How to shave weight on a 3S

[Falcon]

Yeah.....I have been trying to find his thread listing what he has removed....but can't find it. Only thing I can find is his mulitple page build thread that has the occasional "part removed to shave weight". Does he have a list of what he has removed and how much it has shaved? Link? Thanks!

[DocHoliday]

What's the lowest weight you can bring a TT down to without making it an eyesore and giving up important things like A/C, etc?

[Austin@STM]

No.

Apparently you havent been keeping up with the STM car and did not click the link i provided.
The STM stealth was @ "Weight- 2811 before the slicks which are about 60 pounds lighter" last season and will be going for 22XX this year.

Last i weighed it, it was at 2760, but was lighter then that the last time at the track by a little bit. This year im only going for 25xx pounds, 22xx will be the year after when i no longer DD the car.

Falcon- This is a great post, i do not have one like this listing everything pulled and the weights, i just ripped a bunch of stuff out and weighed the car afterwards.

I didnt look through the hole list, but one thing to note is that there is nothing lighter than the stock steering wheel that i know of. All the aftermarket wheels are lighter but when you add in the hub adaptor they end up weighing more in the end.

-Austin@STM

[Kristopher]

What all have you done to lighten the unibodies frame?

[Falcon]

Last i weighed it, it was at 2760, but was lighter then that the last time at the track by a little bit. This year im only going for 25xx pounds, 22xx will be the year after when i no longer DD the car.

Falcon- This is a great post, i do not have one like this listing everything pulled and the weights, i just ripped a bunch of stuff out and weighed the car afterwards.

I didnt look through the hole list, but one thing to note is that there is nothing lighter than the stock steering wheel that i know of. All the aftermarket wheels are lighter but when you add in the hub adaptor they end up weighing more in the end.

-Austin@STM

Thanks Austin.....yeah I ended up stripping the airbag and controls off the stock steering wheel and will be keeping it. I would like to strip another 200 pounds off of her. Gonna be getting fg hood/hatch and lexan all the way around. That should shed significant weight. She won't be the lightest 3S, but with the combination of the shaved weight and fully supported 16gs on E85....she should be pretty quick.

[Falcon]

What's the lowest weight you can bring a TT down to without making it an eyesore and giving up important things like A/C, etc?

Well, really you can't do much then. FG hood and hatch will give you some savings. Aluminum or CF driveshaft. Light weight wheels maybe. Unfortunately most of the weight that you can shave is in things like the AC and the interior.

[11secondFWD]

If you look at his pics and see that absolutely nothing is left in the car you dont need a list. When mine was 2800lbs I used to tell everyone there is no list, just remove EVERYTHING not required for car to run. But austin has taken it to a new level. I never had CF parts or light rims, he does. He also has some lexan, has removed sheetmetal parts of unibody, ect. ALso, you need to remove abs, and all the other factory stuff that is a comfort and not necessary. Removing all the wiring and following all wiring back from the stuff you removed helps alot too.

I keep only a couple things. Heat, wipers, working windows, and a decent size fuel tank. That is all you need other than engine and drivetrain stuff.

[Falcon]

If you're concerned about weight then you've bought the wrong car. Better off to get an AWD Mirage and drop the V6 into it.

Steve

Isn't that like saying "if you wanted faster ETs then you should have gotten a sport bike"? I am betting there is almost nobody on this forum who wishes to leave their car as is. I have a lot of respect for the 3S platform but in no means is it perfect. There is no such thing as enough power, fast enough or light enough in my opinion.

[stealthee]

For once I agree with Steve. If you want a light car you bought the wrong car. A 3s was never meant to be a lightweight car. It was meant to be a cruiser.

[Falcon]

Then why ever modify it at all? It was never meant to have more horsepower either or to look any other way. It's a "tuner car" which means that almost nobody just leaves them alone. Shaving weight is just like adding an exhaust or deleting the EGR or going with an aftermarket intake. The 3S was never meant to have any of those things done to it. But, we do what we can to make it faster and to give it the look we want.