:iagree: Urethane feels so nice.

:iagree:

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who needs interior?

You mean you didn't attach those shoe string looking things to your car then get a blow dryer to simulate a wind tunnel?! It works! :rofl2:

It's strange coming from a 50/50 car but the need to go faster was too great...LOL!

Ok so the highlighted items above are what I am interested in. You mentioned you did most of this stuff already? Any additional input would be awesome. Like pics if its custom or places to buy if its vendor related and what weight savings? As far as the brakes and battery I am already going that route.

Thanks for the reply!

Edit: I will be happy with a 150 lbs (100 lbs is prob more realistic) ish drop spread evenly accross the front and back but preferably more from the front (unrealistic). I say this so I don't have to worry to much about corner balancing the car (YET!) as I don't have coilovers (YET!). My goal is to shed weight from the front and put a wider tire in front with added camber (in front). Well wider tires all around but make it so the car is closer to squared out...Front 265 and rear 285. The requirement is the car must stay functional as a daily driver (I.E. AC).

Well, the best gains in terms of cost effectiveness are still the basics. Shamu's list includes a lot of extreme measures that are going to cost a lot per lb saved (and no, I don't think he's done most of them).

The most cost-effective basics for dropping weight on a street machine:

1) Zero-cost stuff: Get rid of the windshield washer fluid reservoir system and its tubing/jets, get rid of the top engine plastic cover (if anything it traps heat).
2) Battery reloc + sub/spare removal. Remove heavy battery from front, remove heavy subwoofer and spare tire from rear, install light battery in trunk area. Net drop is 64lbs, 35 from the front and 29 from the rear. Cost is one Odyssey PC-680 battery, plus mounting and cabling hardware and some labor time. http://www.the370z.com/diy-section-d...tml#post211209
3) Lightweight wheels+tires. I went with 18" Forgestars and Continental DW tires. There are lots of options, but it's rotating unsprung mass and it's worth way more than gutting sprung weight on the car.
4) Exhaust system. Look into options like Fast Intentions - good gains and a nice weight drop from the factory system. If you combine it with their long-tube headers it's even more weight drop, and more of it up-front.

Once you get those basics knocked out, then start evaluating the rest. Whatever level of interior stripping you can tolerate on the street, and lighter racing buckets are both reasonable options.

Basically what I was thinking minus the windshield washer hardware. I'd rather not get rid of that yet.

Prob what I will do is not relocate the battery but I may get the Odyssey and place it in the stock location. I'll remove the spare before every race but leave it mounted as a precaution. I used to have the Forgestars on the Rx8...fantastic rim which will net us about 3 to 4 lbs of weight savings each wheel but I am not sure I want forgestars on the Z...I need to see it in person (Still looking). As far as exhaust I am not sure the savings in weight in this location is worth it or not due to the difference in HP with lets say the Stillen exhaust. Not to mention I don't want to make the weight distribution any worse lol but the headers are a definate.

Has anyone tried out a lighter flywheel?

Caveman, almost all top quality exhausts will net the same HP gains (especially after a tune). The only thing after that is weight & sound really or if you have future plans and are building for that.
A lot of people have a lightweight flywheel, I do not currently but I am sure others can chime in on good/bad.

I am not saying you are incorrect but only repeating what I have seen thus far. Typically there is a difference of 6 hp as compared to the Stillen. If I were to guess the average HP is about 12 wHP. Ironically I think peak HP may not be what I should be looking at anyway. I may decide on the exhaust based on torque and weight of the total system.

Remember though, dyno numbers can be made to look however they want for a company. Not saying anything about any company, but I would focus on weight, quality, overall curve of power.

Agreed...I am thinking about the Ark exhaust but not sure what the weight of the system is and truth be told I am less concerned with the weight of the ehaust itself (since its in the back of the car) and more concerned with the header weight. Balance is my goal not overall weight savings.

I had the stillen and now have the FI exhaust. The FI weighs far less and with way less bends/restrictions it does flow more freely.

^ What he said. I also did Stillen then FI. The FI is built better, fits better, obviously has a smoother flowing shape, and weighs less than stock (Stillen weighs more). None of the decent exhausts on this car differ appreciably in performance, and if anything FI's catback is one of the best-performing ones out there. However, Dynos will be Dynos, and all the gains are within the margin of error as far as internet comparisons go.

