Sir that is probably the most comprehensive writeup i've ever seen...or close to it! haha

Very nice work, and your list of weight reduction items is gettin lengthy. The grand total amount is quite impressive. I suppose I super underestimated how much weight i've extracted out of mine...(only predicted around 300).

Another thing to consider that to me is overrated...carpet! The entire carpet weighs in around 20 lbs....will put you close to the 500 mark.

Lowering your center of gravity will make you that much more happier..trust me! Definitely look into some springs or coilovers for your next mod.

Two thumbs up!

 

Inaccurate, you sir, are crazy. I think its great!

Keep up the amazing work!


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have you considered removing the center speaker and the wiring for it? It is very rarely used unless you listen to 5.1 alot, and weights maybe .5 - 1 pound. Weight is weight and it should help. also consider switching to a lightweight strut bar in the engine, it will not reduce too much weight, maybe 1 or 2 pounds, but it helps. Also, have you considered getting some CF parts for the car to further reduce weight.

 

Just a couple suggestions?
CF hood maybe painted SSM?
Sunroof mechanics if you don't use it.
Window mechanics for the rear, unless you drive like me with al windows down.
Remove A/C
idk if you have this but AEM CAI

 

Yes sir. Drilled straight thru the floorboard (see red circles in pic) after much carefully examination and forethought. Samething for the belt anchors too. However, the anti-sub belt anchors (blue arrows) does not go thru the floorboard. There is room under that tunnel to fit the load-spreading washer and locking nut.



By the way, the BEST anchors are these from www.pegasusautoracing.com (PN# 2384). They come with an EXCELLENT, thick load-speading washer. Other brands that I tried left me disappointed.



Here is the link

http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/pro....asp?RecId=630

Regarding the trick to fool the SRS system. The various computer systems in the car are somewhat decentralized. The SRS computer is independent too. However, there is just one wire coming from the SRS computer that tells the main computer that "all is ok". When "all is ok", the SRS computer sends a 12 volts signal to the main computer. If there is a fault with the SRS system, the SRS computer will not send the 12V signal to the main computer, and the main computer will indicate a SRS malfunction. Easy enough. We will send a 12V signal to the main computer constantly so that the main computer always thinks that the SRS computer is happy. WARNING to anyone reading this.... Do NOT do this because your airbag system would never indicate that there was a malfunction (and the SRS system breaks often in our cars) when there was a bona fide problem with your airbags.

Let me know if you are interested and I will scan the wiring diagram from the manual to show you which wire need to be spliced.

 

You are utterly insane, and I applaud that.

 

sorry, i forgot if this was mentioned already or not, but replacing glass windsheilds with custom acrylic ones?

 

Now that this has been taken to the extremes Im looking at the car wondering why there are still rear door panels and mechanics for the front seat belts.

Why are there rear panels at all anywhere back there?

You should as suggested get the CF hood and CF trunk if one exists.

Why is there still a glove box? Pop is out Im sure it ways a lot.

Why is there still an armrest? Doesnt even look like you can use it with those seats.

If no one is sitting in the back might as well remove all the venting equipment for the rear passengers.

Is the engine cover removed?

I dont understand why you would even leave the wiper fluid system in place. Use the wipers when its rain and keep your car clean.

Alluminum Shift Nob?? Lighter mufflers & Remove stock tips?

Im sure when you get suspension upgrade it will lower weight as well.

Ok cant think of anything thing else that is easily changed at the moment.

Good luck I actually have respect for this car now since it has completly been reduced to a value of -$2,000 dollars.



TOO BAD YOUR CAR IS NOT MT

 

Another question for those folks out there. When do you remove so much weight that your original suspension is ineffective for the new power that you have found?

 

I'm sure the stock suspension is feeling pretty firm by now. If anything, it's more effective now than it was at full weight. Same goes for the brakes.

Inaccurate, did you research the effects of a rollover with 5/6 pt harnesses without a cage? It's always been considered dangerous because those harnesses don't let your body move sideways as much and when the roof crushes in, the head/neck is holding the car up. Don't get me wrong, they're great in any other type of crash or in a rollover with a cage and helmet.

 

I hate cars,

Take a look at the supplementary thread (click here). It is dedicated to the safety aspects of this mod. Some reference links are included too for your reading enjoyment.



