Car: 1999 Honda Si Coupe
Weight: 2340lbs (w/o driver)

I've pretty much read all 50+ weight reduction threads in both recent and archive search contents yet I still have a few questions regarding the ever so popular what can I do to reduce more weight of my coupe. I'm teetering right now on going semi extreme with more reduction or just doing a little bit more reduction (which I'll list below). Any help or advice from some of you extreme gutters would help out.

Current Weight Reduction List:
Bye bye A/C
Rear Section Panels
Rear Seats
Rear Seat belts, and components
Rear angled bar peices near top of shock
Rear Speakers
Spare Tire
Trunk Carpet
Side Impact Support Beam (3 peice beam)
Passanger Seat
Center Consel
All Floor Mats

Upcoming Reductions:
Front Bumper Support
Rear Bumper Support (Question #2 Noted Below)
Stereo Removel
Front Speakers
Front Door Panels
Knee Medal Support under drivers dash
Washer Fluid Unit
Medal Bar behind dash (still unfamilar with this bar, though I'll find it I guess once I physically look)
Light weight drag wheels on all 4's

Thinking about Reductions: (Still Unsure of)
PS Removel
Sound Deadning Tar
Interior Head Liner (Question #1 Noted Below)
Front Speakers
Air Bags (would be the last thing to go)
CF Hood and Fenders
Removal of Rear Tower Bar
Removal of Lower Tie Bar
Removal of Rear Sway

The questions I have are listed below in number sequence so that you guys can just refer to the numbered question when responding to make things easier

#1: Does anyone have a picture of what the inside of there car looks like with the head liner removed... Since the SI has a sunroof, I'm unsure if I should remove the liner yet.

#2: Rear Bumper Support: Has anyone removed this before, and this peice does NOT unbolt from the frame correct? meaning in order to remove this rear support I'd have to physically cut it off...

#3: Is removel of the sound deadning tar really worth all the effort? Any confirmed est. on the overall weight saved from removing this tar... if its only 3lbs like I've read, doesn't seem worth the effort.

#4: Air Bag Removel, is this really a big weight saver? How difficult is it to remove, and how hard would it be to re-install if the time came?

#5: Finally, would I really benifit from removing the rear suspension bars?

* NOTE- * This car is basically only driven to and from the drag strip. It's my hobby street drag car persay. I'm fully aware that removing the bumper supports is not recommended for street use (duh ) though I rarely drive this car around town. Getting in a collision on my short drive to the track is slim to none, so I'll take my chances on that actual drive. I'm shooting for the 2000-2100lb mark in my coupe as far as weight goal is concerned. Obviously removel of the sunroof and glass windows are a option, yet I'm NOT going to that extreme at this point. The car has to remain DOT approved from the outside so I could respectively put the bumper supports back on the car and drive it everyday if need be. Thanks for your time fella's/gal's.

Here's two picture of what I've done so far:






Modified by erics99si at 5:01 PM 3/1/2004

 

Smaller battery and a fiberglass hood would go a long way in the a lot of weight for little money department. Check out user Rodney 's small battery thread.

EDIT: Just curious, but is this a track car or a daily driver?? Even if you manage to take out 100lbs worth of ****..in daily driving you are not going to even notice it except for the extra noise and extra danger you're putting yourself in (bumper supports, etc).
If this is a track car what in god's name posessed you to buy a pig heavy SI?

 

huh questions where? I don't see any. How about cutting the steel support beams behind the rear quarter pannel from the inside. Or just taking out the rear interior pannels. Sound det. is good to remove too. little metal piece for the seats (little bracket peice), cut it off. The little metal piece used to hold down the spare.

 

nm

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ricey McRicerton &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
If this is a track car what in god's name posessed you to buy a pig heavy SI?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I didn't have the same intensions of racing the car when I origionally baught the car new back in 1999. I'm now into drag racing and rather than selling the car and starting over (basically losing money), I'm working with what I currently have. I've thought about selling for a hatch, but I'd like to be semi different and have a faster than normal coupe. Seems like every hatch runs 12's these days, yet you rarely see too many N/A 12 second coupes that are daily driveble (let alone a heavy Si). A N/A 12 second coupe is pretty much unheard of where I live so I'm shooting for that goal... I ran 13.5 last season on the stock ITR motor so with my build 12's are repectively in my reach.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dainteg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">huh questions where? I don't see any. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Sorry I accidentally posted before I was finished with my overall post. Its now complete. Thanks for noticing...

