SVX Slimfast?? Can we street legally make it lighter???

[Johnybeas]

Ok so I know that some people have put in wrx seats and changed up the hood to a carbon fiber or fiberglass but what other options are out there to make this baby lighter with still keeping it a street legal normal looking vehicle???

[Crazy_pilot]

Honestly, there's not a whole lot that won't involve massive amounts of work. The most weighty part of the car is all the metal, even if you gutted it down to the bare minimum you'd have a tough time getting below 3000 lbs. There's just too much steel to get through.

That being said, I start doing composites in school next year, and we have a fully equipped lab, autoclave and all, so I may feel like molding an intake manifold in carbon fiber, probably worth 20 lbs off and some badass looks. Combined with a fiberglass hood and A/C delete, that should be 60+ lbs off the front of the car.

Hocrest/Benebob, what does the racer weigh?

[SilverSpear]

The weight concentration as Pilot said, is in the metal.

Most notably in both the front and rear bumpers, hood, seats (driver... oh GOD) and doors.

Futhermore the metal thickness of the SVX is done as if it was a Mercedes or BMW. The chassis are even thicker than the Germans. This is why everybody walks away untouched from SVX crashes ;)

[subbieatnz]

heres some cross sections of SVX showing thickness

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i139/xtsub/Strippted%20and%20dead%20cars/Picture7585.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i139/xtsub/Strippted%20and%20dead%20cars/Picture7586.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i139/xtsub/Strippted%20and%20dead%20cars/Picture7587.jpg

http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i139/xtsub/Strippted%20and%20dead%20cars/Picture7588.jpg

[Hocrest]

Hocrest/Benebob, what does the racer weigh?
Now that we lost more weight with the 5-spd, and gained some back with the cage. We should be right around 2800.

I would suspect that OT has the lightest that is street legal and comfortable.

The AC system weighs a lot, you don't need that... 5 speed will cut about 100 lbs off of the weight with an auto...

[LetItSnow]

...molding an intake manifold in carbon fiber...
This could potentially cost you more than you gain. I don't think I'd go much beyond a mild port/polish and removing casting flash for mass reduction there.

[lhopp77]

Take out ALL radio/CD related equipment and save several pounds. :p

Lee

[Mensaf]

This is all I can think of:

1. Seats to base SVX cloth seats or WRX/2.5RS seats.
2. Carbon/Fiberglass hood.
3. Manual Swap.
4. A/C system (pipes, condensor, and all)
5. Heater core, radio, climate control, and everything else that isn't needed to make the car run behind the dash.
6. Power seat belts to manual belt conversion.
7. Speakers, trunk lining, spare tire, jack and tool kit removal.
8. Aftermarket exhaust (stock is heavy as balls)

I can't think of anything else that's a simple job (or simple solution rather...see manual swap :lol:) that would keep it easily streetable. Some things would already make me not want to drive the car. I had a stripped Impreza, stripped 240sx, and essentially stripped 240Z. I can't imagine the SVX getting the same treatment. The next step after that I'd guess would be grinding useless metal, removing carpet/insulation/sound deadening and replacing with thin carpet, and that's it. Getting rid of some unspring weight would be nice, but big bucks.

Part of the reason why I like this car so much is that there aren't many parts for it. You end up having to have to make your own solutions to things.

[SVXRide]

This is all I can think of:

1. Seats to base SVX cloth seats or WRX/2.5RS seats.√ (actually went to Corbeau seats)
2. Carbon/Fiberglass hood.√
3. Manual Swap.√
4. A/C system (pipes, condensor, and all)
5. Heater core, radio, climate control, and everything else that isn't needed to make the car run behind the dash.
6. Power seat belts to manual belt conversion.
7. Speakers, trunk lining, spare tire, jack and tool kit removal.
8. Aftermarket exhaust (stock is heavy as balls)√

9. Aftermarket rims √

Part of the reason why I like this car so much is that there aren't many parts for it. You end up having to have to make your own solutions to things.

I've done all the checked items on Bill Stock/Battlescar. I'm guessing the car is now around 3400lbs. Any lighter and I think you are noticeably impacting the "comfort" aspects of the car. This said, yeah, you definitely could go to Carbon fiber doors and cut serious weight if you could figure out a way to still accommodate the fixed windows without having to add a lot of fiber.
-Bill

[Crazy_pilot]

This could potentially cost you more than you gain. I don't think I'd go much beyond a mild port/polish and removing casting flash for mass reduction there.

