Droppin some weight
 

Let me start by saying I've seen "lightweightmiata.com".

I've cut my A/C, PS, Trunk setup, I've gone to 14 lb racing seats and some other small things along the way. Heres my question....

Has anyone swiss cheesed their miata for weight reduction? If you have ever seen the Opera race cars, they basically drill the hell out of their cars (namely their prized s2k) for gigantic weight savings.

I removed my ac and spare tire to reduce weight. lightweightmiata.com is a cool site, but there is no way I'll "swiss cheese" my ride to save a few pounds.

From an article on the Opera s2k:

"The S2000 started life as a 2976 pound beast, after Opera's full treatment, weight is cut down to a mear 2167 pounds."

When I decide to get another miata I might swiss cheese mine but not until I have another chasis sitting here. Thats alittle to extreme for a street miata imo. Also I won't scarifice certain creature comforts for weight savings when you can just up the power. :)

I've removed :
-the stereo system and speakers
-charcoal canister
-pass seat, waiting for lightweight drivers side.
-sound deading on rear deck
-braces and brackets in the engine bay
-5mph crash bumper
-everything from the trunk (except battery)

But I've added things like a turbo system, 1.8 motor, 1.8 driveshaft and axles, rx7 diff...Man shes gonna be heavy again..

I got a chance to drive a pretty darn lightweight miata (stripped the interior/AC/PS/etc...AND cut out the bottom of the trunk, removed bumper supports, cut out door supports). Basically, they stripped all non-essential parts as this was going to be a track car. The guy never got around to weighing it, and later rolled the car (yes, he had a rollbar and walked away from the accident) so we'll never know the exact weight, BUT...

I will say that the handling, feel, and acceleration NA was nothing short of amazing. I wasn't there, but reportedly, he kept up normally aspirated 1.8L vs. a Greddy at 6 psi without any problems. If I had a track only car that was trailered, I wouldn't hesitate to do the same, but keep in mind his car looked like it was vandalized as the interior was completely stripped of passenger seat, trim, carpet, dash, etc. Pretty easy to add power, pretty hard to add lightness (beyond a certain point that is).

I will replace the body panels with cardboard... thats some weight reduction :)

Removing the heater controls and all heater core and blower motor junk would save some weight too I would imagine.

Actually I've been considering that, since REALLY the only control you are required to have "by law" is a defroster! :)

^^Really? Hmm didn't know that one. But ya I would imagine theres some weight to all that ducting, wiring, the blower, the heater core itself, the coolant lines ect.

I've done nothing buy add weight to my miata.

Rollbar - 50lbs.
Hardtop - 50lbs.
Turbo - 18lbs.
Intercooler - 10lbs.
Piping - 5-10lbs.
Fuel Pump - 5lbs.
My Fat Ass - 190lbs.

Removed, the few nuts and bolts that I couldn't find a home for.

i've gutted mine quite a bit, engine, wiring, dash and a cobra seat, NOTHING else pertaining to the interior or sound deadening

I've added a cage though. I plan on cutting the floor pan and doubling up on the fenders from my other chassis to do what Opera did.

I might pop holes in the spare floor plan and chamfer them upwards. That and some custom made fram rail braces (shipping is killer to the cayman islands).

You mean this car:
http://www.inoneear.com/miata/crash/...lipped_015.jpg

More Pics:
http://www.inoneear.com/miata/crash/index.php

My old roommate's car (that's my garage in the pics). Paul's lightweight car was very, very fast indeed. Just as fast as my 1.6 at 6-8psi (not GReddy, GT28R). Naturally aspirated, his 1.8 was faster in 4th than my 1.6 in 3rd (and I believe he had a 3.90 torsen at the time). And his engine had over 220xxx miles, still running great in another car of his. You can see in the pics how bare the interior is, etc.

Oh, he drove the car home after flipping it, about 15miles.

Cutting out the trunk with a plasma cutter only netted 5lbs though, not worth the time and noxious fumes of burning undercoating.

He is building another gutted Red '94...

^^Don't like the lights much, actually I love the barn doors.

at some point you've taken out all of the comforts and conveniences of the car just to save a few pounds, i suggest just go out and buy a bike. Any newer supersport is going to be around ~400 lbs. and have 100+ horsepower. that 2100 lb s2000 would have to have 500+ hp just to have the save power/weight ratio as a $4000 used 600. And getting the bike on the track is nothing more than wire-tieing certain things, taping up all plastics and glass, and race tires.

Yup, that's the one I am talking about. After driving it, gave me the lightness bug. I don't think I'd go that far, but seriously, driving that thing really changes your mind about gutting your car. I don't know whether I was more impressed by the acceleration or the handling. I only wished that he'd slapped the SC on before he rolled it. It was awesome NA, so I can only imagine how much fun a light car would be with a little extra oomph.

In South Carolina, the only legal thing I could find on the books was that you had to have wipers (which I don't have). I wasn't really worried about being legal while building this car.

BTW, when I got pulled for doing 85 in a 55 (was actually 114MPH but he didn't see me doing that), I thought the cop would say something about the stripped interior, all the computer stuff (g-tech, laptop for link ecu, etc) and start poking his nose around for stuff to give me a ticket on. I think he took it easy on me ($400 ticket).

#1: carbon fiber doors, fenders, everything

#2: Gym membership :D

hmm cf fenders.....1.5lbs/pc compared to 6lbs stock.

Much more weight in the doors than in the fenders so I would start there.

