Stripping out the Z

[s13silvia]

Not got money for more power right now (well I do, but I'm trying to save a little) so wanting to tighten the car up a little and lighten her. I know how heavy the stock seating arrangement is up front (after struggling to get the driver seat in the car), so have a dry carbon bucket seat from a ferrari waiting to go in her :tt1: which weighs the grand sum of nothing. To go with the theme I plan on ripping as much out the car as I can, sound deadening, carpets, door panels absolutely everything. How far can I go with interior gadgets and wiretucking? I know theres a silver Z on here which looks like it's really sorted on the stripped-out front, how far is the strip job on that, and if the owner reads this - what real-world difference has it made? I wish I could afford an escort FG trunk as that alone weighs a good 40kg surely. May get lexan windows for the rear half but not doing for the driver/passanger door, but I've heard its not THAT much lighter than glass?

[Baz]

people will deny it but the sound deadening tar weighs over 40kg. I know as I weighed the fooker when I took it out! :tt2:

[s13silvia]

Did you take it out with dry ice? Ignore the ferrari dry carbon seat, some bugger outbid me with 5 seconds remaining :@ went for 159 quid! I've seen these go for 2000 pounds second hand. Serves me right for being tight :p Anyway I'll get a carbon bucket seat of some sort very shortly.

[Baz]

took it out with a hammer and screwdriver/chisel. And a butt load of time :lol:

 

Instead of just piling it into the bin I wanted to see how much it collectively weighed, and one box followed another - theres loads of it.

 

unlucky on the seat - spoke too soon :tt2:

[s13silvia]

Yeah shouldve learned my lesson on that front by now. Thing is I don't want to leave big scrapes and cracks, but fook knows where people get dry ice from lol! Did it make much of a difference to your performance?

[Baz]

I did it along with other bits (new intercoolers was one) and collectively they made a good difference. Any weight saving has got to be good, but if you can get rid of a good chunk then it will be great. My carpet went back in so I wasn't bothered about scratches on the floor etc, although in some sections some foot-long chunks came off which was nice :thumbup1:

[leo-r32gts]

If you have a 1500kg car and loose 150kg - obviously, thats a 10% weight saving and even more beneficial than a 10% power gain, because you you are no longer carrying that mass around bends or when braking (stop me if I sound like Martin Brundle..)

 

The ACTUAL benefit of this depends completely on how you drive the car. In terms of acceleration, it will be noticeable but not overwhelming unless you achieve considerable weight loss. If you don't push your car right to the limit when cornering (track day use etc) then you're not going to get any benefit other than marginally improving tyre wear. If you do drive your car hard then it will be very noticeable - like kicking 2 passengers out!

 

Sounds like a sensible way to start - providing you can live with it afterwards!

[s13silvia]

And is it reasonable to expect to lose 150kg out of a 300zx? I can feel the difference just having one passanger in it for straight-line speed. I already have the spare wheel out, but if I could feesibly drop another 150kg that would be mint!

[Baz]

have a look at yowser's previous posts, only the other day he brought up the list of stuff he has removed, so compare yours to that! :thumbup1:

 

sell me your kakimoto exhaust, they weigh almost a ton on their own. :yes:

[Anthonyd]

Baz, how much difference in road noise did stripping the sound deadening make?

[Baz]

cant say I really noticed the difference, the problem is my car is occasional use and I love the noise it made so didnt moan about it lol.

 

sorry thats not a great answer but I wasn't worried about extra noise so just got on with it :smash:

[Anthonyd]

It throughout the car or just the under rear seats and boot?

[big_jim]

Ive done it to my BMW. Dont know how much it weighed, but on track, with my mate in his BMW (same age and spec), i was pulling away from him..

[Baz]

It throughout the car or just the under rear seats and boot?

 

Boot area, under rear seats, under front seats, transmission tunnel (didnt remove this), over rear wheels etc. You need to take all the seats and interior out to attack it properly. :devil2:

[s13silvia]

Well slap me silly I couldn't believe how much the interior weighs :o When you really cut down on the un-necessaries it adds up massively. Going to get the seats replaced with the lightest ones I can afford to make another significant drop. I'm aiming for it to look a bit like the attakd 300zx interior. All function no form lol

[s13silvia]

christ, took it out for a spin tonight, what a difference!!! I'm not imagining it, where car is torquiest (3-4.5k) its MUCH quicker. 5th gear 100-120 feels a world apart from what it was. Also it being lighter has really made a difference in the overall feel. I was going what I wouldve considered a normal speed around some local bends then I looked down and was doing 95! Usually it wallows in the corners but nope. I'm fooking delighted!!

 

I've gone pretty far though, I've removed all sound deadening, carpets, everything un-necessary interior wize (all tweed covered crap, tranny plastics, cd player, some of the loom, rear seats, front passanger seat (got some buckets on order at last so should be better). The overall weight save had to be in the region of 100-140kg easily, the sound deadening all put in 2 bags was over 30kg for certain.

[Baz]

nice one mate :thumbup1:

[s13silvia]

Cheers, I gotta spend the time now smoothing it all out and painting it up so it looks clean, and getting little touches like a navigator foot rest etc. Anybody know the thread of the seatbelt bolts in the back? Just fancied getting some eye bolts

[leo-r32gts]

Cheers, I gotta spend the time now smoothing it all out and painting it up so it looks clean, and getting little touches like a navigator foot rest etc. Anybody know the thread of the seatbelt bolts in the back? Just fancied getting some eye bolts

 

:lol: - hope you're not using the road as a race track / rally stage!!!

 

Shame you didn't try to establish some before and after performance stats like Dazvert and his brake tests.. Get some pictures up!!

[s13silvia]

Hehe, without testing equipment it's hard to convince people. I can say its MORE than worth doing for the performance gain, whether you can live with the increase in noise though is another matter.

[s13silvia]

no pics until it's done ;)

[leo-r32gts]

Whereabouts in the U of K are you? I might come and see if I can spy some test runs (presumably your car will be adorned with zebra vinyl wrap during its shakedown, er, I mean careful evening trip to the shops..)

[Baz]

so how did you get rid of the sound deadening?

[s13silvia]

Haha up the midsts of the highlands! For the thicker flat stuff in the boot a big chisel/hammer, for the seats/wheelarches screwdriver/hammer. Going to sand the whole lot to get rid of the residue

[leo-r32gts]

Haha up the midsts of the highlands! For the thicker flat stuff in the boot a big chisel/hammer, for the seats/wheelarches screwdriver/hammer. Going to sand the whole lot to get rid of the residue

 

Awesome!

 

I'm heading upto Perth and Aberfeldy start of July to see my family, will keep my eyes peeled!