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My weight reduction

320K views 1.1K replies 174 participants last post by  chetrickerman  
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Code:
 Disclaimer I am not liable for any things you may do to your car
Do not post in this thread how its a bad idea to remove the crash beams, airbags, etc. My thread doesnt need to be filled with crap

BTW, it is NOT illegal to remove the crash beams or air bags

http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/adaptive/inoper/Fre_ask_ques.htm

http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/problems/studies/bumper/index.html




Due to popular demand, I have been asked to make a list of the things I have removed, replaced, or modified to reduce weight on my Evo. I wont be able to remember everything right away so I will update this post as I remember more stuff. I still retain the dash, plastic covers for foot wells, carpet, door panels, head liner, and rear seats for a semi stock look since I drive my car on public roads.

I wont post the weight of parts removed because I did not weigh them.

So as my car sits on Aug 7, 2012

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weight with a full tank of gas and my 25 pound son in the back as of Aug 18, 2012

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Pics of my interior:

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My engine bay as of Aug 13, 2012

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My cars weight and engine bay as of Aug 5th, 2013

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The Removed list:

- all crash beams (front, rear, and crash bars inside the doors)
- all airbags, airbag control unit, airbag sensors, and all airbag wiring
- A/C compressor, condenser, lines and core. Replaced with AMS A/C delete pulley
- fog lights, replaced with JDM fog light deletes
- all plastic panels on the front bumper (air guides, etc)
- weight below intercooler and below where the driveshaft and transfer case meet
- stock hood latch and gutted stock hood and trunk lid
- all sound deadening (in cabin and in trunk)
- entire sound system (head unit, amp, sub, all speakers, and all wiring)
- all trunk crap (carpet, plastic, fiber board, etc)
- steel frame from the rear back rest and fold down arm rest
- all floor mats
- steel plates that hold the stock head unit in place
- all brackets/bolts that aren't used or I modified them to be lighter but still as strong (far too many to list)
- stock plastic fender vents
- all fabric insulation in engine bay, firewall, and most of it in the cabin.
- unnecessary heat shields
- driveshaft tunnel heat shield and fuel tank heat shield
- black metal plate underneath the windshield wipers (no clue what its called)
- rear black plastic panel
- steel brackets above the rear strut tower
- at least 10 pounds of unused wiring from components that were removed

The Replaced list:

- stock driver and passenger seats with Bride FRP bucket seats with buddy club low seat rails
- stock steering wheel with a Works bell hub and Momo steering wheel
- front crossmember with AMS lightweight front crossmember
- stock springs/struts with JRZ RS1 coilovers with swift main & helper springs (which are 20 pounds ligher than the exact same spec Eibach springs)
- stock wheels/tires with Enkei RPF1 18x9.5 +15 with 245 Dunlop star spec tires
- stock battery with AMS lightweight battery kit
- stock driveshaft with lightweight aluminum driveshaft
- stock rear control arms with Megan racing rear control arms
- stock exhaust manifold with Full-Race Pro-stock tubular manifold
- stock turbo back exhaust with ETS recirc downpipe, custom aluminum test pipe and custom titanium cat-back
- entire stock HVAC unit with a flex-a-lite mohave lightweight heater along with heater core and A/C core (weighs less than 5 pounds rather than the 20+ pound stock HVAC unit)
- stock rear wing with a Aeromotions R2 static CF wing
- stock mirrors with APR Formula GT3 mirrors
- stock radiator and fan shroud with Mishimoto radiator and flex-a-lite 2500 cfm single fan custom mounted to radiator
- stock fuel feed line (which is steel) with lightweight -6 an fuel line
- stock clutch and flywheel with ACT 6-puck and streetlight flywheel

The Modified list:

- stock strut bar (drilled holes and cut off unnecessary metal
- stock steering column support (removed all unnecessary brackets/metal but still retaining its strength)

To Do list:

Nothing, im completely out of ideas. Feel free to post any ideas :)
 
#57 · (Edited)
Well its hard to remove as much weight from the front as I did the rear, but I think I got it pretty close. No way to know for sure until I get front and rear weights

This is a great thread, I am looking forward to following some of these steps as the Evo becomes less of a daily (it's at 50% now) - Kudos to you.

Funny thing is that when I first bought the car I thought - Shit this Mofo is noisy inside - ten months forward and I can't tell the difference anymore.


Looking forward to some pictures of the interior.
Thank you sir!

More pics! Give me a bigger shot of the engine bay so I can see the chopped off brackets :)
Its hard to see the modified brackets/bolts

Probably already have this one, but I had to remove the rear drivers side tow hook to install my exhaust. That piece weighs a good amount, and is fairly simple to remove. And I've had the car towed a couple times since removal, so not necessary in any way.
Yes, both the tow hooks back there are gone.

Thanks for the Idea though :thumbup:
 
#56 ·
Probably already have this one, but I had to remove the rear drivers side tow hook to install my exhaust. That piece weighs a good amount, and is fairly simple to remove. And I've had the car towed a couple times since removal, so not necessary in any way.
 
#62 ·
Seriously dont know the weight. It was an item we didnt weighted. it was an obvious upgrade for lightening the car up. So i have no clue. And now it is deep inside the car.
Also creates a LOTS of room under the dash!!
 
#65 ·
I have been thinking about doing some of this stuff but it is scary! lol. I have the trunk emptied and that's about it for the weight savings so far. The only thing I can think of doing right now is getting a single exit catback exhaust (or getting one made and put on at a local shop)...I'm sure it will be WAY lighter than my cnt dual exit piece. That and light weight wheels should make quite a difference right? Does anyone know how much lighter wheels affects the acceleration? I understand that there is less rotational mass to move and there would be an obvious difference, but does anyone know how much difference per lighter pound on each wheel exactly?
 
#67 ·
light weight wheels should make quite a difference right? Does anyone know how much lighter wheels affects the acceleration? I understand that there is less rotational mass to move and there would be an obvious difference, but does anyone know how much difference per lighter pound on each wheel exactly?
Well things like driveshafts, flywheels, etc. are supposedly roughly equal to 10lbs for every 1lb. But after reading about lighter wheels on a physics forum, it seemed like the difference is only about half of that. but then you have to consider each lb per wheel is multiplied by 4 due to having 4 wheels.
 
#70 ·
Unless you really mess up the distribution, less weight is rarely a bad thing.

A lighter car will always handle better than a fat ass one. Sure if you made the distribution 70/30 then you might screw it up but I don't think doing what Chet did will make an impact and if anything the lighter car will handle better.
 
#80 ·
Figured I'd link your EVAP removal write up in here for further use fullness.
 
#91 ·
There is some weight in the rear seat area, and it's easy to remove the entire rear seat for track events. The child safety seat brackets aren't needed if you don't plan on strapping in kids, there are also two crossbars for stiffness but honestly they don't look like they don much, better off with an aluminum rear strut tower bar. That weight between the intercooler and frame is missing on my 2011, but was brick of a weight on my old car with no use for it. You can safely remove one of heavy brackets bracing the intake manifold. The airbox bracket seems heavy for what it does, removing that and replacing with a lightweight shield for your filter helps as well. The crash beams are seriously heavy, but haven't removed those yet.
 
#101 ·
goood list!