Does anybody happen to know the difference in weight from a manual passenger seat to the complete power seat?

 

The sport seat & track must weigh at least 10-15lbs; the leather would be heavier than cloth.

I would guess maybe 20-30lbs heavier than the std cloth covered seat assembly.

 

Its been a couple of years since I did this and I seem to remember 18 pounds for each seat plus seat track (can't remember for sure). I replaced my 96 sport power seats with manual seats and tracks from an 84. I think it was another 12 pounds to eliminate the power seat wiring harness and console together. The wiring harness is surprisingly heavy. By taking this approach, of removing luxury, or look good items, I have removed about 250 pounds so far.
FrankLT4CE

 

FrankLT4CE wrote:
"By taking this approach, of removing luxury, or look good items, I have removed about 250 pounds so far"

Wow! That's like adding 30 HP! What else besides the seats have you removed that added up to 250 lbs?


[Modified by tobijohn, 10:06 PM 9/1/2003]

 

:withstupid:

 

The lightest weight C4 seats are almost impossible to find. They are the base cloth seats on a no option car like my 90 6 spd. with the Z-51 option only. The seats have skimpy manual runners, a plastic seat and back , some foam and cloth. They weigh no more than 10 lbs each if that.

 

larrybsp wrote:
"The lightest weight C4 seats are almost impossible to find. They are the base cloth seats on a no option car like my 90 6 spd. with the Z-51 option only. The seats have skimpy manual runners, a plastic seat and back , some foam and cloth. They weigh no more than 10 lbs each if that."

Well, FrankLT4CE had to do a LOT more than swap out his sport seats for cloth seats to get rid of 250 lbs. And I got the impression from his reply that it was stuff he was removing, not adding such as carbon fiber components but until we hear back from him, all I can do is speculate. I guess if you ditched the AC, you could save about 75 lbs. Never filling your tank more than 1/4 full would probably be good for another 100 lbs. Pollution control equipment (if you can get a way with it), 50 lbs? A lot of people leave the spare tire and jack back in the garage so that's probably about 50 lbs. What else can go? Nobody says I'm fat but I know I could lose about 20 lbs - that's 2.5 HP right there... :)

 

To remove 250 pounds I did nothing as exotic as carbon fiber. I also kept all safety items, and the AC and spare and jack. My list below is lengthy and will not interest most readers of this forum. But I believe in enjoying my corvette my way, which involved taking a beautiful 5 year old car and geting as much weight out as possible. Engine performance gains may come sometime in the future.
Removed:
all carpeting (including door sills and associated plastic)
all insulation under carpeting (except over transmission tunnel)
roll shade
interior trim around rear window
roof storage brackets
interior light lenses
console and power seat wiring
power seats and rails (replace with manual seat rails and base seats from an 84)
passengers seat (I leave the manual passengers side rails in, so I can bolt the passengers seat in in about 2 minutes)
IP side covers
LH and RH IP under trim covers (not the ones that affect crash safety)
trim cover for parking brake
cigarette lighter
plastic piece with shift pattern in shifter ****
wrench for top
owners manual
some vents in IP
mufflers
engine trim covers and attaching studs
washer bottle
one horn
throttle body hose and clip
plastic lug not covers
wheel center caps
rear liscense plate plastic holder and 4 steel brackets and rivets
Replaced:
5 spoke 96 CE aluminum wheels with 17 inch magnesium wheels from C5
painted top with transparent top
aftermarket tires with Goodyear GS-C 275/40R17 tires (all 4) 26.4 lbs each
mufflers with straight 2.5 inch stainless steel tubing (no tips)
3 lb aluminum jack from Mercedes to replace steel jack 9? lbs
POSSIBLE FUTURE CHANGES:
Aluminum single mass flywheel
remove spare tire and carrier add rear crash bar in its place, add tire plug kit and inflation can
Bose stereo, speakers, and anteanea (ouch this hurts)
AC (Double ouch)
If anyone has any more low cost ideas please share them.
FrankLT4CE

:steering:

 

Now Frank, tell the truth. Did you intentionally remove all that stuff from your Vette or was that the way the cops found it after it was stolen? :D

Seriously, thanks for providing your list

 

Tobijohn,
No regular car thief would even think of stealin it as it is now. Maybe only a very few people on this forum would consider it. :D FrankLT4CE

 

Does anyone know if the stock seats are rated for a maximum weight capacity for the driver? This question is a little off of the original question I know it sounds odd but it could make a difference in my case... :D

 

FrankLT4CE wrote:
"No regular car thief would even think of stealin it as it is now..."

:lol: :lol: :lol:
No, of course not! Except for maybe the shifter ****, there isn't much left. You know, I'll bet you could get by just fine with four lug nuts per wheel instead of five... ;)

 

Hi, have been looking for past few months, learning everytime I read post. I have a set of leather seats that are to go in my 1990 (first vette, never wanted one before had been looking for a 67 GTO to return to my youth in, bought the 90 for $1500. at an auction, another long story). Driver standard 6 way power leather seat weighs 37 lbs., passenger seat standard leather no power 27 lbs. Have enjoyed reading, learning, GREAT SITE keep asking questions and giving good advise there are people wanting to learn. I AM HOOKED!!!!!!!!