 

loose the p/s. no question bout it. you wont miss it. you can also remove the entire moonroof system and replace it with a c/f blocker plate. you can also ditch the entire dash and HVAC system, and just leave the cluster hooked up. dont forget to get rid of the wipers/motors/washer reservoir and pump. also, instead of buying a cf hood, you could get a wheel cutter and cut out the metal skeleton of ur stock hood

 

personally, i'd gut the car entirely. carpet, sound deadning tar, all panels (including door panels), i'd even go as far as cutting out some metal from the doors. you can remove the dash or simply remove all the extra accessories (hvac & airbags), just leave the dash 'skin'. remove moonroof system for a carbon fiber insert. in the engine bay, i'd remove everything that is not necessary as well, i.e. power steering, all a/c lines, wires, windshield washer tank, wiper motors, etc. for the trunk, i'd remove some metal from it (cutting skeleton) or get a fiberglass piece.

i would also get the FAL rear window kit, replaces rear quarters and rear windows with lexan, looks stock (somewhat).

misc crap
you can get a spare pass headlight, cut a hole through it to run the intake pipe through, maybe put a velocity stack/air horn at the end. as for the rear bumper, i would create some sort of diffuser (holes in bumper or plates under rear end to bypass the air from getting caught in the bumper).

hope i helped, g00d luck with your final decision and especially on the track!

 

get a carbon fiber racing bucket seat?

 

Do not forget about what sheel and tire combo you are going to be running, weight can be lost there as well.

as someone else suggested get rid of the sunroof, good reduction right there, someone on the board makes those carbon fiber replacements he referred to.

 

want to sell the rear seats??

PM me.. or email Jswpstdoff247@hotmail.com

i would advise against removing the bumper supports, many insurance companies will reject any claim against a vehicle with bummer supports removed... i have progressive ins. by the way

 

take the dash out eric and remove all of the sound deadning there... and also remove all of the tar from the car... leave the headliner in, its weight makes as much difference as you losing ten pounds. you want to get extreme find a junked dx with an intact roof and cut it out and take your car to a body shop and swap roofs

that will save about 30-40 pounds with all that crap removed from the roof... Sunroof = heavy.

 

just a note:

some of your upcomming reductions seem a bit more extreme than your maybe reductions..

 

Just get a built turbo block, you'll be able to do 11's on 20 lbs of boost...with no weight reduction

 

get a racing seat

cut out all the metal supports inside the rear area and gut the doors comopletely....just a metal skin on the outside.

Get a cage to keep the car rigid and safe- needed at most tracks when running 12's anyways

Get rid of sunroof.

go to rear drums

get smaller front brakes.

Remove sway bars

Replace ALL hardware with Ti ...or not

 

I've already have (6) 6" holes cut in the rear bumper to reduce drag (which seemed to help btw... actually shaved off 2 tens at the next track visit.)

The thought about trading/selling car for a lower model coupe or EK hatch has always been in the back of my mind, though I have so much money and time invested into this car that I'm not willing to strip it down to stock by removing the hondata, all the suspension stuff, swap the origional motor back in, etc... so it sorta sucks that I have the heavier Si for a track based car, however it looks that much more impressive that I can run faster times in a heavier car than say a lighter DX coupe...

Anyhow, I'm honestly thinking about removing the dash and taking out everything that I do not need anymore, etc.. then putting the dash back in. I'd like the car to keep the origional dash appearance (minus radio) for the most part... I do have a spare passanger head light which reminded me that I was going to drill holes in it for this next years season as a ram air style intake. I've been a little leary about going to gun hoe with removing the roof liner, air bags, door panels, etc.. but each day I think about it, I am slowing starting to think... remove the stuff...

