I still have yet to grow the balls to take an angle grinder to my hood supports. I'm afraid it'll get away from me and notch a hole in the hood

 

Awesome, cant wait to see. Im itching to shed more weight, but have hit wall as far as finding stuff to get rid of.

 

There's all sorts of useless crap in a X. It's not hard to get weight out. Just have to make compromises

 

when my motor is out and my car is all tore apart (next week or 2) I plan on taking a bunch of pics of everything that I have removed (that I can remember, lol)

 

Hey Chet, have you found any more little pieces that are unneeded to take off as of late?

 

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I disagree with this, just because another company does something with their design doesn't mean it is the ideal solution. There are other factors that go into why they chose a 2 instead of a 3 point. Structurally a 3 point is going to be superior to a 2 point 9 times out of 10 but is the added weight gain/packaging issues worth it? That depends on who you ask and the application.

+1

let's not allow ourselves to be ignorant here.

On a related note, the FRS has a triangulated strut bar design. Technically a 3 point.

 

Need to get around to doing some more lbs savings on mine! Vroom vroom!

 

Yes, I am aware they make a 3 point strut bar and a 2 point strut bar. I know because I have the 2 point strut bar on my car. I am also aware that grp N cars have a cage.

Why would they bother making a 2 point strut bar if the middle attachment point was absolutely needed?

 

M-power, AMG etc, most produces only 2 points bar,therefore, 3 points it's not necessary.
It was just a little discussion

 

grp n cars don't use strut bar because roll cage is connected to the strut towers and ralliart strut bar is also 3 points, but this does't mean that it would be necessary, x shell is very stiff

 

Lets just think of it this way, Ralliart, who makes products for rally cars offers a strut bar for our cars that does not use the center attachment point. So its not really needed

 

Probably best way to determine if that center strut bar attachment point is worthwhile is to place a go pro camera aimed at the bolt hole with bolts removed and a light shining on it. If there is significant flex it will be obvious when playing back video of going around corners at higher G's. I was considering just cutting off that center attachment point completely but keeping the strut bar itself.

 

Taking the plate an wiper out is easy but for sum reason when putting back in its like 10x harder.o well lol

 

To keep the strut bar from flexing. The attachment point doesnt have to be strong at all in order to keep the strut bar from flexing.

Come on, you should know this.

 

I was just pointing out that your logic on this matter isn't consistent. At least not to me. The load from the 2 14mm hex bolts is distributed through 6 6mm bolts. It is quite obvious this plate serves a greater purpose than channeling water. The issue here is we don't know to what extent. It could be insignificant, it could be measurable. I'm just being conservative on the issue and leaving the plate in entirely. 6 lbs isn't worth it to me. I also put my stock strut bar back on cause the cusco bar is soft as hell. So i gain another 1.2 lbs for additional rigidity. Before i took it off i could flex the bar with one finger....... Stock bar? Not so much.


On a related note, the two bars that form an X behind the rear seats also serve a purpose. After close examination of the sheet metal structure and their inherently weak spot welds, these bars definitely add rigidity to the entire rear 'hoop'. How much? I'm not sure. But at 1.2 lbs extra, its worth it to me.

Eventually when i decide to get hardcore, i'll probably end up fabbing up a front and rear hoop and have the strut towers connected in a similar design to the V-sport evo X. I'm not sure if i wanna go full cage and this should be a massive bang for my buck in terms of rigidity and light weight.

 

16mm?

You mean 10mm bolt shaft and 14mm head?

 

yeah thats it. Seriously though. Explain that.

 

Here is a howto if you want to remove window wipers + black plate assembly

http://www.evoxforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=222538&page=5

But i must warn you. I posted a response in the thread regarding removal of the black plate.

I've got my wiper assembly off and from the looks of it, that black plate acts as a 'seconday strut bar' further tying the two strut towers together, not to mention the strut brace bolts onto it. After visually inspecting everything in this area, i'm going to put it all back on minus the wipers.

I don't recommend removing the black plate in fear of sacrificing some chassis rigidity.

I do not recommend removing the black plate unless you have a cage.

I removed my wiper motor + assembly and total weight loss is 10 lbs including hardware.

 

I've got my wiper assembly off and from the looks of it, that black plate acts as a 'seconday strut bar' further tying the two strut towers together, not to mention the strut brace bolts onto it. After visually inspecting everything in this area, i'm going to put it all back on minus the wipers

The only reason it is there is to separate the engine from the windshield wipers and the possible water that is collected at the bottom of the windshield. Not as a secondary strut bar.

If it was meant to be something structural, it would have a much more rigid design and wouldnt be held on by 6mm bolts, lol

 

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Yeah considering 10 lbs = roughly 1 whp at least for straight line performance I really don't like to spend more than $50 per 1 whp or shedding 10 lb.

That's $500 for 10 whp or 100 lbs...

$2500 for 50 whp or 500 lbs...

Or $5000 for 100 whp/1000 lbs. That seems to be a good rule of thumb for a street car in my book although

 

whaaaat?1 If that were the case, then we would barely be able to do anything in terms of weight reduction!! My personal limit is $30/lb on pure weight reduction items, and $50/lb on items relating to unsprung/rotational mass. Girodisc rotors are actually above the $50/lb limit, but i'm making an exception once my stock 2pc rotors die.

 

I did make a prototype aluminum test pipe if anyone is interested...

 

Weight?pics?


S.P.Q.R.

 

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Replacing all non structural bolts with aluminum or plastic equivalents if allowable?

They don't make bolts out of aluminum or plastic. Titanium is an option albeit a VERY expensive one at that. Aluminum exhaust would be fine too. I drive my car in the summer months here with it and it's great

 

Because my car isn't just a track car

 

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If ultimate weight savings is your goal why not replace the exhaust with aluminum versions? I know Al doesn't do heat cycling well but who cares if your car is a track car?

Also start looking into replacing brackets with aluminum or carbon versions with significantly more holes.

An aluminum cat back is probably fine, but i wouldn't reccomend an aluminum test pipe, and no one makes an aluminum downpipe for good reason. I run an aluminum driveshaft and i want to keep as much heat off of it as possible. Aluminum is really good at transferring that heat, while titanium is much better than steel in insulating that heat. I think a TI full exhaust is only 3 lbs heavier than AL, but you'll get loads of insurance on your driveshaft and it'll actually be able to withstand rocks being kicked up.

Carbon isn't cost effective in weight reduction here. Not only that, it'll all be super custom, super expensive, and only provide marginal gains over aluminum in most cases. Hence the reason why he still runs the gutted stock AL hood & fenders. They're awesomely light. And free. Sure, he can go balls to the wall with carbon, but i'd be willing to bet he'd only shave about 50 lbs if he redid everything, except it would cost upwards of 10k.

 

That's what I'm saying. That is a significant amount.

Great information folks.

 

Hory shit, <4 pounds for the Tomei DP.

 

What is this titanium tomei dp??


S.P.Q.R.

 

Also, can you add some info about your new strut bar setup? I noticed its different

 

Its the ralliart aluminum strut bar. I bought it from rhdjapan and it weighs 1.1 kg.