I mostly want to do it for kick-ass looks and cool factor, and because I have a lab here and it's something that tickles my brain.

I've done all the checked items on Bill Stock/Battlescar. I'm guessing the car is now around 3400lbs. Any lighter and I think you are noticeably impacting the "comfort" aspects of the car. This said, yeah, you definitely could go to Carbon fiber doors and cut serious weight if you could figure out a way to still accommodate the fixed windows without having to add a lot of fiber.
-Bill

If you could get Seibon or another company to lay up some composite doors, that would be a massive weight savings. Having just changed mine I can attest to how heavy they are. I think the biggest problem there might be that the majority of CF "doors" are actually just re-skinned with carbon, not constructed fully from it.

[SVXRide]

Chris,
Agreed. I was just reading an article on and EVO that AMS is building for time attack and they put Carbon fiber doors on it. The issue here is that most cars don't have the large "fixed" glass that we have with the SVX. You'd have to add a certain amount of structure to the carbon door just so the fixed glass wouldn't pop out when you shut the door.
-Bill

[Crazy_pilot]

If you laid up a honeycomb filler into the window frame I think that would provide plenty of rigidity for the windows. Maybe that's something else I can look into.....once my lottery winning come in...:lol:

[Johnybeas]

lol back to reality...

I have a 5spd WRX tranny, custom exhaust, not sure if I wanna sacrifice my seats, but I'm deff gonna change up that hood sometime soon. As far as removing some of the sound dampening or anything... is there some on the underside that can be easily removed without causing substantial noise increase??? Where is the tutorial for how to remove the A/C, or is there one? Mine hasn't worked in a while so I might as well get rid of it until I decide to actually fix it. How much is it/ how difficult is it to switch to manual seat belts?? (is it worth it) I am going to be getting aftermarket wheels in Dec or Jan. Anything else??

[XT6Wagon]

I wouldn't do carbon doors without a full cage just incase someone tries to drive into the side of your car while your in it.

The easy way to deal with the windows would be to actualy just take the glass and window frames from a stock door (rusty or beat up plse) and attach it to the carbon section. Also possible might be making hinges for the glass section such that its hinged at the top and separate from the bottom section. Just fix the lower glass in that case to the upper frame

[Freeman]

Step one: Win lottery.

Step two: Everything carbon fiber..

[wawazat??]

I've done all the checked items on Bill Stock/Battlescar. I'm guessing the car is now around 3400lbs. Any lighter and I think you are noticeably impacting the "comfort" aspects of the car. This said, yeah, you definitely could go to Carbon fiber doors and cut serious weight if you could figure out a way to still accommodate the fixed windows without having to add a lot of fiber.
-Bill

3478 is the weight of my '95 L (no sunroof, cloth covered manual seats) AWD car with my 17" SSR wheels and RE070 tires and Perrin crank pulley Bill. No other weight reducing mods. I haven't weighed the '92 5 speed yet.

[Hondasucks]

How much does the AC system weigh? Isn't it pretty much all aluminum?

If I had money to burn (and the equipment) I'd look at building carbon/aluminum/titanium suspension components, lower unsprung weight would help handling. I'd probably also make the front clip, door skins, and trunk lid from fiberglass, if not carbon fiber. I'd go way more all out if I was building a race car (removing everything unnecessary to RACING) but I'm not going to take the AC or the stereo out of my daily driver, I'd focus on things that would help the weight without sacrificing driveability or comfort.

[Hocrest]

The total AC is probably around 30 lb's??? And the majority of that is fairly high or far in front of the wheels.

Making FG Fenders and Door Skins is not worth the expense and time. The fender weighs hardly anything to begin with, a FG/CF copy can't save more than a couple of pounds. The door skin is also such a small % of the door weight. The structure and crash beam are what makes it so heavy. And like XT6mentioned, without a full cage you really shouldn't gut the beams out.

[XT6Wagon]

Well and a metal skinned door stretches and absorbs energy when hit, while a CF skinned door will shatter once too much force is applied and suddenly provide 0 protection...

I guess what you could do is make an assembly to mount the door latch on one end to the hinge mounts on the other side with a solid metal pole to act as a door beam