Has anyone removed the power stearing and had later on problems with it..? Do I have to do the PS re-circulation thing with the aerofittings when I remove the PS completely? The car has no A/C anything left on it from my previous B20VTEC Turbo motor. Idealy I'll remove all the interior panels, the sound deadning stuff, etc.. Everything I've removed so far is in huge plastic bags just in case I ever wanted to return the actual car back to stock form. I need to come to senses that I still have my previous three cars so chances are I will own this car until its value is worth zero as well...

Thanks for the helpful comments so far... 2340lbs is pretty light for a Si, so if I could break into the 21-2200lb range I'd by removing bolt on items persay then I'd be pretty stoked... Thats why I braught up the PS, Front Bumper Support, Door Panels, etc.. cause those are all bolton or pop clip style items I could remove without cutting anything...

 

i am definently up with taking out the entire dash. Removing the airbags isn't bad, just make sure you know what types of clips they have. Don't pull them the wrong way or spin them they might break. Also do all this with the battery disconnected. I would go with a lighter battery, lighter hood, take out the sunroof, and remove all the deadening on the interior and exterior if their is any spray style stuff on their. Best of luck.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by illicon2003 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Just get a built turbo block, you'll be able to do 11's on 20 lbs of boost...with no weight reduction</TD></TR></TABLE>

been there done that... Ran the high boost etc... sold everything off cause I got tired of repairing everything all the time... Broken oil line here, cracked sleeve there, etc... Maybe it was just the fact that I was one of the only b20vtec turbo people experimenting with it at the time, I dunno... Car hauled serious ***! but I never knew if it was going to start the next day. Was so fed up with the motor and its hassels I sold the entire b20vtec motor and GSR tranny for $1200 shipped. (talk about a lucky deal for that guy who baught it... ) I was just sick and tired of the thing

Playing in the N/A class now... Building the ITR motor as we speak. Been very pleased with it so far... sure felt like a slow terd though coming from previously boosted... haha

 

I looped the lines off my power rack in my 94 Si...no problems at all. Gone through 2 auto-x season and hard driving throughout.

I just don't see why even bother with the small stuff....

you'd have better results:

remove rear bumper AND support at the track...less drag and weight

get a sunroof plug. You can always go back and install the sunroof again.

Get rid of your 40 lbs stock seat and get something more supportive and lighter.

13 inch drag wheels and baby slicks

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Emerika &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
you'd have better results:

remove rear bumper AND support at the track...less drag and weight

get a sunroof plug. You can always go back and install the sunroof again.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I plan to loop off the PS Rack... Where can I get a sunroof plug? Also do you know if the rear bumper support is bolted onto the rear or if I'll have to cut the support off? I'd like to get away from cutting anything if possible.

 

To get the cf sunroof plug, pm crx12 on here

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ChargedLude97 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">To get the cf sunroof plug, pm crx12 on here</TD></TR></TABLE>

What do they usually run as far as cost is concerned?

 

dont remove the air bag it weighs like a pound and a half
it would be nice to think about a sparco wheel though

 

how about cutting out the piece of metal that the interior rear speakers were(rear deck by the rear window). That is about 5-10 pounds of metal that can go away.

 

I would do the following

Stereo and all related items removel
Front Door Panels
Knee Medal Support under drivers dash
Washer Fluid Unit
Dash
Light weight drag wheels on all 4's
PS Removel
Sound Deadning Tar
Interior Head Liner
Air Bags
CF Hood and Fenders
Lexan windows
Sun roof plug

that should put you way down close to your goal weight.... for all its worth i wouldn't take out anything you can't put back in, if you sell the car later on you'll be saying why oh why did i cut _____ off.... on the other hand, cutting some metal in the doors and trunk would be alright, just not the supports

 

get rid of your airbags since you dont care about safety. CF bucket seat, get rid of carpet and tar, CF sunroof plug, lexan windows, get rid of power steering, take out the windsheild squirter ****, take out all interior panels except for dash, take out wiring for power windows/door locks, remove passenger side seatbelt, take out cruise control, take out the heater core, temp controlls, etc...

just a couple ideas.

and get a cage.