brillo

Just curious, with all the threads on ways to give the car more power, who is looking at options for reducing weight, which in effect would do the same thing. I know the car has a light weight hood, and wheels are a possiblity. What else? are there other parts that could be lightened that would make a difference? shaving 100-200lb off the car would do wonders I would think.

oosik

someone put on a titanium exhaust which dropped 21lbs or so.

93rdcurrent

You could go with a lighter clutch, take out your tire repair kit, remove passenger and back seats, remove the A/C unit, remove all the engine covers on top and dust covers down below, take out your Nav, Carbon Fiber trunk lid, remove power windows, the list can go on.

babylou

Do a search and I think you will find some decent ideas. Weight reduction has many other benefits besides improved power/weight such as; handling, braking, fuel efficiency, emissions and usually even crash safety.

A couple of easy ones are remove the engine lift hooks and front and rear tie down hooks. Those tie down hooks that many think are tow hooks are not intended for towing.

Superfan

Get on a diet.

pete325is

Anyone has the idea of how heavy is each of the standard 18" wheel will be?

med_mx6

darn, beat me to it... Atkins, baby!

just kidding. personally, I could stand to lose 15-20 lbs... i would bet 95%+ of the population out there could stand to lose at least 10 lbs if not 20 lbs.

isn't removing the AC unit the most efficient weight loss (meaning, time spent to remove it vs. actual weight loss)...?

93rdcurrent

That's what I said... I can't think of a racing application, other than stock, where the A/C was kept in the car. BMW even made a version of the M3 where they took out the A/C, stereo, and many other "Luxuries" to get it up a bit faster. This car was built with the Autocross enthusiast in mind and I have to admit that I am a fan of the A/C and other refinements.

You could also drive you car around with less than half a tank of gas.

You could leave your signficant other at home (probably the most effecient weight saving idea). Now you won't have to hear about how you need to slow down :p .

RX-8 friend

Wheels are about 20 lbs. Light for 18" ones. Not much chance of loosing weight there. Look at some of the brackets (and tow and lift hooks already mentioned). You could make new brackets of aluminum to replace some of the steel ones. I suspect you could loose 10-20 lbs. if you worked at it. Overall, I don't think there is much more than 100-200 lbs you could drop, and that's with the interior and A/C too. A CF hood will weigh about the same as the stock aluminum one, and it will need hood pins to be as secure as stock.

Best way to reduce weight is to use a poorly calibrated or cheater scale. Now THAT'S been done!

-=Zeqs=-

Hard to think of many places to remove weight from, especially since the car doesn't even normally come with a spare tire.

You can...

Replace the rims with some extra light 17's. Make sure the over-all profile is the same. Some bicycle shops offer nitrogen tire fills because it's a lighter gas. Someone already mentioned that you can replace the trunk lid with a carbon fiber one.

Titanium exhaust, after-market intake system. Make sure you remove all of the old exhaust parts that aren't used. I haven't gotten down and dirty to check on the 8, but most cars have to air boxes. One where the intake filter is kept and another for sound resonation. Remove both, use a light-weight aluminum cold air intake or something of the sort.

Lose the stereo system, everything. Deck, speakers, amps if you have the BOSE, and wiring. AC as many have said. Lose the carpeting and any tar or sound deterants they may use. Most cars use tar. Get some lightweight racing seats for the driver and passenger. Replace the glass windows with LEXAN.

Buy some magnessium wheel lugs nuts. Take off all of the plastic under-car pieces.

That's about it...not likely you can take off 100 - 200 pounds though.

The lighter rims should make the biggest difference though since that is unsprung weight and should not affect the 50/50 weight distribution.

Speed-ER doc

Not many people from down this way will be losing their A/C, I gyeh-ron-tee. Easiest thing is to lose the golf clubs in the back and make your passengers take their own cars (sorry honey, you're just too heavy to ride in my 8).

