making your car lighter, any ideas?

[vekara]

We all know a lighter car use less fuel, goes better and is often better handling. most 10 year old cars are very heavy, take Astra H for instance, the sri coupe weighs 1401kg according to specs. An earlier model Calibra weigh 1280kg. Manufacturers increased the safety by making the cars heavier and now the trend is to start sheading that weight, a new Mazda Mx5 weighs 100kg less than its predecessor.
Have you any good ideas that are economically viable to make your car lighter, legally without compromising safety or comfort?
I was looking at the brake components, they are all solid iron and weigh a lot, then comes wheels and tyres, they weigh 20kg each, seats, exhaust system, battery and so on.

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[dutchy]

Put only 5 litres of fuel in instead of 50.
Loose weight yourself.
Ditch passenger and rear seats.

But then again, I don't think it would make any sense on a road car to do all of that.

[vekara]

Put only 5 litres of fuel in instead of 50.
Loose weight yourself.
Ditch passenger and rear seats.

But then again, I don't think it would make any sense on a road car to do all of that.

the fuel is a good point, I notice a small difference when the tank is almost empty compared to full. Also a factor is that old fuel becomes denser and gives more power per volume than fresh fuel, believe or not...
I would like to look at replacing the original 20kg lead acid battery with something high tech and much lighter. there are some racing Li-ion batteries that weigh 6kg giving same crank power. Anyone have one? there goes 16 kg without any adverse effect.

[adam_92]

Strip all the seats out, all plastic trim panels, sound deadening and carpets, titanium exhaust, lightweight racing wheels, strip excess wiring, remove a/c system, plexiglass windows, carbon fibre panels...

The list is endless mate. Depends how far you wanna go, generally the more extreme you go, the more uncomfortable and unroadworthy the car will become

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[sskustomz]

Titanium bolts, carbon fibre everything, li-ion battery, strip everything


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[gravy258]

buy a Calibra, it'll never run, thus saving fuel

[gman]

I managed to get my TS Astra SRi-T down to 890kgs racing weight.

We had to get rid of everything non-essential, ripped out the standard electrical harness for a new light weigh racing harness.

Carbon panels, lexan windows etc etc...how far do you want to go?

[Elliot_O]

the fuel is a good point, I notice a small difference when the tank is almost empty compared to full. Also a factor is that old fuel becomes denser and gives more power per volume than fresh fuel, believe or not...
I would like to look at replacing the original 20kg lead acid battery with something high tech and much lighter. there are some racing Li-ion batteries that weigh 6kg giving same crank power. Anyone have one? there goes 16 kg without any adverse effect.

If it's a daily, I wouldn't recommend one of those lighter batteries, they're not meant for continued use really, or any auxiliary components

[vekara]

I took everything out of the booth including a blanket i use to protect the booth lining. The spare, tools and the booth floor panel weighs 28 kg, pretty good saving, although I believe it is illegal to remove the original spare from the booth and drive on public roads.

[adam_92]

Not if you put a can of the tyre goo like most new cars have now

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