I was doing some research about weight reduction and there something i did not think of. All cars have an A, B, and C frame. The A frame is of course the metal that makes our car a car, and the B and C frames are just made up of the rubbers and and rugs and glues and all the other. You can actually have ure car stripped down and have all the rubber joints welded all over the car, killing the ride, but actually saving about 400lbs. There are tons of other ways to reduce weight with out having to kill the interior. Just something i thought people should know, i mean there are a few on this site that want a 12 second TL.

 

Ahhhh yea... Great idea. Stitch welding the frame and getting rid of all the isolation stuff would not be a friendly ride. (been there done that on a different car) if your going to be doing any thing remotely close to it being a daily driven car and not a dedicated track car i wouldnt do it. And if you were to go as far as that there are plenty of metal pieces that could be removed to lighten it up further

 

Dont forget the outside too. Strip off the paint, primer, undercoating, and all exterior plastic pieces such as under engine cover and wheel well covers. In drag racing, every pound counts.

 

Go on a diet. You can probably lose an extra 15+lbs that way

 

the only thing I'd do is remove the spare, take out the passenger and rear seat and thats it if I wanted to drag my car and get the lowest time possible without destroying the car. I don't think many people here are going to do weight reduction on a TL. Maybe an ITR or RSX-S if any Acura, but not a TL.

 

i think that applies to me personally, lol

 

lmao strip the paint and primer?????? wowsers


anyway, with my old race hondas this is what i used to do to remove weight (street cars):

remove front and rear bumper supports, remove sound tar under carpet, remove rear seats and rear plastics, remove power steering and a/c systems, many people remove heater core and blower but not me lol, remove rear wiper motor and maybe even front, carbon fiber hood and trunk... all that stuff there is good for 100-150lbs id say, but its not something id do to a TL. if u wanna race your TL just live with the fact that its gonna be heavy, whats the point of having a luxury car if u gonna jsut strip it down lol.. might as well get a civic that weighs 2000 lbs then.

and also remember gasoline and stuff inside the car like tools adds up very quick. also lightweight wheels can make a big difference.

 

Not many, but some.

Putting the TL on a diet (click here)

 

Take out spare tire.
Get light weight wheels (17s are probably your best bet for best performance/weight)
Swap tires
Lighter/smaller Battery
Carbon Fiber Hood
Carbon Fiber Trunk
Remove Spoilers/Body Kit/Engine cover/under body plastics/stereo components
UR Light Weight Pulley set(The stock pulleys weigh a ton)
1/3 tank of gas.
1/3 tank of washer fluid.
Swap stock seats for race/bucket seats

Oh and there's also the driver. You can shed weight too. I'm 5'11 and 145 lbs with 2% body fat. I can probably spare 5 lbs of fat. I know there are people who can shed more.

Bam. I've shed 400 lbs. If not more and thats without having to weld together the B/C frames. Welding the B/C frames is for people who plan to track the TL all the time. And even then tracking a mid size FWD sedan is a questionable undertaking.

And then come to the realization that buidling a 12 second TL is kind of ridiculous. You could build a 12 second Civic for much less and in all honesty, would probably be a better platform to do so.

 

Not to mention, the best weight saving would be to do a K20 motor swap. I mean lets get down to it; the J32 weighs a ton for an engine that doesn't have that many tunable aftermarket parts (save comptech SC) whereas a K20 weighs little, has tons of turbos/SC options and has long surpassed the amount of HP that can be force fed out of the engine. Again, a Civic/RSX/CRX/Del sol seem like better choices to house a K20 which could easily make those cars 12 seconds without having to weld the B/C frames.

 

do a 6 speed swap. You will save about 200 pounds from removing the auto trans

 

You can lose alot of weight, depending on how you do it, Ive seen the AWD RL lose up to 900 lbs, but i think it was an scca car or something from the acura factory.

 

I am currently in the process of doing the 6-speed swap, so when that is finished i should have a J32 KA6MT, with full bolt ons, and UR lightweight flywheel. When i am fully done i will post my slip from englishtown with a >13 1/4 mile..... hopefully.

 

you wont be less than 13

 

I think the TL is the wrong car to perform major weight reduction on. It's a entry level luxury car. Not a race car.

BUT you could always get lighter rims, remove the spare on track days, and keep the interior empty. Keep the TL nice and comfy and buy a Civic, Teg, RSX for fun.

 

If you want a race car a TL is the wrong car for you..

 

Even guys with an SC have a hard time breaking 13s.

 

i plan to SC and 3.5 stroker. if i can do both... well one way or another i will get it under 13 lol

 

good luck joe, i hope to see how this turns out and keep us updated. i want to do the 6 speed so bad but looks like its an all or nothing project. so im saving for now.

btw, where are you from?

 

so far for me

removed spare tire, jack, wheel tools
removed wipers and wiper fluid tank

looking into removing bumper supports. anyone suggest not doing this?


and i do realize this is a luxury sudden, but there are some amenities i dont need, so im trying to reduce weight purely for the fact of saving gas

 

Spare Tire, Jack, and wheel tools are good weight reducers but having a flat without a spare tire in handy, is the risk.

It these cases, I would do tranny/engine swap, if not then save up for a project car!

 

If you want a 12 second TL, talk to DirtyJohn his TL runs 12.9 1/4mi without any weight reduction.