BRZ Feather weight, What mods are you planning on doing to lighten up your BRZ?

[Xdragonxb0i]

Originally Posted by dori.

not let fat chicks ride shotgun

lol +1

i dont plan on doing anything except some new rims and tires, its a DD
if i take out the track, then i would take out the rear seats, spare, etc.

oh i think its a good idea for the plywood. it makes it look nice vs missing seats, and depending on how thin the wood is it going to be lighter then the rear seats.

some people are trolls about using search feature. if we never revived old topics we would only talk about the latest information.

[chulooz]

Im interested in seeing the weight of the front and rear bumper beams for US models.

[Shavenyak]

Originally Posted by Xdragonxb0i

lol +1

i dont plan on doing anything except some new rims and tires, its a DD
if i take out the track, then i would take out the rear seats, spare, etc.

oh i think its a good idea for the plywood. it makes it look nice vs missing seats, and depending on how thin the wood is it going to be lighter then the rear seats.

some people are trolls about using search feature. if we never revived old topics we would only talk about the latest information.

The plywood is NOT a good idea. Unless Subaru completely changes the design of the rear seats, it's just molded foam with upholstery glued to it. Any plywood strong enough to hold whatever you put on it will be heavier than the foam.

If the weight really bothers you, run without it. If that's too ugly, velcro some cloth over the body. But in all reality, it will never make a big enough difference to matter.

I just wouldn't like to see a bunch of wood shop rejects rolling around thinking they improved performance. But who am I kidding. 90% of the mods that will be made to the BRZ/FRS will be detrimental to performance.

I already want to gouge my eyes out in preparation for all the hellaflush BRZ's we'll see in the first year. Bragging about their stance. When in reality, they removed 2/3rds of their tire contact patch.

[fatoni]

Originally Posted by Shavenyak

Are you overweight? Since you're worried about weight that much, have you considered going on a diet? Pounds are pounds.

Good luck.

P.S. Really, don't do the plywood thing. Just remove the rear seats if you must. No one is going to want to sit back there anyways.

the asts are aluminum so i think they might save more than you would imagine. for the miata they weigh somewhere around 6 pounds a piece

[yeabude]

Originally Posted by Shavenyak

The plywood is NOT a good idea. Unless Subaru completely changes the design of the rear seats, it's just molded foam with upholstery glued to it. Any plywood strong enough to hold whatever you put on it will be heavier than the foam.

If the weight really bothers you, run without it. If that's too ugly, velcro some cloth over the body. But in all reality, it will never make a big enough difference to matter.

I just wouldn't like to see a bunch of wood shop rejects rolling around thinking they improved performance. But who am I kidding. 90% of the mods that will be made to the BRZ/FRS will be detrimental to performance.

I already want to gouge my eyes out in preparation for all the hellaflush BRZ's we'll see in the first year. Bragging about their stance. When in reality, they removed 2/3rds of their tire contact patch.

Wasn't planning on having anyone in the back considering it's pretty much too small even for a midget. The only reason I was thinking of using plywood that is shaped like the rear seat is because it will be an easy job... I was never going to just leave it looking like that, I'm going to use synthetic leather or something else to not make it look like a hack job. Either way it was just a thought.

[Shavenyak]

Originally Posted by fatoni

the asts are aluminum so i think they might save more than you would imagine. for the miata they weigh somewhere around 6 pounds a piece

Oops I forgot this is a fold down rear seat, not fixed like my STI was. Yeah, you might save some weight in the fold down portion. I still doubt plywood would be lighter, though.

[Xlr8]

It will be interesting to see people on this board lighten up.

[prest1ge]

vegetarian diet and working out every day

[brzmaybe]

Good on you for asking the question and making some suggestions. Yes, we've talked about it before, and yes, there are existing posts. But the question deserves its own thread, and a new one, at that.

Yes... I know (and often use) the search functions. In this case it might be more constructive to find some of the better historical posts and repost them into this new thread. And then make this thread sticky.

[MrBonus]

Originally Posted by chulooz

Im interested in seeing the weight of the front and rear bumper beams for US models.

I imagine it will be significant but you've got to be crazy to remove them if you're still planning on driving on the street.

[OrbitalEllipses]

The car's already light. I imagine outside of forged aluminum wheels, lightweight battery, 2-pc discs with aluminum hats, a lighter exhaust, and aluminum suspension components it's not going to get much lighter until you start gutting the inside. The sound deadening should weigh a bunch, but the return on investment there is low as effort is high; I have no intention of ever gutting the interior.

I think the proper method of approaching this is not making it even lighter, but to subtract weight where it is most easily subtracted and to add power where it is most easily added. Let's be real here, we can't Colin Chapman this car more than it's already been Colin Chapman-ed. I see this as more of a Jeremy Clarkson type of car: more powuhhh. It's infinitesimally easier to add power than it is to subtract weight, which is why the car already comes as light as it is compared to other cars.

[tranzformer]

Originally Posted by brzmaybe

Yes... I know (and often use) the search functions. In this case it might be more constructive to find some of the better historical posts and repost them into this new thread. And then make this thread sticky.

If anything the other thread should be made a sticky. Not this one.

[tlp]

Originally Posted by OrbitalEllipses

The car's already light. I imagine outside of forged aluminum wheels, lightweight battery, 2-pc discs with aluminum hats, a lighter exhaust, and aluminum suspension components it's not going to get much lighter until you start gutting the inside. The sound deadening should weigh a bunch, but the return on investment there is low as effort is high; I have no intention of ever gutting the interior.

I think the proper method of approaching this is not making it even lighter, but to subtract weight where it is most easily subtracted and to add power where it is most easily added. Let's be real here, we can't Colin Chapman this car more than it's already been Colin Chapman-ed. I see this as more of a Jeremy Clarkson type of car: more powuhhh. It's infinitesimally easier to add power than it is to subtract weight, which is why the car already comes as light as it is compared to other cars.

Good Point. There seems to be quite a few companies doing R & D on a turbo/supercharger kit which will no doubt add weight to the front end. Maybe a Dry Carbon Bonnet is in order too.

[AVOturboworld]

We did corner weighting on our base BRZ, from the factory it was 1170kg. Right after that, we did the corner weighting on our 2005(ish) STI widebody race car, which has been lightened and stripped and lightened and stripped some more. After a massive effort, we got that down to... 1220kg. So a factory BRZ is 50kg lighter than a race car with one seat, a lot of bare metal, and every lightweight replacement we could put in.

I'd say the BRZ/FRS is a pretty good job right off the showroom floor. Especially given todays safety needs and mandates.

Regards,

Paul Hansen
www.avoturboworld.com
www.facebook.com/BRZSportsCarClub