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Excellent right up, the seats actually blend alot better than I had imagined it, and I have essentially the same vehicle as you do, Anthracite, 5AT, non-navi, grey interior, so after seeing what your car looks like with the seats only makes me want to pursue the racing seats purchase even more. However I may go with lightweight wheels first.

 

Inaccurate, can you forward those pics to me (e-mail)? I'm sure all of them won't fit in one e-mail, so just the relevant ones would be fine. Thanks.

 

Inaccurate you owe us one more thing, you must get some drag times with the TL.

 

i lost 100 pounds myself...thats the only weight reduction i did....seriously i did

 

That's the route I'm gonna take... Props on the weight loss.

Also props to the tenacity at which weight was removed from the TL. I'm all for performance, but.... If your wife lets you do it, hell, you got one up on me.

 

Bad ass. Weight reduction has been my best friend for years.

 

whats the weight lost to cost ratio so far? 2000 dollars for those seats seems pretty over the top, are they comfortable?

 

I haven't read all the posts in this very long thread, but I have an observation regarding your shoulder harness install. The way they are installed now, with the mounting point so far below shoulder level, will break you back in a head on collision. The shoulder harness mounting point should be level or within about 3 inches of shoulder height. They should also not touch the seat, they should be centered and then go over your shoulders. I am not an engineer, but I built a super late model asphalt circle track race car and safety came first since concrete always wins at 130 MPH. The seat was a custom built Butler Built just like the one 50% of the nascar guys use. The belts were 6 point Simpson Platinums mounted per the manufacturer, I also used a HANS device. I have seen so many bad installs. Its hard to properly install a race harness in a street car without a rollcage. What you need is a 6 point roll cage with a horizontal bar that passes behind the seat slightly below shoulder level. Then you run the shoulder harness over this bar and bolt it to the floor in a straight line pull arrangement. You have them mouned way low and they are crossed, not sure why you would cross them. I'm sure you did your research, but I did mine and this is what I came up with. Your current setup will compress your spine as it sinks you into the seat bottom. Also, you don't want the shoulder harness to run up hill once it leaves your shoulders, 10 degrees down max, closer to level the better and don't let it touch the openings in the seat. I just realized too, that your harness is very long, shorter is better here. There are 100 different things to consider, I have only mentioned a few. There is also a science to the lap and 6 point harness. The key is to have the belts catch you early in the "event" ie crash to help control the body movements. Long runs and poor geometry dont allow this to happen. Sorry it got a little winded. I just hate to see people make mistakes when they have the best of intentions, esp. regarding safety matters.

 

^^

Paragraph often?

 

blueracer17,

I have responded to your reply in the supplementary thread (click here).


To further discuss the safety aspects of this particular weight reduction, I respectfully ask that we use the supplementary thread (click here) to prevent this main thread from going too far off topic. Thanks for your cooperation.

 

It was the conventional wisdom back when I was young (before there was anything called "internet"), and it's still the conventional wisdom today.

Calculators for 1/4-Mile ET & MPH vs. HP and Weight (click here)


Given a vehicle weight of 3600 lbs and 258 HP, we get a 15.09 ET in this example.






Now if we drop the weight by 100 lbs, we get a 14.95 ET. Therefore, the 100 lbs reduction produced a 0.14 second reduction in the ET for this given example. This equates to a "car and a half" in the 1/4 mile.






Let's drop the weight by 600 lbs to see what happens for grins. We now get a 14.20 ET. The 600 lbs reduction produced a 0.89 second reduction in the ET for this given example. This equates to 9 car lenghts in the 1/4 mile.

 

DAMNNNN...That's insane! Good stuff man

Do you have any performance mods done?

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UR crank pulley
AEM CAI (with custom insulation to make it even more "cold")
Bypassed coolant going to throttle body (to make it even more "cold")
Outlaw Engineering Thermoblock Spacers (to make it even more "cold" )

 

SHould have gotten Acclerates P2R spacers, work better and are of better quality. Also to the guy that mentioned removal of air-bags, if no one sits ever in the rear, whats the point of rear-side airbags, to protect a ghost?

 

Inaccurate has more guts than any of us to be doing what he is. Only way I would do what he is doing is about 5-10 yrs. down the road, if I got a different d.d., and the tl became my hobbie car. We all try to get our cars to go a little faster, and handle/brake better. He just went about it a different way. Props to you-
On a different note, I like that little qm calculator you linked. It seems pretty good, but just to play the 'devils advocate', arent you supposed to be using your Whp instead of crank hp? on me if I'm wrong-

 

The calculator isn't bad. I input my numbers and got 10.8@136mph. My real ET was .2 quicker but the mph was off by a bit.

