Welp, been giving some joy rides to my buddies lately, and am pretty surprised at how much the additional 200+ lbs my friends weight slows down the car, it really takes the edge off the acceleration, so now I'm going to put both myself and the car on a diet lol

Here is my plan, maybe some of you guys with some expertise can correct my figures and offer additional advice...don't want to go race radical, as this is a daily driver.

here are the reduction and amount of weight loss estimated for each, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Replace 2 power sport seats with Corbeue FX1's:

45 lbs reduction

Replace stock mufflers with C5z TI''s:

20 lbs reduction

replace stock exhuast manny and midpipes with kooks:

60 lbs combined savings for headers and mids?

remove CD changer (never used)

15 lbs reduction

only run with a half tank of gas all the time:

54 lbs reduction

Switch to a dry cell lightweight battery:

21 lbs reduction

This one will be controversial, for a long time now I've had a code saying that the airbags are not working, rather than fix them, remove them.

I'm told this saves 40 lbs but find that hard to believe, can anyone verify?

Remove memory seat electronics:

5 lbs reduction

Remove rear speakers:

10 lbs reduction

remove rear storage covers and floor mats:

10 lbs reduction

total reduction: 270 lbs with the lighter flywheel already installed that 287 lbs, get rid of the runflats and it seems there is 300 lbs of easily shed able weight in this car

I can do all this in a weekend and nothing that comes off will be anything I use daily.

is there anything to add or numbers to correct?

anyone know how much less Eradispeed brake rotors reduce weight from stock?

Also, anyone know how much weight is saved by changing the stock leaf springs and magnetic shocks to Pfadt Featherlites?








oh yeah, more fruit, go jogging:

50 lbs weight reduction ;-)

 

i replaced the front seats i could not believe how heavy they were . also did borla style straight pipe

 

It weighs 15lbs? That's crazy...

 

I don't think the cd player 15. I don't see the airbags weighing that much either maybe 5-9 pounds if that. Everything else seems dead on.

 

You're probably looking at a 6-7lb weight savings moving to our FeatherLights from the factory leaf springs compared to the C6Z shocks. I've personally never weighed a set of Mag Ride shocks before, so those weights may be a little different.

It's important to keep in mind that you do remove weight from the car, but just as important is where the weight is redistributed. Our inverted shock design moves more of the weight of the shock to the Sprung chassis side of the vehicle, rather than a traditional shock arrangement which puts the weight of the shock on the performance robbing unsprung wheel side.

Our FeatherLights are lighter overall AND the weight they do carry is less of a performance hit than a traditional shock. Both of these features certainly help you get the most out of your Corvette!

 

Don't forget weight distribution and un-sprung weight. Both are much more important than just removing items from the vehicle.

I have been doing "street" weight reduction as well. A billet torque converter or a light weight flywheel are great. Glad to hear you got that covered. For my auto its a 20lb reduction off the drive train. You can remove the a/c belt if you never use it to reduce pulley weight from the engine. (I just put mine on once in a while to run the A/C to leep it working).

Straight pipes are the way to go for reduction. Took a 43lb Bassani system off for Borla straights. I do remove all mats, covers etc when hitting the track and use a Sparco racing seat. (Remove both stock seats and use the one race seat.) But things like wheels, tires, torque tube prop shaft, micro polished rear end gears, under-drive pulley, etc. that are directly involved in engine revs and turning the wheels have the greatest effect when weight is reduced.

Back to distribution, a light weight battery is good, but relocating it to the trunk where the CD changer sits its good for weight distribution and puts weight that you have to have over the rear wheels helping launch and acceleration as well as handling.

 

thanks guys, great info, I will pay closer attention to the weight reduction from front to back.

am researching wheel and tire fitments, as this is rotational weight, I have the oem C6 18/19 five spokes with runflats on there right now, if I go with the TSW Interlagoes in a 17/18 and a non runflat like a toyo 888 or yokohama advan neova AD08 I can save save 7 lbs off each front wheel, and 6lbs off each rear for a total of 26 lbs....thats the all important rotating mass reduction too, don't know if its true, but I read that each lbs of rototating weight reduction equals 10 lbs of regular weight, so that 26 lbs of wheel weight reduction equals 260lbs!

