S Chassis Lightening

[AaronSpecV]

http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/features/0611sscp_opera_performance_honda_s2000/index.html

I read this article several months back, and I was inspired by the way Opera lightened their S2000. Since I'm out of mod money for now, I thought I might see how I can lighten the chassis in the mean time.

What have you done to lighten your 240? What do you think of what Opera did to the S2K? Is there anywhere on the 240 where you think cheese holing would be a good idea?

Let's leave obvious things like removing AC, Power Steering, and interior panels out of this thread, and focus on things that would applicable for a daily driver as well. I know that removing those things a very effective form of lightening and I'd be all about it if I was building a track car, but I'm looking for more obscure and covert things that won't in any way affect the function of the car and aren't obvious to a female passenger or a potential opponent at the drag strip.

Here's an example:

There is a ton of sound deadening tar in the trunk of the B15 Sentra. You can remove it fairly easily by freezing it with dry ice so that it becomes brittle, and then breaking it up with a hammer. Stuff like that is what I'm looking for in my 240sx.

P.S. Mods, I wasn't sure where I should put this. If there is a better place for it, please feel free to move it elsewhere.

Discuss0rz!!1!

[King]

moved to Fabrication (since it wasn't to specific)

Be careful when doing this, don't just start taking a sawzall to random places on the car,lol

[superJoy]

There's a lot of the tar sound deadening all over the car, in both the passenger and luggage space. There's also some sound deadening stuff on the firewall you can pull off. Take out all the gas in your tank but a couple gallons and remove the spare tire and jack.

I don't think there's much else you can do to be covert about it... the only 240SX with a significant amount of chassis lightening I've seen is the Dent Sport Garage and they chopped the entire rear underside of the car off, but I don't think that would be smart to do without some kind of bracing like a roll cage.

[sourcandy]

I think we discussed this once, i'll search for it when i get home.

"Swiss chessing" the 240 and keeping as a daily driver don't go together. If your going to remove a circle of metal, somehwere else you are going to have to add the metal back for strength, in form of a gusset or weld.

Drop weight? AL suspension pieces, forged wheels, smaller tires, AL brake components, lighter rotors. Reduce your rotational mass and you'll see a big difference. Lighter valve train components will free up your motor, lighter flywheel, smaller clutch, etc, etc.
Removing the backseat is pointless, it's like 5 lbs of foam. lol.

There is a TON of weight in wiring under the dash, take out what you dont need and streamline it and drop some weight. Fiberglass body panels, and carbon fiber, lexan windows. Glass weighs alot, aftermarket seats can be lighter as well.

-Ed

[AaronSpecV]

I think I might get started on this over the weekend, and I'll keep everything I take out and weigh it.

moved to Fabrication (since it wasn't to specific)

Be careful when doing this, don't just start taking a sawzall to random places on the car,lolI'm thinking about cutting off my doors, jeep style. Haha.

I think we discussed this once, i'll search for it when i get home.

"Swiss chessing" the 240 and keeping as a daily driver don't go together. If your going to remove a circle of metal, somehwere else you are going to have to add the metal back for strength, in form of a gusset or weld.

-Ed
This would be true if I was cutting holes in structural components, but aren't there places where this can be done without affecting the stiffness of the chassis?

[240sx_n00b]

just wondering why you would need to lighten up this dratsic?

shaving a tenth of a sec? better cornering? if its daily driven... not sure why youre going through all these extreme actions... chances are, youll be riding a daily thats uncomfortable.

My plan is to get a daily driver then turn the 240 this way. but as long as she's my daily... im keeping ac and all the comfort that it has :)


my .02 cents

[superJoy]

Meh, he used to have an N/A FF car. He's still transitioning. :yllol: j/k j/k

You don't need to go cutting holes in the car. If anything, stick on a bigger turbo, tub the front wheel wells (completely pointless and stupid 18x10-12 with no rubbing, yay), and add a cage. Those should compensate for the weight of removing the sound deadening, sound system, climate control, interior panels, etc. and the car will be a lot better to drive.

[AaronSpecV]

just wondering why you would need to lighten up this dratsic?

shaving a tenth of a sec? better cornering? if its daily driven... not sure why youre going through all these extreme actions... chances are, youll be riding a daily thats uncomfortable.

