Possible Items on the Weight Reduction List

[wishiwasawd]

hey guys.

i hate heavy cars!

i have a 92 legacy sedan non turbo.

what are some possible parts of the car that i could remove to lighten
the car without compromising safety?

my goal is to build a tight, light, fast little subie. a sleeper if
you will.

gonna leave the rusty front fenders on it. i dont like flashy lights
and stuff just performance.

any ideas???

 

[WRXtreme]

hey guys.

i hate heavy cars!

i have a 92 legacy sedan non turbo.

what are some possible parts of the car that i could remove to lighten
the car without compromising safety?

my goal is to build a tight, light, fast little subie. a sleeper if
you will.

gonna leave the rusty front fenders on it. i dont like flashy lights
and stuff just performance.

any ideas???

Remove the passenger seats front & rear. Pull out your carpet and scrape
any sound deadening material that is present away. Some vehicles have a
weighted plate in the glove box, disassemble it and remove that plate if
applicable. Remove your headliner and again scrape away all sound deadening
material. Pull the interior panels out (from doors, a pillars, etc...if its
plastic and covers the interior metal remove it). Again remove the sound
deadening material under said panels. Pull your spare tire out, strip the
trunk of any liners it has. Remove the radio and speakers, along with all
their wiring. Find if there are carbon fiber replacement parts for the rest
of the vehicle (hood, doors, trunk, bumpers, etc...) Get some ultra
lightweight wheels of the same diameter as your stock wheels (SSR Comps come
to mind). Check w/ flex-a-lite and see if they make window kits for your
car. Remove the stock fuel tank and install a smaller capacity fuel cell
centrally located in your trunk. If you never ever plan on having rear
passengers, cut the crash bars out of the rear doors. Remove the power
window modules (motor, wiring, control units, etc..) from the rear doors.
Replace the stock header w/ a lightweight aluminum header instead. Remove
the ABS system including the sensor rings on the wheels. Remove your Air
Conditioning system. Remove the power steering pump (but make sure to cap
off all the hoses). If you are overweight, go on a diet. I'm sure there
are other things that could be done, but I think you get the point.

 

[Hallraker]

Remove the passenger seats front & rear. Pull out your carpet and scrape
any sound deadening material that is present away. Some vehicles have a
weighted plate in the glove box, disassemble it and remove that plate if
applicable. Remove your headliner and again scrape away all sound deadening
material. Pull the interior panels out (from doors, a pillars, etc...if its
plastic and covers the interior metal remove it). Again remove the sound
deadening material under said panels. Pull your spare tire out, strip the
trunk of any liners it has. Remove the radio and speakers, along with all
their wiring. Find if there are carbon fiber replacement parts for the rest
of the vehicle (hood, doors, trunk, bumpers, etc...) Get some ultra
lightweight wheels of the same diameter as your stock wheels (SSR Comps come
to mind). Check w/ flex-a-lite and see if they make window kits for your
car. Remove the stock fuel tank and install a smaller capacity fuel cell
centrally located in your trunk. If you never ever plan on having rear
passengers, cut the crash bars out of the rear doors. Remove the power
window modules (motor, wiring, control units, etc..) from the rear doors.
Replace the stock header w/ a lightweight aluminum header instead. Remove
the ABS system including the sensor rings on the wheels. Remove your Air
Conditioning system. Remove the power steering pump (but make sure to cap
off all the hoses). If you are overweight, go on a diet. I'm sure there
are other things that could be done, but I think you get the point.

hehehe... That last line reminded me of something.

I was at a party once with a couple people I knew, and a bunch of people I
didn't. There was this other group of guys who were talking cars, so I was
naturally listening but as I could tell they weren't import-friendly, I
stayed out of the conversation.

Anyway two of these guys apparently had the same car, and they were
discussing the outcome of a (recent?) drag race between the two of them.
The loser of this event was mystified as to why he'd lost, as his car was
"identical if not slightly better" and concluded that "something must be
wrong with the engine." It took all my willpower not to say anything in
response, and I'm surprised the other guys kept their mouths shut too,
because while the other guy could have been a jockey or something, this guy
was @#$! huge, I mean 350, maybe even 400 pounds easily.

-Matt

 

[CompUser]

If you are overweight, go on a diet.

Run a few miles each nite and get stronger,
you'll control the car better too.

I'd have put this one *first*. Most American
males can easily stand to lose more weight off
their bellies than the headliner and all the
sound-deadener would amount too.

 

[wishiwasawd]

Remove the passenger seats front & rear. Pull out your carpet and scrape
any sound deadening material that is present away. Some vehicles have a
weighted plate in the glove box, disassemble it and remove that plate if
applicable. Remove your headliner and again scrape away all sound deadening
material. Pull the interior panels out (from doors, a pillars, etc...if its
plastic and covers the interior metal remove it). Again remove the sound
deadening material under said panels. Pull your spare tire out, strip the
trunk of any liners it has. Remove the radio and speakers, along with all
their wiring. Find if there are carbon fiber replacement parts for the rest
of the vehicle (hood, doors, trunk, bumpers, etc...) Get some ultra
lightweight wheels of the same diameter as your stock wheels (SSR Comps come
to mind). Check w/ flex-a-lite and see if they make window kits for your
car. Remove the stock fuel tank and install a smaller capacity fuel cell
centrally located in your trunk. If you never ever plan on having rear
passengers, cut the crash bars out of the rear doors. Remove the power
window modules (motor, wiring, control units, etc..) from the rear doors.
Replace the stock header w/ a lightweight aluminum header instead. Remove
the ABS system including the sensor rings on the wheels. Remove your Air
Conditioning system. Remove the power steering pump (but make sure to cap
off all the hoses). If you are overweight, go on a diet. I'm sure there
are other things that could be done, but I think you get the point.

wow man that was pretty good.

i pulled the air conditioning today. now for the abs... how do i do
that? i already diabled the crap anyway so why not pull it??? what
do i do exactly? just pull the abs module and join the lines?

and i found it very interewsting that you mentioned the driver. most
people overlook the fact that you are, in fact, a part of the car and
if you are 20 lbs overweight thats an extra 20 lbs you need to
accelerate.

anyways, the abs? lets get some ideas.

