The 370Z Weight Reduction Thread

[Shamu]

Originally Posted by SPOHN

I just wish I could get one person that has deleted there AC show me a pic of it. I want to see there replacement bracket. I've emailed several guys here that have claimed they removed but no response with makes me call BS. Guess I'll have my shop do it.

Muhahahaha

[Shamu]

PPE long tube header and Z1 motor mounts

[wstar]

No measurements on the plastic removal, just common sense. Anything that gets more air exchanged out of the bay has to drop temps in there, same idea as hood vents. FWIW, I removed the engine cover, but left the upper stuff all in place. I like the little bit of shield it gives to the two corner compartments from heat (brake master cylinder in one, and I have my PCV catch can mounted in what used to be the battery area - if it stays a little cooler than the surrounding stuff it condenses better).

Re: undertray, it's not a huge benefit really, but it's worth it to me all the same. I like that it adds a bit of rigidity to the front of the car (not driving/suspension rigidity - plastic bumper/underside rigidity against pressure deformation at speed), as it solidly affixes the bottom edge of the front bumper and the edges of the corner underside plastics to the hard frame. The older Version 1 of it that I have, combined with my no-longer-available AMPerf baffled oil pan sticking out a bit more than stock, also adds up to more cooling (as the aluminum oil pan is pressed into contact with the giant aluminum undertray). Probably some fringe benefits in scrape/impact situations over the stock plastic too, but I don't scrape much anyways.

[cavemancan]

Originally Posted by wstar

No measurements on the plastic removal, just common sense. Anything that gets more air exchanged out of the bay has to drop temps in there, same idea as hood vents. FWIW, I removed the engine cover, but left the upper stuff all in place. I like the little bit of shield it gives to the two corner compartments from heat (brake master cylinder in one, and I have my PCV catch can mounted in what used to be the battery area - if it stays a little cooler than the surrounding stuff it condenses better).

See this is why I am inclined to disagree. By removing the plastics next to the window you are not exchanging air out of the engine bay. You are effectively pumping air into the engine bay. Since air is already being fed into the engine bay from the front bumper I am not sure how the air is flowing here but it has to go somewhere. You might even be causing lift at high speeds due to the excessive air preasure in the engine bay which might be forced under/behind the engine then under the car.

Can you post a pic of your engine bay plastics? Just curious how you have it setup.

Thanks!

Chris

[wstar]

Originally Posted by cavemancan

See this is why I am inclined to disagree. By removing the plastics next to the window you are not exchanging air out of the engine bay. You are effectively pumping air into the engine bay. Since air is already being fed into the engine bay from the front bumper I am not sure how the air is flowing here but it has to go somewhere. You might even be causing lift at high speeds due to the excessive air preasure in the engine bay which might be forced under/behind the engine then under the car.

Well everything that goes in must come out. My assumption (yup) is that most of the air entering the bay (front or top) exits over the exhaust headers out the bottom/sides at speed. No wind tunnel here though

Can you post a pic of your engine bay plastics? Just curious how you have it setup.

Well like I said, I have most of mine on, at least all the top edge stuff. Just not the engine cover stuff.

This is dated, but pretty close. I removed the M370 metal cover as well, it's not there anymore currently. Also notable in this pic, bottom right corner of the picture is that fusebox I just removed the other day:

[cavemancan]

Originally Posted by wstar

No wind tunnel here though

You mean you didn't attach those shoe string looking things to your car then get a blow dryer to simulate a wind tunnel?! It works!

[ZMan8]

Originally Posted by Shamu

...you think? Lol! And to get that 53 47 you have to run full tank of gas and have spare. And then Nissan used boat anchor mufflers, heavy steel brackets, etc in rear.

Don't forget light weight fly wheel and clutch. That's huge. PPE long tube headers, Lots of weight with aluminum hat front rotors, lightweight pulleys, lose stock coolant over flow tank, nismo guys lose the yamaha chassis damper, replace steel nuts bolts with titanium and nylon, cut redundant structure out of hood, pull hood support rod, pull all plastic crappage out of engine compartment, move battery to back, pull AC , pull heater core , get race focused brake and clutch pedal set with cylinders located on pedal cluster, z1 motor mounts, make sure your intake system is made from lightweight materials, convert to lightweight coilover with aluminum body dampers and narrow diameter spring, pin your hood and lose locking system, gut head lamps to bare necessities, drill holes in brackets, replace front mounted braces with lighter aluminum or chrome moly pieces, lose wiper washer canister, motor and all tubing up to the sprayers, pull lighter alternator, lighter starter?, lots of weight if you crack the motor open and start going after crank, pistons/rods, heads.

Things we can wish for. 5 lbs carbon fiber nose piece, carbon fiber under tray,

I like that list!