 

So given the equation, what's the answer?

 

This is not the first time that I stripped-down a car.

When I was younger, I had a new 1985 IROC-Z that I stripped-down.

Learned many things the hard way back then. I learned to

1) not make the exhaust loud (just attracts cops ),

2) don't take out the radio (boring ride listening to that small-block chevy turn a constant 4,000 rpm down the highway ),

3) don't remove the power booster for the power brakes (nearly required two feet on the brake pedal to do an emergency stop ),

4) don't remove the air conditioner (sweet my ass silly trying to drive in Houston in summer ),

5) don't remove the heating system (freeze my ass silly and no defrost for the windows ),

The stripped-down IROC-Z was a blast to drive, but I made too many compromises to the point that I could not drive it (because of the reasons cited above).

On the bright side, I did learn things that I did enjoy. I had a racing harness (racing seat belts) in the IROC-Z for several years. I never did regret having the racing harness . I had no bumpers, no spare tire and jack, and never did regret it.

 

Inaccurate, have you checked out two-piece brake rotors?

They are 12-16% lighter than equivalent one-piece rotors.
Just by looking at the offerings at Racingbrake, their two-piece design is 3.5lb lighter than their one-piece rotor.

Being unsprung weight that can be translated into 21lb in weight reduction (doing just the fronts...there's no two-piece rotor for rear at Racingbrake).

Something to keep in mind when you are due for rotor replacement.

 

Inaccurate, do you ever plan to get a carbon fiber hood? or did i miss that update?

 

do you ever plan to get a carbon fiber hood? or did i miss that update? I am not a fan of fiberglass hoods. I feel that a fiberglass hood lacks the endurance to survive the rigors of daily driving over the course of many years. I try to make mods that will survive 100k miles with little to no maintenance.


I want an update what new have you done to reduce weight !!!! I was excited about this a couple months ago but you dissapeared. Anymore wieght reduction, did you get suspension yet? No new updates after the racing seats. You are right that I have semi dissappeared. I started a new hobby (radio-controlled model airplanes) that has been keeping me very busy. It is funny that my new hobby of model planes requires me to strive for "lightest weight possible" too.

Regarding the 4x4 suspension. It is staying as is !!!! I researched the aftermarket TL suspension offerings. I really like the Tein's. However, I decided to keep the oem suspension because my car is a daily driver. And, I haul ass often down "real roads". I laugh when I see guys with their lowered cars having to slow down to go over mild bumps. That is not for me.

I love my oem suspension on my "light" car. The suspension is very firm but still comfortable. It has excellant suspension travel to soak-up "real road" imperfections at "eye peeling" speeds. During my research, I was surprised to see that even the venerable Corvette has gained extra suspension travel over the years for the same reasons.

Cheers

 

- 21 lbs for CF hood
- 3 lbs for no dampers


theres my weight savings

 

So I'm an old fart and haven't been on a lot of forums (fora?) but this is, without a doubt, the best thread I've seen yet. For the first 15 or so pages I thought the OP was pulling our legs and by the time he was finished there would be nothing but a frame, tires, an engine, and a wooden crate for a seat. But now he's got me hooked to see where this goes. At the most it's a very obsessive hobby project; at the least it got us to clean out our cars. Cheers!

 

That's awesome blackura, now all you have to do is remove the spare tire, jack and the floor-mats.

I have gotten rid of the spare tires in both of my vehicles, the jack and lug wrench.
Now get 20.1 MPG in the MDX in the city... That works

 

eh.. i could never take out my spare.... the day i take it out, ill get a flat 100 miles away...

but then again, acura does have free roadside assistance. but all they are gonna do is want to use my spare.. i doubt they provide me with a loaner spare, or a full sized alloy LOL



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Your HOOD LOOKS AMAZING by the way! But yea, I had my spare out and caught a flat in manhattan and the tire filler that I bought didn't fill it and I was pissed, by cousin ended up getting my spare from home and bringing it to me. lol

 

The only good thing about checking back in here was that I got to see that TLFourplay is alive and kicking! (I saw you at the bottom of the page)

Keep representing bro!

 

nice cf hood, i want one now lol

 

So, inaccurate... are there any new updates on the car or any future plans?