im a n00b, thought id share. this is my write-up. im sure all of this has been done, and then some, but what appeals to me is keeping it clean, all interior, not too crazy, but still effective.


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i love finding ways to make my car lighter, AND I KEEP ALL INTERIOR. face it guys, taking out your interior (unless u do absolutely everything) doesnt really do much, especially in ef civics. i love finding ways of makng my car lighter, while keeping it clean. all my interior, probably only weighs around 14 lbs, its all thin plastic.
1988 crx si.
i weighed it totally stripped( interior) witha stock d16 and a/c. = 1890.
i have since done following.

traction bars, no front crossmember , maybe 15-20 lbs.

sunroof,- right now i am undecided, i have takent h whole assembly out,m gutted all wiring, brackets and now jsut have the main frame, and the actual piece u see outside the car-7 lbs. what i want to do is weld it as a flat top like an hf/dx crx ( i have a parts car i can cut it from so its curved correctly) but im unsure i wil ltry it cause i really have nothing to lose, if it dont work i just put other one in.

hf hatch- off my parts car. has no wiper/ motor like si - 7 lbs, alos looks cleaner cause it smooth.

sound deadening (inside)- was not much, 3 lbs.- a bitch to scrape all of it off the frame,.

rims- not really weight reduction, but keeps it light, konig heliums 11.5 lbs each.

seat- i only have 1 sparco racing seat, not the lightest but prety light, lost about 15 lbs +

front bumper support- over half of it is cut out to fit huge fmic. 10 lbs


WHAT I AM THINKING ABOUT DOING. just dumb stuff that i probably wont do, but thought about.

sound deadening( under car) - take some sort of penetrant to the bottom of the car ans scrape away all material, flame retardent ect, i am sure it wouyld be 15 lbs or more, theres alot of it.

floor boards- dont know if it would hurt the structural integrity of the vehicle, but i was thinking about cutting out the floor board of the passenger side, and where spare tire was ( no pass seat or spare tire). i woudl replace with liek thin aluminum, but i dont think it would be worth it, mayeb 2 lbs...blah

plexiglass- i was thinking of doing plexiglass windows (NOT WINDSHIELD) but i dont know how i could mold it the exact shape as window ( heat in oven on top of window? i dont know???). i would like to do the two windows of doors, and also the rear windows ( wouldnt be hard, almost a flat piece.) glass is ehavy, i would benefit from it, i could probably ( from all 4 side windows) lose about 10 lbs.

full race doors- NOT THE COMPANY- just what i call it..lol i have two spare doors that i am going to "build" and use on track days.( if i get around to doing it) setup will be as follows-
fully gutted, nothing but the outside shell, plexiglass window bolted in. i will lose about ( with both doors) 35 lbs +.


rear bumper support- have a spare one from my parts car, dont want to delete it alltogetether, but i think i will take a look and mangle up my spare one to lose around 7-9 lbs, but keep it somewhat supportive.

hatch- have original hatch, would like to plexiglass it, gut it. use it for track also.

all this IS WITH ALL INTERIOR minus 1 seat. looks extremely clean ( all carpet / body is perfect, not dirty.) not gutted out and ugly.

THIS car being as light as it is was fun stock, now i have over 300 whp d series, so its crazy, feel liek a small wind would pick me str8 up ( almost does)

lb's may be a little off, but should be somewhat close.

well thanks for reading my useless babble.





Modified by crxaddict at 7:25 AM 1/30/2007

 

feedback appreciated on the future plans, or other i may try.

 

All good ideas, dont cut out any floor boards, its not worth it and ruins the vehicle. I have done this before to race cars, and they weigh nothing anyways. The best idea is the spare doors for race days. We've done this before and its reversible

 

thanks, yeh i figured the floor was dumb, cause it would only give me about 2 lbs less.

best thing about the door idea, is they will be painted the same as the car, so it wont look weird.

