Making the car faster with out hp gains?

[jibby]

Ok, I have been thinking of ways to make my car faster 0-60mph without hp gains and reducing the weight on my sc400/Soarer was one of the ways, I am hoping to drop 300lbs but so far I could only come up with these:

1) removing the spare tire and rim, jack, and tools from the trunk and replaced them with a bottle of fix a flat -60lbs,
2) carbon fiber hood -40lbs,
3) Stock fan and components -20lbs

I just reduced the cars weight by 110lbs that is almost like another person riding in the car with you... anyway I am going under the car tomarrow to look at the underbody, framing, floor boarding, backing, etc... and see what can be removed or modified for weight reduction without danger. Even Steel to Aluminum..etc.. if anyone can add to that above list I would be grateful for any suggestions, just don't say remove the a/c...:slaphappy

Other ways I have gained speed 0-60mph is by reducing my rear wheel size from 255 to 235's on my 18's and also using light weight alluminum rims compared to stock and others and the combination has helped I believe. Lighter weight at the wheels and smaller tire diameter all play into the equation of gaining speed 0-60mph, believe it or not. More dramatic results would also be from improved differential gearing to increase power to those rears.... Searching for ways to increase speed that have nothing to do with the engines power output or tranny. I really think these topics or over looked on these forums... just throwing suggestions out there that are effective for speed increase which we all want....

 

[Anaema]

17" forged magnesium rims; remove the back seat; remove the carpet, sound and heat insulation; forged aluminum suspension components; aluminum hat brakes; carbon drive shaft; carbon fiber fenders, truck lid, front and rear facias, replace the seats with lighter units; remove the climate control system and all ducting; remove the stereo and all speakers; remove the dashboard and replace with a custom aluminum or carbon fiber unit. the list goes on, but thats already pretty extreme. more would go into adding a carbon fiber tub and a roll cage, and removing the passenger seat and replacing the driver seat with a racing unit.

 

[jibby]

That is very extreme. The seats are very light and made of foam to begin with, good suggestions thanks. My goals is to keep the car in tact... Driveshaft needs to be changed anyway, may go for lighter and stronger drive shaft...Thanks Anaema....

 

[lowboost]

the seats are not light, the passenger side is 85 lbs, the drivers side is every bit of 120 lbs. I know lol I sold the passenger side on ebay, and got ate up buy shipping, and the drivers side weighs a ton more. I know if you got some sparco seats in the car you'ld feel a difference, but then again you'd be loosing the lexus appeal. But sparcos are classy too.

 

[jibby]

Lowboost, I was referring to the rear seats being real light in weight and made of foam and assumed the fronts were light as well. Really don't want to lose that lexus appeal but wow I had no idea they weighed that much.. The front seats weigh 85 and 120 pounds, that's over 200lbs combined, wow had no idea!!!. That is like another person in the car, a big one too....How much do sparco's weigh in comparison any pic's? How about Supra seats do they weigh a ton too?..

 

[lowboost]

supra weigh the same, based on my observation. I suggest getting sparco torinos or malino's I had torino's in my MR2 and loved them, they weigh 30ish to 40ish with the sliders and mounting brackets.

and leave the rear seat.... it weighs like 5 to 10 lbs unless you want to make a couch like I did.

jeff

 

[jibby]

I am also wondering if there is a chart or write up info. on weight loss = speed gained? For example, if you droped 500lbs off a 3000lbs car with 300hp what is gained in the way of speed 0-60 or in the quarter mile?

Thanks for the info Low...

 

[SCV8]

Set your toe-in to 0 all the way around.
Shim the accumulator springs in the trans.
Use synthetic fluids, preferably a true racing oil in the motor.
Last one may give you a few hp, sorry.

 

[JamesNSC4]

1) removing the spare tire and rim, jack, and tools from the trunk and replaced them with a bottle of fix a flat -60lbs,
2) carbon fiber hood -40lbs,
3) Stock fan and components -20lbs

4) might as well put in carbon trunk lid
5) change to racing seat
6) more grippy tires.

 

[Peewee]

You'll find your 18's would have slowed you down too.

 

[Anaema]

You'll find your 18's would have slowed you down too.

my point exactly, rims are heavier than tires. a lighter rim and tire cimbo makes for better accel and handling.

and Sparco has some non adjustable seats that weight a bit over 10 pounds.

forgot to add a few things, carbon-ceramic brake system, thin racing tires, poly carbonate windows... i think thats it, aside from replacing the whole chassis with a tube steel space frame or a carbon fiber space frame.

 

[jibby]

Hey, you may laugh but a smaller or shorter (not thinner) tires and light weight rims at the rears can make for more immediate power and speed, reason being the drivetrain and engine don't have to turn as much weight. Gains are made. Example, 235/55 tires reduced (diameter not width)down from 235/35's allows the wheels to turn faster with more power, just like reduced gear sizes for added torque and this also applies to the rear differential gearing as well. You gain lowend speed and reduce the topend speed, there is always a give and a take....