My plan is to get a daily driver then turn the 240 this way. but as long as she's my daily... im keeping ac and all the comfort that it has :)


my .02 cents
Oh, I will be keeping AC, power steering, etc. That's why I'm looking for other ways to lighten it up. I'm not doing anything too extreme really. Just wanted to discuss this and see what everyone else thought about it.

[sourcandy]

swiss cheesing your unibody S chassis is a terrible idea. Like I said, just about anywhere you drill a hole into your chassis with out some other form of re-inforcement is weaking the chassis. Most people that go that extreme have a roll bar atlest if not a cage, and the chassis is usually stitch welded up. Well... your fenders arn't structural, I guess you could take those off. lol. but whats the point, the fenders are already light.

[Bow]

Oh, I will be keeping AC, power steering, etc.

Then really, don't waste your time or risk your safety...

those are the heaviest things on the car that you can rip out...

[xanavi_D]

Then really, don't waste your time or risk your safety...

those are the heaviest things on the car that you can rip out...

yea dude, dont even bother. there isnt reallly much you can take out if you dont wanna take out the obvious like a/c, panels, wiring, etc. etc. doing the tar saves some weight but doing that much goddamn work...and its a LOT of work for just a few pounds when your not gonna take anything else out isnt worth it for ****. go all out, or just leave everything in.

[Bow]

You can always hit the gym and lose a few pounds... that is just like taking weight off your car... ;)

[sourcandy]

true dat... you could also drive around in a bathing suit and a tank top and flip flops that should cut about 14-16lbs depending on how tall and big you are.

[AaronSpecV]

You can always hit the gym and lose a few pounds... that is just like taking weight off your car... ;)
LOL. If we had met, you'd know that's not an option.

[superJoy]

true dat... you could also drive around in a bathing suit and a tank top and flip flops that should cut about 14-16lbs depending on how tall and big you are.Nah, go completely naked. I bet Honda guys do it. Weight loss mang! 5 hp!

[AaronSpecV]

Nah, go completely naked. I bet Honda guys do it. Weight loss mang! 5 hp!
It's JDM style.

[sipo240]

thats why half the people i race dont have shirts on!! it finally makes sense to me now

[superJoy]

It's also JDM to carry only one CD with you.

CD binder = 2 lbs. !!!!!!!!!

[Milo (SATX)]

Cut over 800lbs out of my 300ZX slicktop and still going. Used that article as a lot of good info.

Nice find.

[GamblerZ]

Didn't you have an extensive write-up on that somewhere?

[godzilla34]

i agree with the ac and power steering parts.. i dont have a dash, or ac. i have the box in place due to the heater still being in the car but its just the box everything is gutted on the inside.. something about texas heat and sliding sideways at high rpms tend to get the motor hot so i kept the heater and the blower unit in there for temp reasoning... and it gets balls cold out.. but i removed the passenger seat rear seats, i bought it with a roll cage in it for drifting purposes and i like the added support. im working on the wiring but its being a pain in the *** thinking about adding switches and removing all of the relays and extra wires for useless junk i dont have.. 0 interior parts i do have a carbon fiber bucket seat with a 4 pt harness instead of the retractable ones. power steering will be added sooner or later.... or when i get a bracket for the pump, but its not really needed even for drifting. first drift event i went to i didnt have it and i learned a ton of things about the car because of it. so dont rule that out. welded diff has its pros and cons but that will save weight as well. maybe a few pounds but its up to you for that one.i dont have any support for the bumpers removed the front bumper support for the intercooler and took out the foam that was in there, same thing for the rear. i have the electric windows in it because i cant lean over far enough to get to the other door and im lazy. but the only things i would even consider cutting on would be, cutting the rear fenders out and re welding them together for over fenders. i refuse to cut on anything else. not worth the worry. theres alot of things you can do to save weight but if you want to do some of it and not others for daily reasoning its not really worth it.. and if the chicks dont like the fact that they're riding in a bad arse gutted car chances are they shouldnt be in it anyways lol. no o sh#t handle to grab on to saves like 5 lbs hahaha jk i say go all out or leave it clean and try to make it look as nice as possible, a gutted car looks like arse most of the time unless you spend alot of time cleaning and painting it.. then its almost to much work. good luck with it if you ever did it