Jhouse

make all metal parts out of titanium but make the body carbon fiber. strip all the interior gut all the usless stuff under the hood and wabam!!! you have one super light car that the average person could care less to drive on the street everyday.

Thinthi

not for nothing, but this car is designed with a 50/50 weight ratio. now even if its not exact, taking a couple hundred pounds out from the front and not that back would throw the balance of the car off, and wouldn't that make the handling suffer??? i'm not to knowledgable about the whole weight issue, but i know the struggled to make a 50/50 weight ratio, why ruin it??

rx-7~rx-8

Get racing seats... DONT get electric seats... get plastic headlights instead of metal... on my honda i got plastic... and it prolly weights 5-7 lbs each.. and plactic ones weight only .5-1 lb
get Light wheels... try to avoid getting luxury.. such as cd changer... BOSE 7 speaker setup... aftermarket is better n lighter...take out lot of plastic stuff in the engine bay..

rx-7~rx-8

Carbon fiber dash... kit...

93rdcurrent

That's where the container for the concrete cylinder blocks comes in. All you need to do is weight the front with the blocks every time you get out of balance. I hear bricks work nice for this as well.

JeRKy 8 Owner

You guyswont gain much by gettingrid of 200lbs of weight except adisgusting looking interior. You shouldjust work on adding horsepower b/c that is all the car is missing to take off faster than the other cars in its classlike the 350Z and the G35. I think w/about 50 more hp it could take those other cars.

13B-MSP

Actually, i think we can save a LOT of weight on the wheels... just a bit Pricey.... the actual weight we save on the Flywheel, Rims are actaully 1:8 lbs due to the rotation inertia... so if you save 1 pound on the rim... you are actaully saving 8 lbs of curb weight...SSR comp C 18" weights 14-15 lbs each i believe... that's 5 lbs x 8 lbs x 4 sides = 160 lbs ... with a lighter tire, flywheel, hood, trunk, uneccesary stuffs away... i think 300 lbs total is very possible..... putting us... the equal curb weight as the RSX-S...
I read the Rotation Inertia, on another forum... i might be wrong... can someone confirm... don't want to mislead anyone here...

RX8MAN04

lite-weight battery save 20lbs

-=Zeqs=-

Front 18X7.5 weights in at 15 lbs a piece, if you choose not to use the same size for the back, the OPTIONAL 18X8.5 weights in at 16 lbs a piece if you should choose to not use the same sizes for front and back.

17X7.5 weights in at 13.8 lbs a piece, the optional rear variants weights in at 15 lbs a piece if you should choose to not use the same size for front and back once again.

Just make sure the overall diameter of your rims with tires equates to the same diameter as the OEM ones...

rodmeister

Just thought of some unessential stuff to remove:

-Fog lights
-Cigarette lighter tray and lighter
-Interior door handles (part of the door storage area)
-Right side, headliner passenger handle
-Trunk lockout switch
-Emergency trunk handle
-Sunglass holder
-Vanity mirrors and lights in sunshade
-Baby seat anchors and bolts
-Car jack (depends on your risk tolerance)

Alessandro

Titanium washers, bolts and nuts could be another way to lose weight. Preformance wise I think best effect is moving parts like
wheel bolts and nuts.
For more about titanium bolts, nuts and washers www.mettec.com

RobDickinson

Oh how American.

To get a car to go faster - in a straight line - you can either add HP, or loose weight - either work just as well.

Halve the weight of the car works just as well as doubling the HP.

Only one of those options improves braking,handling and cornering - can you guess which...?

Case in point :-
1996 Lotus elise. 118bhp, 750kg
2003 RX-8. 240bhp, 1300kg.

Close power/weight ratio - but the Elise will eat the RX-8 round a track.

Jhouse

torque torque torque is also important on a straight line run. why is it that all people think is important is HP, HP is so over talked about when it comes to straight line dashes.

RobDickinson

Which is why F1 cars have loads of Hp and no torque...?