Lots of money, but how about the Litespeed titanium exhaust? At $3K it is advertised at 14 pounds, and also +14 hp over the nismo exhaust. I never knew if that meant it was only tested on a nismo, or on a coupe with first the nismo exhaust and then the Litespeed exhaust.

Question for WSTAR: How much does the plastic engine cover weigh? Does it serve any purpose other than cosmetic?

Doesn't weigh hardly anything. For me it traps heat.

Just cosmetic. :tiphat:

As far as the exhaust...I am actually worried about loosing too Much weight in the rear. Remember my goal is balance. I know many will say that can be tuned out but also take into consideration that I have not spent the money on adjustable suspension yet and this car will be tracked.

I can not justify a super light weight exhaust (from the CAT's back). So from the CAT's back I am aiming for power not weight. Header and CAT's are a different story though...that will be as lite as possible.

I wouldn't get too worried about the balance. I mean, I try to keep balance in mind, but I've definitely dropped a lot more weight from the rear than the front in the net, seeing as I've probably added front weight with things like my add-on coolers, the G3 intakes, the oilpan, the z-speed tray, etc. Whereas the rear of my car is completely stripped to the metal at this point in the interior, there's nothing aft of the seats but the airbag controller box, minimal wiring (I removed all unnecc harness wiring), and my relocated battery.

Car still handles fine with a mostly-full tank of gas (required on track until a fuel starve fix is commercially available), and my rear swaybar is still set to full stiff (if the rear got so light as to make the rear too skippy, I could soften the rear sway setting to offset a bit). I'll be more worried about balance once I can run lower on gas w/ phunk's upcoming fuel surge fixup.

^ more reason to run wider tires up front to handle load. Wouldn't you say?

:iagree:

This is true no matter how you slice it.

What's your current setup if you don't mind me asking?

Edit: Never mind...clicked sig...lol

you can also corner balance your car!

Um...you have to have adjustable suspension for that.

Just coilovers to corner balance. Adjustable suspension for alignment.

figuerd you'd have those if your in this thread!

I meantioned before I didn't...Mostly due to the fact that I've only had the car for a few months now. Eventually it will be a possibility but not yet. So my intention is to optimize what I have.

Question: I read somewhere that someone modified their hood to make it lighter. Anyone have a DIY or more information/pics they could share I am really interested in this?

BTW... :roflpuke2:I decided to go with Fast Intensions after hearing the FI cat back plus LTH combo...simply put...HAAAAMAZING!

Question2: I'm researching wheels. For obvious reasons Forgestar F14's are popular but I am not sure I like them (although I recently saw a set with the dark bronze finish that actually looked good). Do you all know of any wheel under $3k that comes close to 23 lbs and is a 19x11?

The Berk Cats are 5.5 lbs a piece for 11 lbs total, versus 21 lbs for stock.

Anyone gut stock hood yet? I'm thinking that's best approach. I'm selling boat anchor Siebon TS hood cheep!

How about gutting rear hatch too and then installing plexiglas ? Weight savings?

Nobody? :ugh2:

engine block lightening
 

Has anyone done this, or considered this? Interesting site.

Block-Lightening

Sounds kind of hard-core to me. I guess if you were having your engine completely rebuilt and fine-tuned for balance anyways, you may as well try something gutsy like that :) I wouldn't tear the engine apart just for the lightening though.

Seibon now offers dry carbon hoods and hatches. Something you may want to look into. Im also curious if anyone know any weights on them yet?

anybody look at Litespeed Racing? its basically a Titanium resonated straight pipe they claim exhaust weighs 14lbs excluding the Y-pipe as far as i can see sent them an email. its pricey 3600 or so but -40lbs and adding 14whp and 16trq (Dyno sheet on website) could be a recipe for success. Loud i would bet though good for a track car haha 370z Full Titanium Race Exhaust sounds pretty good as well

Yes, I've been to the litespeed site. They also advertize here. The 14 whp I believe was on a Nismo, so it might be more on a base coupe.

I picked up a Siebon dry carbon hatch. Will be interesting to see weight savings with this piece

I lost 16lbs with headers

Please post both weights, Siebon and stock, after you weight them. How much for the dry carbon hatch?

Were those long tube headers that replaced both the stock headers and the stock cats?