The Gym method saved me about 20 pounds:

http://www.lightweightmiata.com/ultimate/ultimate.htm


BTW, I gained it all back and then some in the following year....

wow 141 thats as much as i weigh. and im 20:ugh2:


i graduated high school in 2004 at 118 and i was 5'7":sad2:

Haha if it makes you feel better I'm about 190 lbs at I'm 5'8 ;) Maybe I should start lightening myself! haha

5'11" 220lbs represent... at least i can do pullups. as long as i can do those i'm okay.

After reading most of the thread I finally noticed the dates. I was wondering why Tom and Tim weren't mentioning my name, as if people didn't know me here.

The barn doors, headlights, and motors/mechanisms are crazy heavy.

And opera uses I punch I believe to put those holes in everything. It produces a indented and beveled edge which adds stiffness. I think just using a hole saw in your frame wouldn't be a good thing.

Your reputation preceded you:giggle:

how streetable is a car thats been swisscheesed, not a daily but occasional drives, maybe just from under the seats back? Ive done nothing but add weight to my miata, but im building a drag only geo storm thats been completly gutted, so light i can pick up the back of the car by myself and move it.

What about noise? did anyone take dB ratings as they dropped weight?

did you resurrect analmost two year old thread to try to get dates? :giggle:

what the fuck is a analmost?

Sweet lord let this thread die.

good luck with that. i weighed myself yesterday and saw I finally broke the 200lb barrier. this is a new low--except that I've been lifting and taking protein so I guess it's not all that bad.

edit: low morale, high weight I meant.

This reminds me I need to weigh my car. I've done a few things, like swapping in 1.6 dash, removing all the extra engine brakets, every thing in the trunk, removed some of the unused wiring (god, that made me nervous), the cruise, and Ive got race seats I need to put in.. and I bearly crack 120 myself so no prob there.

What this thread is starting to be........

an (space) almost

I know but it was funny

I'm sure everyone has seen my 21 pound weight loss on my website. That was years ago and I gained it all back and then some since. Had a blood test the other day and it said my cholesterol was 237. Bought a bike today and the wife and I have started riding again for exercise.

We also saw it on this same thread like 2 years ago... let this damn thread die :(

You're not concerned about my health? <G>


BTW, replying twice in one day to a thread you want to die isn't a very good way to do it!

I weighed my car when I bought it, 2300lbs with a full tank.

Removed the softtop, AC, power steering, cruise control, everything in the trunk, and went to 13lb race buckets. Added the turbo and all its shit, SLIGHTLY heavier wheels and tires, the rollbar, and a hardtop.

Weighed it right after we finished the turbo build at... 2300lbs with a full tank of gas.

One day I might go in and gut the dash, but I want to keep the interior carpet.

Attachment 214518

ha ha brad you're screwed.

robert, what do you do for exercise and what do you eat?

bump for more whine

I used to jog a few times a week but my knees kill me so I had to stop. Hopefully I will get back into a routine of riding a bicycle a few miles (3 or 4) a few times a week and doing a little on the treadmill.

I eat until I am stuffed and then I eat some more. My wife is an incredible cook and I am a horrible pig when it comes to food. Never anything good - only fattening stuff.

I feel you on that last one. I'm much the same way. a fair compromise is to get your wife cooking only healthy food that wont fatten you up... even if you eat 3x what a normal guy eats.

oh and a little self control wouldn't be so bad either ;)

I've lost 20 pounds since christmas (was 248 on Dec 27th, but was up as high as 253 around the beginning of November). Only hit the gym twice. It's all been about controlling food intake. Having an unemployed girlfriend who would pack my lunches and do all the planning / grocery shopping for healthy dinners got me started, and once I got some momentum, it's been a lot easier to just eat less and avoid the bad stuff.

Should this thread move to <insert BS> and get a title change? Heh.

-Mike

My girlfriend packs me all kinds of unhealthy shit for lunch.. as i've been dieting lately I've just been giving it away to my co-workers.

my gf is going to have surgery and have her jaw wired shut for 3 weeks. talk about the awesome diet.

im moving this to the BS section, cause you fags like to change topics around....

I just ordered my valvvvvvvvvves and valllllllllve springs!!

weight loss
 

I had my tonsils taken out three months ago. Im 30, everything swelled up till the skin ripped on both side of my throat. it sucked.

For two weeks all I ate was cream of wheat and a total of 7 gallons of ice cream milk shakes. I lost 15 lbs.
Who said you couldn't lose weight on ice cream. Lol

Don't try it the diarrea blows. Literally. LOL

That's what I was going to say. Lactose intolerance. On a side note, when you have the runs your body doesn't absorb anything from your food. That's probably why you lost the weight. You were malnurished. You also don't absorb any medicine when you have the runs and if your GF takes oral contraception it ain't doing shit then either.

This thread went from car weight loss (2 years ago) to discussions on sharting.

Attachment 214506

Back on topic :fawk:

did you get your tonsils out by the old school knife method?

Hummus makes me fart.

i like key lime pie, its good

Jesus that sucks for you :( Lots of :jerkit:, but at least you don't have to listen to :hustler:

Try just walking for an hour every night. It's easy on the joints, and almost as good as running. Throw a half hour to an hour of sex daily on top of that, and cut the soft drinks out and you'll be in great shape within 6 months.

self-fulfilling prophecy?

I rode the bike 4 miles today. I wish I drank 10 cokes a day so I could just cut that out but I don't. My weight is all food - no self control at all.