.

My car still weighs 2,860lb with 1/2 tank of gas. So I still have 660lb to go to get to 2200lb! Even with underbody coating removed, lexan all-around and FG hood, I'll probably be down to 2550lb? Where do I find another 350lb to remove?

[F350Lawman]

I am going to aim my future weight savings on the rear end. The bumper/bumperettes and bumper shocks are going to be replaced w/ glass and I may do the decklid in glass. I will actually probably offset some of this w/ the additon of a large front mount oil cooler and IROC style spoiler/splitter. I think that as much as overall weight savings is great, gaining a few on the nose and losing a little in the ass can't be bad either...at least on these cars

The rear seats awill also be going as is the carpet/mats for installation of the full cage, tapped into the front and rear towers.


I have already done the following:

Miata battery in smugglers box
Remove spare and jack
Remove A/C and all associated parts/brackets/hoses
RS door panels
Racing type seats
Rear wiper delete (not needed and ugly)
Removed headlight washer bottle (hit big tires)

[Willy Leon]

I am with hobieboy as to the weight loss. I really gutted my car like he did but added a full cage to get me to 2590. I think the next big reductions will be doors with glass, front and rear deck lids and side and rear glass to lexan. I am hesitant on the doors and windows because I have an open trailer and like being able to lock my car at the track at night. I will say i love driving a light car as it is more fun than horsepower for quick change in feel on the track.

[full quack]

I removed my A/C because it didn't work.
I removed the stock radio because it didn't work.
The stock muffler is gone, because I bought it that way.
I changed to lightweight fikse wheels because the turbo twists that came with the car were butt ugly.
I removed the rear bumperettes, because they were butt ugly.

Mine is a street car only so my weight reduction efforts were more about function & asthetics than pure poundage.

Mark

[NathanUK]

My 930 weighed in at 1225KG with a stock engine. He had very little fuel in the tank at the time.

[FAT930]

I also have removed A/C and all heater, blower components.
Rear wiper and motor, all redundant electtricals, fitted RSR door trims but
still elect windows. Made some alloy rear bumper mounts, front fogs gone for
964 cooling ducts. One day strip body and fit race cage, scrap stereo, speakers, amp, rear seats and fit super light weight wheels. as a draw back have a large calcium battery all carpet and mats.http://forums..[img]pelicanparts.com/uploads13/Project+930+GT2+0111218013486.jpg[/img]

[jrottn]

My car was a no-brainer because I bought it stripped of body panels and doors
I think the biggest weight savings will be the fiberglass/plexi doors
If you ever have the chance to pick up a stock door when it is off a car do it- you will be amazed how heavy
I would guess savings would be 100+ over steel doors