I'm inclined to believe this because the 17 lbs of weight reduction in my flywheel sure FELT like 170 lbs of weight reduction.

am trying to get some figures on brake rotor weight reduction...If I can shed another 5 lbs per wheel with lighter better rotors, combined with a lighter better wheel package, that equals 460 lbs of weight reduction! which is incredible actually.

 

As far as removing the rear speakers, my factory rear speakers weighed 1lb. each.

 

I dont think rotors can get 5 lbs lighter than stock. Unless they are the carbon disk brakes. Drilling and slotting doesn't remove that much weight. And they cant sacrifice on material or thickness for the sake of weight. Id guess one 1 or 2 lbs max could be shaved with after market rotors. The Baer Eradispeed plus rotors with their two piece design may be the best bet. Still probably not 5 lbs lighter. But worth looking in to.

 

I lost 50lbs over the last year. Then added it right back in when the track said no roll bar, no runs......

ron

 

thanks, I was off on the seat weight reductio too...my seats weight 44.9 lbs, so its a total weight loss of about 32 lbs, not 45 by switching to racing seats

 

Was talking to a Wilwood rep in another thread, he said their front rotors are 4.5 lbs lighter on each side, I assume the rears, being smaller, will offer less of a reduction, waiting to hear back.....still, its rotational mass, so each pound is worth ten pounds on acceleration and braking.

I think most of the weight reduction comes from having an aluminum hat, versus the full heavy metal hub deal.

 

I think the rotational thing you are talking about just falls into un-sprung weight in this case. Bolted right outside your rotors are you wheels and tires that are not reduced in diameter and are often more than stock diameter with larger rims etc. The reduction of weight helps, but the rotation of the rotors is totally over taken by the rotation of the wheels. It basically just a small un-sprung weight reduction. (Which is still a very good thing to do)

Rotational weight reduction comes from converter or flywheel, prop shaft, gears, axles, etc. (The things that turn the wheels.) Rotors sort of fall into that category because they are basically splined to the path of power to the ground. But its weight off the rotation of the system, not really an outside diameter of the rotor being lighter that is making a difference in the rotational weight.

 

Yeah, I'm going to be adding an Angel Wings roll bar to my Vert, so reducing weight elsewhere is even more important to me.

I think the best bang for the buck (having already done a lighter flywheel) will be reducing the rotational weight in the wheels and brakes, it equates to over a 410 lbs weight reduction under acceleration and braking, and of course, you get all the other benefits of upgraded tires and brakes.

between the light flywheel, lighter wheels, and lighter rotors, al rotational mass, there is a 58 lbs actual weight reduction, or an astonishing 580 lbs effective weight reduction.

Nuke, am thinking of doing a diff swap to upgrade from a 3.42 to a 3.90 with hardened output shafts before my engine swap, what does "micro polished gears" do for me, not familiar with that.

 

Micro polishing is used to decrease friction of the gears as they turn. Any upgraded diff would come with them micro polished. Just the reduced friction can make a 10-15 whp increase from what Ive been researching and talking to shops about etc.

 

true, but I suspect that the loss of "moment of inertia" weight in the rotating wheel assembly (including rotors, wheels, and tires) provide almost as much benefit under hard acceleration and braking as driveline rotational weight reduction, dunno, maybe I'm wrong, but its a win win either way, its just a matter of how big an improvement it makes.

there are a lot of guys that argue that a lighter flywheel doesn't do much, but those of us that have them that are sensitive to our cars performance no better.

 

cool, and, as with most of the other stuff we have been talking about in this thread, it would provide other benefits as well, like improved wear characteristics, and reduced heat.

thanks

 

Definitely every bit helps. Lightening everything from the flywheel back would make for a much more noticeably quicker car. Good gains to be had in fast revs and acceleration.
I think you are on the right track reducing un-sprung and drive-train weight. Best places for reduction.

 

Thanks,

thats making Pfadt's carbon fiber drive shaft look more attractive.

got any other tips for drive line weight reduction?

been looking at doing a ls3 417 forged stroker build, but maybe a 383 stroker based off a 5.3 liter aluminum block might reduce enough weight to make it worth the lower displacement, especially if the crankshaft and rotating assemblies are all lighter and faster?

 

go to 17" wheels and none runflat tires.