Lightening an S13

[le1gh]

Since I only really use my car for track days, I'm looking to lighten it a bit. What I'm thinking of is removing the electric windows and using mechanical lifters. Does anyone know how easy this would be and what I would need?

And any ideas what else can be done to remove more weight?

[Papa Lazarou]

You could take out the carpets, the rear seats and maybe the passenger seat, any other unnecessary trim, the spare wheel. Then replace the bonnet with a carbon fibre one. Does that sound too over the top? Would certainly lighten it a bit though!

[Jez]

I use my car to get to work and for track days. I generally remove all the rear seats, spare wheel and carpets - only 2 bolts for the lot. As youre going for a track only car theres loads of thing you can remove:
ABS
air-con
a lot of the wiring - bloody heavy. Unless you're driving it there
replace the glass with plastic
replace the bonnet with fibre glass - it weighs a ton
im sure you could devise a device to wind the windows
get the front seats out and replace with a lightweigh fibre glass one
take the headlights out
remove the heater and fan
get rid of all the plastic cack in the wheels arches

Im racing my golf GTI 16v next season and have done the majority of the above. It all adds up. Down to 980kg with me (fat bastard) in it. Im sure you could match that in an S13 if you put your mind to it...

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http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~jhorsham/200sx.jpg

Dirty S13 with a few mods
200bhp ish with suspension and brake mods for trackdays

[Actual_Ben_Taylor]

You can also remove all the sound deadening from under the carpet.

If you are really serious then you can remove the washer bottle, widscreen wipers and motors, all the underseal, fit drilled disks, ally calipers, lighter wheels, remove the rear spoiler (it weighs a ton), fit a smaller battery, etc, etc...

Ben

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http://forums.evilnet.net/ubb/smilies/pc1.gif
Black '98 S14

[Chimp]

Dont forget loose change from the ash tray.

ooh ooh, and the aerial, not so heavy but more of a airflow thing. :P

[andyf]

Wow, some decent suggestions there... I was going to suggest playing Gran Turismo and seeing what it says when you use the 3 weight reduction options on a car :\

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Graphite Grey S13
HKS Hiper Muffler
Suspect suspension

[le1gh]

Some good advice. I do have a 400 mile round trip to the track though (and a few other trips throughout the year), so I do need a few things. I'd love to go the whole hog with the heaters etc though... Maybe when I can afford a second car.

I think it would be very expensive changing the glass to plastic. With no frames on the doors, the plastic would have to be the perfectly shaped and pretty rigid. The rear quarter glass is pretty curved too.

Im working on a few GRP panels at the moment. (Can these be bought anywhere? Its quite a bit of hassle!) Wings, bonnet, lighter rear lights etc. Im also toying with the idea of a new bootlid... Fibre glass surrounding a fixed perspex window with a hatch opening at the bottom. Kind of like a saloon.

Is the spoiler really that heavy? Thats quite surprising!

300zx style lights are in the plan too.

Oh, and the motorised aerial's coming off too if the other aerial gives a good enough signal.

[Nathan_200sx]

If your going that far try seam welding everything, makes it very ridgid and handles like it's on rails, Been for a ride in a cossie that had it done, very very very hard ride but felt like he was using evostick for tyres, a bit extreame for a road car I thought though. weight distribution is also a good idea, remember everything you take out effects this, you might want to try leading variouse places. I know it sound's extreme but good handleing can take time off those laps.

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Nathan
Red S13 Mongoose, K&N T3 280ish BHP http://mysmilies.com/smilies/cwm30.gif
Empty bank account

[Jez]

Bens got the right idea - just take out everything you dont need. Apparently theres about 50kg of underseal on a VW golf!! Not sure how true this is but I expect the 200 is similar.

Another tip if you're going racing is to gaffer tape up all the gaps in the body work. i.e. the gaps round the bonnet, passenger door, boot etc.

The VW guys measured a 7mph increase in speed down the straight due to less wind resistance. Which is quite a bit really.

I'd love to completely strip out a 200 and sort the suspension out properly. Mines a compromise and is a bit hard on the road to work sometimes. Trackdays are excellent though and it's worth the harshness... keeps me awake in the morning too...

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http://www.users.totalise.co.uk/~jhorsham/200sx.jpg

Dirty S13 with a few mods
200bhp ish with suspension and brake mods for trackdays

[Jez]

Naths also right: Seam welding is really good. I didnt know this till recently but one of the main reasons older cars feel less tight than new ones is because the spot welds break over time!!