[Checkmate1]

Hi Folks,

Apart from adding decadent levels of Carbon....what are some of the budget friendly ways of taking weight off our cars?

Ex: I recently deleted the pair of Secondary Cats which together takes off 9lbs off the car.

Let's use this thread to educate and be informed.

[Mark R]

I think one must have the end goal in mind, if one is trying to reduce weight. I also think that not one in a thousand drivers could tell if even 100 pounds were removed from this car, unless they tracked it on the regular.

Why do you want to reduce the weight? Race cars are completely stripped, which does not sound like what you want. You don't want to spend big money on carbon, so where are you going with this?

Off the top of my head, you could get rid of the exhaust suitcase and the rear seats, which would seem like the lowest hanging fruit. If you went out of your way to take out the secondary cats for a mere 9 pounds, I hope you don't have excess weight around your own middle, as that is free to reduce that weight over time.

[kropscamaro16]

nickyboyraces has a whole thread on his 1le about removing weight removed all the carpet and insulation back seat, added race seats and cage added carbon doors and trunk and other goodies


lightweight wheel and tires will help and brakes


light battery also



light clutch/flywheel and driveshaft

[Markoz28]

I have dabbled in the thought of weight reduction as well and would have to agree with the previous post that changing the exhaust to something like a corsa cat back will drop about 20lbs and removing the rear seats maybe another 20lbs but would want to install the rear seat delete so that it looks right and doesn’t have so much sound from the rear. Other than that a light weight battery but who knows how long those last. I can’t imagine anything else as I love the creature comfort of this car.

[Bow Tie Fanatic]

On Friday I’m going to a muffler shop to see if they can make a bracket right before the suitcase so I can take the muffler off when I get to the track (road course) and hopefully save around 40 lbs. The muffler shop is going to make 2 6-8” extensions with turn downs. This will be just for when I’m tracking the car and then I can bolt on the muffler prior to leaving the track. Also I’m going to remove the rear seats the next time I go to the track and I think from what I saw on a previous thread that this would be worth 28 lbs. I also have OEM 19” ZLE wheels with 3R’s and hope these are slightly lighter than than the stock 20”’s with SC3’s. Not trying to get too crazy here but it would be nice if we could remove the passenger seat and run the car without messing anything up. Anybody done this yet? All of this would equal approx 130 lbs and would be reversible (at least I hope reversible).

[viurniel]

The muffler sounds like a new idea, but why not remove the whole thing (cat-back)? Although, some tracks hate noise and you may want to check that first.

Some here have a back seat delete mod. There is a vendor that sells a panel to cover the hole.

[Apex_Missing_Ape]

Originally Posted by viurniel

The muffler sounds like a new idea, but why not remove the whole thing (cat-back)? Although, some tracks hate noise and you may want to check that first..

Viurniel is right. At Barber MSP the exhaust has to be below a certain noise threshold. 103dB maybe? I can't remember. Road ATL is the same way, and they do enforce it. They'll have to pay penalties to the city/county of they don't.

[angryBits]

Originally Posted by Checkmate1

Hi Folks,

Apart from adding decadent levels of Carbon....what are some of the budget friendly ways of taking weight off our cars?

Ex: I recently deleted the pair of Secondary Cats which together takes off 9lbs off the car.

Let's use this thread to educate and be informed.

What level of loss are we aiming for?

Track use only or still livable?

For track use only, I would rip out the front and rear seats and replace the front seats with super light racing buckets. That alone will save you quite a bit.

Headers + Catback will save you a lot too.
I did headers and catback on my Gen5 ZL1 and saved a ton.

You don't need speakers.

Lightweight wheels don't actually drop much weight but they do help make the car feel and respond like a lighter car. You can probably drop a net -20 across all 4 wheels.

- Rear Seat Delete
- Racing Buckets in Front
- Headers-back exhaust and no-cats or hi-flow cats
- Speakers Delete
- Lightweight wheels

I bet you could drop 200lbs and the car would still be very streetable.
Also that weight is mostly front and middle, so weight distribution could improve.

[Checkmate1]

All,

I do a combination of street and track.

[Baldilocks01SS]

Just make sure you're taking weight off of the front and rear equally. If not, you'll just be upsetting the balance of the car.

[Checkmate1]

Anybody know the weight of the stock muffler box?

[Baldilocks01SS]

Originally Posted by Checkmate1

Anybody know the weight of the stock muffler box?

30 or so pounds.

[Checkmate1]

Good advice.

Originally Posted by Baldilocks01SS

Just make sure you're taking weight off of the front and rear equally. If not, you'll just be upsetting the balance of the car.

[Checkmate1]

AngryBits - I like the idea of removing weight down the center of the car. This automatically means 'Exhaust mod' for me.

That being said, Headers + Xpipe are definitely in the future for me.

Any body know how much the Stock Headers and Xpipe weigh?