As far as weight reduction goes you obviously know the car is slower when it is packed full of a bunch of overweight people, so the difference between two passangers and none would probably be noticeable when racing.. These are all basic examples of the topic to the thread. Hear is another one; we make fun of those little honda's, but with a little added horsepower (turbo) they can really fly, why? because of the lightness in the cars weight. I recentely came very close to losing a race to an old honda civic, granted it was turbo'd but what I noticed is the back seats were missing and it looked gutted, you could tell because it was light and bouncy. If it were not for the delay and slow start of the civic, and the blast off of my car I would have lost that race riding full nos... Point is horsepower and engine building are not the only ways you can gain speed with your car.. As most of you already know, just looking for ideas and suggestions that is all... Thanks

 

[Peewee]

We aren't laughing at the theory of a lighter wheel, because thats very true. We are stating that in reality you have done the opposite.

Yes, the rims may very well way less than the factory ones.
BUT, have a look at where the weight is. Its at the outside, 9" from the centre on an 18" rim.
On a 15" rims its only 7.5" from the centre, and its probably less weight at this stage.

The further the weight is from the centre, the more torque required to turn it.


Unless your 18's come in about 50% lighter than the factory wheels, then they have probably made your acceleration slower.

 

[Peewee]

Oh, another point to this thread, yes, you can lighten your car to make it faster.
But, in doing so, you make the car less of the reason why you bought it in the first place.

For example.
My 1986 Cressida is no lightweight. But it has a very comfy interior, big stereo, creature comforts, etc etc, and is an absolute delight to drive.
I wanted to go faster, so I considered removing the stereo/subs, getting racing seats for drive/passenger, removing all the sound deadener etc etc, but then I thought to myself, I probably won't enjoy driving this car on a daily basis any more.

So, I considered buying another Cressida, one lightweight, one full weight.
But then I thought more about it.
In the end I bought a 1984 Soarer. From factory this car is probably 300lbs lighter than my cressida, if not more. That is more weight that I will ever pull out of the Cressida, and I haven't even begun pulling weight out of the Soarer.


So there is my 2 cents from a 'been there, done that' type angle.

 

[lowboost]

Enkie RPF1's 18 inch, lightest rims around, all on the F1 cars and JGTC cars, when I was in japan every car had them on there at the autosalon (shows they are light weight and strong and appealing).

Sparco seats and steering wheel.

light weight coilovers.

then just power mods. basically I was told that every 100 lbs you drop you drop a .1th off your 1/8th mile

 

[jibby]

Peewee - Oh your right, but my rims are made of alloy and noticeably lighter (and wider) then the stock steel lexus rims I had on before. I also recently reduced the height of my rear tires a couple of sizes from 55's to 35's, and noticed the car got lower to the ground and power gains were made during takeoffs. I also understand that these power gains I notice were most likely the combination of several recent mods that I did all at once and not just the one.

Also, I don't mind being laughed at if deservingly so. I may even laugh with you. I am just trying to learn something new after thinking about all this stuff...after all this is my hobby. The one thing I don't understand is everytime I feel the car get a little faster for some reason it just brings a smile to my face, I can't explain it. So talk to me, teach me something I don't already know...

Driveshafts- what is the best driveshaft to go with that can handle horsepower, I am still a little fuzzy on that. The stock one is heavy and made of steel and can only handle from what I hear 500hp before snapping, what about differences and advantages of changing out to the alluminum, or carbon driveshafts that Anaema speak of?

 

[lowboost]

carbon fiber would be to expensive if you could even find someone to make one, I'd go take the drivesaft to a shop and have them make an aluminum

 

[Anaema]

while aluminum is far cheaper than carbon fiber, its alot weaker. a carbon fiber drive shaft of the same thickness as the stock steel unit weighs 1/4th of the steel unit, while retaining the same strength. or you could look at it this way, a carbon driveshaft the same weight as a steel unit can take 4 times the stress that the steel unit can.

you make no power by switching to a smaller sized rim, it only changes the ratio of the tire to a lower(numerically higher) ratio(low and high refer to the maximum speed atainable with a given ratio). the lower ratio means the outside fo the tire spins at a higher speed(gets there faster too) than it had previously, so it improves acceleration.

if you really want a fast car, buy a Mk4 Supra, gut it, throw in a 1UZ or 3UZ twin turbo with carbon doors, fenders, hood, and deck lid, lightweight forged magnesium rims, road racing slicks; better transmission ratios and a better rear end gearset. that car would be fast.

 

[lowboost]

why would you say buy a MK4, it weighs the same as the SC300/400. Just gut out the SC400 if you wanted, but you dont. basically I suggest buying another SC400, or 300 or even another type of car, if you want to make an all out fast car. Thats what I did, I love my S2000 but its like new, so I dont wanna risk messiing it up. So I got an MR2 and Im putting a dang crazy swap in it. The mags said the sickest swap for a MR2 is a V6 with supercharger and turbocharger.... well I'm proving them wrong!

 

[jibby]

What I don't get is how is an alluminum driveshaft as strong or stronger then the stock steel driveshaft? I know that steel is stronger then alluminum so how can this be?????? It's almost like saying build a house out pine or balsa wood and the stronger would be Balsa?????


Anaema - If you really want to go fast get a 454ci full blown Chevy Big Block under the hood of the Supra Mk4 (yeah right!) and enjoy the four digit horsepower:headbang: You may have to wear googles and stick your head out the window when driving to be able to see because the blower and engine will be in the way, and also you may just be a little front heavy but those are both minor details. The best thing about that is you won't even have to gut the car....he he :haha:

Lowboost - that second car of yours sounds crazy,what do you expect it to ran at after it is all said and done?