ToxicWS6

my goal this winter is to try to drop as much weight off my car as i safely can, that being said i know a lot of the drag race guys do a lot of gutting of inner body panels, sheet metal and etc and really strip these cars down, for doing autoX and road courses how much of what they gut out is still safe to do so in these cars without actually removing to much structure rigidness?

thoughts where "modify" front inner fenders, remove lower radiator support/brace and replace with a tubular one with tabs to mount my radiator (turbo car so upper core supports gone already).

do you all feel it safe to remove the door bars in the doors? this is a street driven car also.

if any one has a, u can cut/remove X, X and X and ull lose a decent amount of weight and/or with pics that would be awesome too!

thanks!

Chris Paveglio

iTrader: (2)

What kind of "street driving" do you mean? And what have you done so far? Because, if you want serious weight savings, then all the interior is gutted, no passenger seat, lightweight battery, remove radio and speakers, remove AC, etc. Until you've done all the standard stuff, I wouldn't go cutting metal. Unless you are a serious road racer, I personally would not cut the structure. And then, if you're a serious road racer, there may be rules about what is allowable for your class. If you're just going to do some road course events casually, then such extreme measures are likely overkill. Some threads on FRRAX get real serious about weight reduction. Lexan windows and such.
Can you clarify what kind of car use/driving you really are shooting for?

ToxicWS6

my street driving is taking to work once or twice a week depending on mood or out on the weekends and etc, so probably 60-75% on the street. that being said this car to the average person isnt a quite street friendly car as is, which dosnt bother me, i have my truck if i want quite and comfortable, when i want to get into my car (race car) im expecting to get into my car with bumper dump, twin disc clutch and solid engine mounts and enjoy those aspects.

that being said heres whats done currently and what i want to keep

-LQ4 front mount turbo kit
-abs delete
-cruise control delete
-air pump delete
-egr delete
-tubular kmember
-moser 9 in
-back seats removed
-ac removed, rest of ac under dash will be removed this winter
-racing seats are coming this winter
-still have aftermarket sound system, which i know adds decent weight but thats something i want to keep. (what keeps it in the street car category lol)
-going to passenger side airbag delete this winter
-thought about door bars but sounds like the 20lbs id save isnt worth it

only thing suspension wise factory are my front A-Arms which i plan on getting UMI tubular ones this winter also, everything else is aftermarket tubular

i have no idea what the car weighs right now, if i was to guess, with everything taken out but everything added, im still at 3300-3400lbs, and would like to get to around 3000lbs, if you think im lighter already please inform as i honestly have no idea, just guessing/assuming

heard about, but couldn't find threads or actual how to yet, but there was say about how u can remove/hole saw ur front inner fenders and rear fenders and just cut excess metal out of these areas that are "not needed" but i would be a little worried on whats "not needed" for drag racing vs street/road courses

casual road racer atm but i plan on getting into more events starting this summer as ill have the free time to finally do so.

thanks for input!

JD_AMG

Im sure you don't want to hear this but you will be faster if you dumped the LQ4 and turbo kit for an aluminum N/A setup even with significantly less power.
Also keep your eyes on that tubular K-member as they can easily crack when seeing lateral Gs as they were only built to go strait lines.
Also if you are running poly bushings in control arms I would ditch those asap for rod end or rotojoint.
Id focus on learning to drive the car first, its going to be a handful as is, learn to be a fast driver before making the car any faster.

ToxicWS6

thats the main reason for upgrading arms is for the roto joints/solid joints, and yeah ill agree that a heads cam ls2 would be way more ideal then the engine combo i have, that being said though i am gunna keep it turbo just cause its also a for fun car when its street driven and i like the turbo aspect (hopefully small to mid twins in future for no lag)

ive done a decent amount of circle track with this car and also have done a full road course for two events, probably 40 laps each, so yes the car is deff a handfull and took some time to get use to boosting out of the corners and managing lag through long cornerd, and i still have a ton to learn, but i managed to drop from a 138 sec lap to a 100.10 being my fastest on that track (NCCAR ran counter clock wise) and thats with full strano suspension and r888s in rear and nt01s up front, car as is could of broken into double digits im sure with a better driver.

mainly if i can lose a few hundred LBs at this point it would be a win all the way around from every aspect and im gunna have the car pulled apart this winter (first year with a shop at my new house so so if theres some weight mods i could do while its apart i was going to.

and ive heard of the kmembers not liking road racing so ive been watching it