 

[Stu Hedith]

hehehe... That last line reminded me of something.

I was at a party once with a couple people I knew, and a bunch of people I
didn't. There was this other group of guys who were talking cars, so I was
naturally listening but as I could tell they weren't import-friendly, I
stayed out of the conversation.

Anyway two of these guys apparently had the same car, and they were
discussing the outcome of a (recent?) drag race between the two of them.
The loser of this event was mystified as to why he'd lost, as his car was
"identical if not slightly better" and concluded that "something must be
wrong with the engine." It took all my willpower not to say anything in
response, and I'm surprised the other guys kept their mouths shut too,
because while the other guy could have been a jockey or something, this guy
was @#$! huge, I mean 350, maybe even 400 pounds easily.

-Matt

We're they talking about mustangs by any chance? Not to say all mustang
drivers are fat but almost all the fat drivers in sports cars I know
drive mustangs. Hell when I was in school 10 years ago there was an
entire fraternity that I swear must have been a requirement to be fat
and drive an 80's mustang.

Stu

 

[Stu Hedith]

Run a few miles each nite and get stronger,
you'll control the car better too.

Especially if you're pulling the power steering!!!


Stu

 

[WRXtreme]

"WRXtreme" <(e-mail address removed)> wrote in message

wow man that was pretty good.

i pulled the air conditioning today. now for the abs... how do i do
that? i already diabled the crap anyway so why not pull it??? what
do i do exactly? just pull the abs module and join the lines?

and i found it very interewsting that you mentioned the driver. most
people overlook the fact that you are, in fact, a part of the car and
if you are 20 lbs overweight thats an extra 20 lbs you need to
accelerate.

anyways, the abs? lets get some ideas.

Not sure exactly how to do it on your ride, but most have little sensor
rings in the wheel hub area that can be removed. I'm not all that familiar
w/ pulling them out though (I had a mechanic friend do it on my vehicle 2002
WRX). I *THINK* that the method you mentioned would work, but I cannot say
for sure. In other words, DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK, I am not responsible for
anything that you do, I am just offering advice. Having said that, I have
done all the mods mentioned above, except that I keep the plastic pieces and
carpet and headliner in until race day, then I pull them. My next mod will
probably be carbon fiber driveshafts if I can find some that will handle the
stress that will undoubtedly be put on them.

Oh, and does anyone know where I can get a closed deck 2.2 litre block? I
have this crazy idea of building a stroked 2.2 (stroked to ~2.7) and mating
it w/ an easystreet transmission along with a good set of LSD's...oh, and
then run a T66 turbo off of it

 

[Hallraker]

We're they talking about mustangs by any chance? Not to say all mustang
drivers are fat but almost all the fat drivers in sports cars I know
drive mustangs. Hell when I was in school 10 years ago there was an
entire fraternity that I swear must have been a requirement to be fat
and drive an 80's mustang.

hahahahaha...

Actually, you're dead on. It was an 80's Mustang. I almost had a '91 5.0
LX hatchback myself so I was almost in that group, except that I'm not fat,
I'm just really tall. heh.

-Matt

 

[Hallraker]

Oh, and does anyone know where I can get a closed deck 2.2 litre block? I

have this crazy idea of building a stroked 2.2 (stroked to ~2.7) and mating
it w/ an easystreet transmission along with a good set of LSD's...oh, and
then run a T66 turbo off of it

I'm not entirely sure, but I think some of the early 90's turbo Legacies had
them.

-Matt

 

[wishiwasawd]

Not sure exactly how to do it on your ride, but most have little sensor
rings in the wheel hub area that can be removed. I'm not all that familiar
w/ pulling them out though (I had a mechanic friend do it on my vehicle 2002
WRX). I *THINK* that the method you mentioned would work, but I cannot say
for sure. In other words, DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK, I am not responsible for
anything that you do, I am just offering advice. Having said that, I have
done all the mods mentioned above, except that I keep the plastic pieces and
carpet and headliner in until race day, then I pull them. My next mod will
probably be carbon fiber driveshafts if I can find some that will handle the
stress that will undoubtedly be put on them.

Oh, and does anyone know where I can get a closed deck 2.2 litre block? I
have this crazy idea of building a stroked 2.2 (stroked to ~2.7) and mating
it w/ an easystreet transmission along with a good set of LSD's...oh, and
then run a T66 turbo off of it

i was a little hesitant to pull the abs system at first because i
thought i would have to use compression fittings to join the lines but
now that i think about it i should be able to a joiner with two femaly
threaded ends to do the job, which is both safe and legal. i will
attempt this myself (brake work is very simple) and post the outcome.