 

My 88 std weighs 1900lbs with a b16 and full tank of gas. Its my SM *****.
I'll throw a few suggestions out their even know this has been covered like 398433944 times.
1. Get some 85-87 HF aluminum rear drums.(Thats what I have on my hatch)
2. Eg radiator, but your probably going to have to do with that the hairdryer already.
3. Remove your rear swaybar, your 1/4 racing so you don't need it.
4. lighten flywheel
5. light weight exhaust

Other people will chime in. I don't feel like getting all crazy with it though.

 

ok^ well its not jsut 1/4 its ddable, but i will only drive it fri-sunday. has FULL CORE RADIATOR, with turbo setup. fits fine but will get smaller in time. exhaust is 3 in back, not too light.

would the rear drums( 85 crx) be lighter than doind a integra disc swap?

and alos, what do u think about the ssound deadening/ fire retardent matireal under the car? beneficial? or jsut a hazard/ hassle?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by crxaddict &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
would the rear drums( 85 crx) be lighter than doind a integra disc swap?
and alos, what do u think about the ssound deadening/ fire retardent matireal under the car? beneficial? or jsut a hazard/ hassle?</TD></TR></TABLE>

The rear drums are lighter then stock integra rear disk. Stock drums weigh 8lbs each and the alumium drums weigh 4lbs each.

I have heard of people removing the sound deadening material underneath the car. I seen race teams do it with a rotisserie but people like us not so much. You would be their forever trying to removal all that stuff, eventually you would probably get frustrated and say the hell with it. Try it out and let us know how it works out,lol.
Even if you scraped all the material off underneath the car you are going to have to paint or seal the bottom of the car because it will rust like a ****.

 

i used to run a pair of cut doors and plexi windows in my old hatchback.


they work very well to bring a lot of weight down.

 

Gangsta^

 

hey the doors sound like a good idea i have a rex and im trying to figure out to lighten it but havent found anything really good to think of can you give us more info sounds like a great project

 

good info

 

i just scrapped the underside of my 88 si ha its a good time well worth it in the end

 

All good ways to lighten up your CRX. Another one to consider is relocating and switching to a smaller battery. I went with an Odyssey PC545 and put it in the storage bin behind the passenger seat:



Also, instead of cutting the front bumper support, you can probably save more weight by switching to an HF bumper... they really don't have any support at all, at least on the 88. Here's a couple pics comparing my 88 HF vs 89 Si front bumpers... I really should have weighed them when I had them off:




I've also done the sunroof delete thing, and welded a steel panel in place. Saved about 25lbs. I was in on the order for the carbon fiber roof caps, but since that fell through I need to clean up the body and paint work on the roof... it looks like crap right now

Next on my list is installing the HF front sway bar... it's hollow and lighter than the stock Si one, but I don't know the exact difference. Every little bit helps though

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by N_A_is_best &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i just scrapped the underside of my 88 si ha its a good time well worth it in the end </TD></TR></TABLE>

that underbody coating also helps to prevent rust if its a street car....

if its 100% track only, then i would say yea the undercoating is a good way to shave a couple lbs but for the daily driver guys.......

i dont think anyone mentioned aftermarket rear LCA's

 

Rear bumper support from your HF. it is aprox 20 Lbs. lighter.
You could even use a hole saw to drill big holes in it to remove material.


Front bumper support from HF (20 Lbs???)

Remove A/C and you'll save ~55 Lbs

 

came across this by accident........bump for good info!!!!

 

Buy cf hood fenders doors and hatch.

Theres. Companys that sell them as well as Plexiglas Windows made to fit

 

The HF bumper supports have been covered. You can reskin the roof with a non-Si or get the CF plug. Plexi windows are good but not legal in some racing classes and maybe street. AC can be removed and find the bypass for the evap core under the dash (an OEM option), remove radio and speakers, antennae. Heater can go if you really want.

Wheels and tires will make a huge difference since it's in unsprung, rotational mass. Lighter tires and wheels will make a noticable difference in braking and acceleration. Stick to stock front brakes with good pads/fluid and stock rear drums. There was a guy on D-series who went to 87 HF drums on the back to drop abou 8lbs IIRC.

Yes I realize this is from 07, addressing the forum as a whole.