I want to strip out my car for weight saving purposes - it's not a daily driver.

How hard a job is it and any idea how much I could hope to shave off? I'm planning on removing as much as possible.

What do you do about the switch gear on the doors for example? Blanking plates for the stereo slot? Recommend some good seats & harnesses?

Thanks.

 

Assuming you've never tackled it before, get the heaviest, most useless stuff out first. When I had my old Clio stripped out for track and drag work, I never went as far as stripping the stereo out - for the weight saving you make it wasn't worth it (personally) not to have any sounds on the way to do battle, but I did have it running as just the head unit and two speakers on the factory wiring which was all in the door looms anyway.

Anyway, just a layman's opinion in order of what saves the most weight with the least inconvenience:
1. Ditch the spare wheel & tool kit. Bring tyre foam or breakdown cover instead.
2. Rear seats, belts and panels out
3. Front seats replaced with lightweight race seats, alloy mounting frames and 4 or 5 point harnesses.
4. Carpets, boot liners, sound deadening out
5. For quarter miling, run with only half a tank of fuel absolute max.
6. Front door cards and centre console trim out.
7. Now we get serious - get rid of the electric window motors, change the window glass for plastic, replace bonnet and boot with carbon fibre, use lightweight rims (e.g. OZ Superleggera and Chrono Evo around 6 or 7kg in 7x17" size, if you can still get them), replace the factory brakes etc. etc.

 

I will be carrying out the first six steps as per your post. I doubt I will replace the bonnet and boot but will get a set of light weight rim's and possibly fit perpex windows along with a roll cage.

The car is really for use at the Ring with occassional 1/4 mile's and UK track days a possibility.

The main issue for me is ensuring that the finish inside is reasonable - I don't want it to look like it's just been gutted without any thought. It's things like dealing with the electric windows once the door cards are off etc that could be a problem.

Thanks for your advice and in my mind, stripping out a car is one of the best ways to improve performance in every area. I'd need another 50bhp or there abouts to improve the power to weight ratio the same as junking all the interior.

Thanks.

 

SOunds like what you're after is very similar to what I used to do with my Clio 16v - but along with quarter miling and 'Ring trips, it was also my daily driver so I couldn't go too mad. But that said, it only weighed 980kg straight out of the showroom in 1993 LOL

Bottom line is, some lightening mods are a pain in the **** if you're not doing a total track-only conversion. It's nice to have door cards and electric windows in a road car, let's be honest. Mates of mine have lightened Clio Cups down to the bare minimum, and OK they're nice to chuck about the track, but the noise inside and the bare metal and wiring looms exposed everywhere is just too much IMHO.

For what you want, to keep the car a pleasant place to be in, definitely ditch all four seats and seatbelts, replace with two bucket seats and harnesses up front only. Keep the dash and door cards, or get the door cards remade in carbon fibre. This can be done for a not unreasonable cost by a freelancer. The biggest handling difference will be in taking off unsprung weight so before you start pulling up carpets, flog your factory rims and get some lightweight alloys on there, then if you need to swap to alloy brakes with 2 piece discs that will help as well.

 

Interesting read.

I am facing the same question as i hillclimb my Sti v3 and drive there and back, about 3000 road miles/10 events a year.
The Sti is heavy.
Thoughts:

Take the steel doors and strip them of the inner steel panels, plastic windows and keep the drivers powered glass one for comfort. Remove the rest, you dont need them. Remove any crash bars as your cage will have door /side protection.
Keep central locking (insurance?)

Remove all boot/bonnet linings/spring assists/rear wiper etc.

All seats and just 2 racing seats and seat runners out! Weigh a ton.

Sound deadening and carpet/roof liner; stereo also out as it will boom on motorways, so ear defenders for the occupants (is that legal for the driver on the road?)

Wheels for sure and brakes as you both say, though 16's are much lighter than 17's.
Light flywheel for dead weight loss, about 5 Kg!
Lots of odd brackets and tubes/bits in the engine bay.

Very serious and almost road prohibative is all ventillation/heater out and heated windscreen in (misty side windows?) A/C out obviously.

Keep the cage a 6 point and weld it in.

So, with all that in the skip, where does that leave the gross weight? 1100Kg?

I think many Impreza's are down to 1000Kg, but arrive on trailers.....

Add alloy or carbon boot lid, sorry.

Graham

 

silent running - yes I would say I am trying to achieve the same sort of thing that you did with your Clio 16v and do have the same issues at the moment that you had.

Thanks for all the advice.

I don't want it to have to go on a trailer, and on the long drive to the Ring etc I would miss the stereo etc. What I've decided to do, short-term, is:

1. Remove rear seats, carpets, sound deadening, plastic pillar covers and everything else. Will keep the dash but the rest of it is down to the metal. Going to keep the door speakers also and just leave them bare on their mounting frames. Will keep the glass windows and electrics also and will just remount the switch gear directly on the metal. Will look into getting those customer door covers made up.

2. Fit front racing seats on fixed alloy mounting with harnesses.

3. Fit light weight alloy wheels.

4. Junk the spare tyre, tool kit etc.

5. Remove the air-con.

Then in the medium term...

6. Fit roll cage, remove door safty re-enforcements etc... but that will be when I really am confident it's not going to be used for nipping to the shops or any other run of the mill type stuff.

Hopefully steps 1-5 will knock off 100 plus kg's and that should make a noticeable difference and be cheaper (plus benefit the handling and braking) than a new turbo with supporting mods.

Cheers,
Ben.

 

Well any lightening that you do is going to give you results, so good luck with it all!

 

Cheers mate and thanks

 

is there any guides how to do this? preferably with pictures.....

 

how much does the spare wheel and took kit weigh....approximatley?

 

Most aftermarket carbon bonnets weigh more than the std ali one.

Mines stripped no interior, sound deadening. .

I still have the std front seats fitted, aircon and std doors (leccy windows and front speakers fitted) and an omp cage.

mine weighs in at 1220kg with half a tank I reckon there is an easy 30kg to remove.

 

any scoobys on here at 1000kg? and how was it done?

would be interesting, even at standard 280 but at 1000kg