Heres a question for all you autocrossers out there.

My car was recently in an accident (see my other LENGHTY post around here somewhere) and Im deciding what to do with it. I love speed, I love racing. To make my 1996 Integra 2door RS into a racer I would need to reduce its curb weight. Whats the best way to go about doing this in an RS. Strip the interior? It doesnt seem to me that those plastic panels weigh all that much. Take out the spare and jack? Sure but thats what? 30lbs?? Take out the rear seat? Ill probably do that one just because the rear seat in a teg is near useless anyway But what else can I do to lighten the load?? (a difference that will probably be negated by the weight of a roll cage) Any input, and especially from those with experience in my particular car would be most appreciated!

 

Jenny Craig

 

Heat gun, putty knife....Take out that sound padding. You dont need it.

 

Your RS is pretty damn light to begin with. You can also take out the power steering pump and A/C compressor if you so happen to have them on. Strip the entire interior, remove the airbags (do RS's have airbags?), get an aftermarket header and exhaust (stock weighs a ton), and that's all I can think of.


[Modified by ALF, 9:20 PM 10/16/2002]

 

sum ideas......
CF or fiberglass hood , fiberglass rear hatch with a lexan window (hatch is very heavy) , take out the heat and sound pads (takes time but save you about 15lbs)..........

 

Fuuma0083 - should have saw that one coming

ALF - I need to leave the AC in because I live in Florida and you would literally bake without AC (not to mention humidity!) And the airbags will stay until a four-point harness is in.

jonny5 - ive seen the lexan windows and CF hoods and will probably go that route. where could i find that CF hatch???

Thanks for your quick replies you guys. Another question.. when you say "strip the interior" what goes and what stays? also, would taking out the rear windshield wiper help any??


[Modified by Senkakusha, 2:39 AM 10/17/2002]

 

fiberglass hatch , not CF . MB makes a fiberglass rear hatch , same company that makes the one-piece front ends , etc.... i think they go for like around 150 W/O the lexan .

 

Actually the average sedan interior weighs 250+ lbs. I have stripped more than 130 and still have leather front seats, dash, A-pillars and lower console. EVERYTHING else is gone, carpet, roofliner, back seats, rear "bookshelf", spare, jack, spoiler, and a lot more.

 

To me this makes no sense at all. I mean, having a light car is great and stuff, but, what hapens when you like take a girl out or something and have zero interior carpet. Or you get a flat with no spare or jack. I just think its totally senseless to strip the interior of a daily driven car. Race car, understandable. I just dont see the point in makin the interior of your car look like *** to save 100lbs. Just my $.02

 

Ohh... one piece front ends are deemed illegal in some autocross events. fiberglass fenders, hood, trunk. Engine parts weigh a bit too. You can shave some weight from the engine too, lightened valve covers (aluminum, carbon fiber), lightened oil pan, lighten brackets, aluminum mounts, slightly shaved and aero balanced crank, lightened valves, retainers. Lighter battery, Mud guards and If you think its safe, you can remove under coating of car too. What you can do is cut 2 1/2-3" holes in the front and rear crush bar, make sure you bend small lips on the holes so they retain crush rigidness. This will make you lose about 10-15lbs each bar, air bags will deploy a little earlier but not by much. 38-45mph/standard, 32-40mph/drilled, 15-28mph/no crush bar.

 

Actually I've gottem more girls in my car WITHOUT and interior than you've probably gotten with one. And most people don't think it's ghey, they use the term "hardcore" becasue i dont care if you like it, but it does make the car perform better in EVERY respect.

 

LOL, ok man you win, Ive never had a chick in my car...rriiigghhtt. There is no proof that ripping out an interior makes a car perform better. If you have some proof please be kind and show us all.

 

Ok, first I dont think stripping your interior has much to do with getting chicks and is also off topic. Second, I dont care SlowazzGSR if you score on chicks or not, but you are wrong. Your "proof" is in simple math. The curb weight (as taken from the research section of autotrader.com) for a 2-door GSR is <U>2667 lbs</U>. The stock horsepower (from the same source) is <U>170 @ 7600rpm</U>. The next part is so easy anyone can do it. Just divide the horsepower by the weight to get a power to weight ratio.

Here I'll do it for you... 0.0637 .

Alrighty. Now lets strip the interior and shave lets say.... 200 lbs (a conservative number based on the recomendations given to me so far). So now your curb weight is 2467 lbs.

Lets do some more division... 0.0689 .

See the difference? Let me make a comparason. In order to achieve the same power-to-weight ratio that shaving 200 lbs in your car would achieve you would have to generate an extra 13.75hp. Horsepower costs money, throwing stuff away doesnt.

 

wow, i was expecting flaming replies for that post, i guess not...

 

Thanks a lot Senkakusha for helping prove the point. See I wasn't bullshitting...