I think many of Those only apply to track only cars. For most street applications with light to moderate track use I think a few big ones are lighter battery & relocation to trunk, lth, lighter brakes, smaller windshield washer reservoir or maybe removal

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk 2

[Shamu]

Originally Posted by ZMan8

I like that list!

I think many of Those only apply to track only cars. For most street applications with light to moderate track use I think a few big ones are lighter battery & relocation to trunk, lth, lighter brakes, smaller windshield washer reservoir or maybe removal

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk 2

Guess it depends on your definition of a street car. My car has most of these weight reductions completed and it's still street legal. I can get away without AC and heat in central California on the coast. We don't see many hot or cold days and it's not a daily driver so if its going to be real hot at some destination I'm traveling I just drive my other car. I grew up with cars that had no AC and poor heaters (air cooled vws and Porsches) so its not really an issue to lose those.

The other big hitter items that are located towards the front are passenger side airbag and the glovebox door, all the insulation behind the dash, stock steering wheel/airbag, stereo, ventilation controls and blower ( now that is debatable for street car but I use good anti fog), tar on floors. But honestly for corner weights I think this stuff doesn't do much since its mid ship.

The problem with Z is that motor sits way out front so your battling that weight acting as fulcrum. It gets worse as car loses weight as the motor as a percent to total car weight gets bigger. I want to do something to get all cooling moved more inboard, maybe work on front structure. I have even though a semi tube frame front end might be way to go eventually but that's a little radical for a street car and I'd want full cage if I went that route. I haven't looked closely but wonder if we could shift motor and tranny backwards at all? That would require lots of custom fabrication however.

I do know if you pin the hood lots of the front structure can go or be rebuilt with aluminum.

[Shamu]

Also while focus should be on front there is lots of weight up high in rear of the car. You can pull weight up high and convert it to weight down low with suspension bracing, strut brace, big huge 18x12 wheels 18x12 wheels, diff cooler, etc

[SPOHN]

Mmmm. Solid motor mounts. I want. Course right now I just want my damn car back.

[wstar]

I'd go with the Urethane bushing ones rather than the solid ones (both from Z1's catalog I mean). Solid sounds like it would be really harsh on transmitting vibration back through the chassis.

[SPOHN]

Originally Posted by wstar

I'd go with the Urethane bushing ones rather than the solid ones (both from Z1's catalog I mean). Solid sounds like it would be really harsh on transmitting vibration back through the chassis.

I've been a car with them. It's really not bad at all. I would of gussed it could of been worse.

[Dustin@Z1]

We offer both Solid and Urethane motor mounts. Solid mounts will be harsher around idle and low RPM's mostly. Urethane mounts will eventually wear out (....after a VERY long time), but behave much like an OEM mount. Some energy absorption technically reduces the total amount of power transmitted to the wheels. But it is a give and take kind of battle. Doran and SFR run our Urethane mounts, whereas DWW runs solid engine mounts. But in terms of the complete vehicle/tire packages, there are major differences between them (Doran v. SFR/DWW).

( Click to show/hide )

**HINT: We have a much lighter version of the Z1 Urethane Motor Mounts coming soon along with a Urethane Transmission mount**

[Shamu]

Originally Posted by Dustin@Z1

We offer both Solid and Urethane motor mounts. Solid mounts will be harsher around idle and low RPM's mostly. Urethane mounts will eventually wear out (....after a VERY long time), but behave much like an OEM mount. Some energy absorption technically reduces the total amount of power transmitted to the wheels. But it is a give and take kind of battle. Doran and SFR run our Urethane mounts, whereas DWW runs solid engine mounts. But in terms of the complete vehicle/tire packages, there are major differences between them (Doran v. SFR/DWW).

( Click to show/hide )

**HINT: We have a much lighter version of the Z1 Urethane Motor Mounts coming soon along with a Urethane Transmission mount**

I run your urethane mounts as I do hillclimbs. Didn't want to go with solids for that reason alone .

[Isamu]

Originally Posted by Dustin@Z1

We offer both Solid and Urethane motor mounts. Solid mounts will be harsher around idle and low RPM's mostly. Urethane mounts will eventually wear out (....after a VERY long time), but behave much like an OEM mount. Some energy absorption technically reduces the total amount of power transmitted to the wheels. But it is a give and take kind of battle. Doran and SFR run our Urethane mounts, whereas DWW runs solid engine mounts. But in terms of the complete vehicle/tire packages, there are major differences between them (Doran v. SFR/DWW).

( Click to show/hide )

**HINT: We have a much lighter version of the Z1 Urethane Motor Mounts coming soon along with a Urethane Transmission mount**

are these the mounts I saw when I had the NISMO in with you guys? if so..
and for stuff like road america/road atlanta... urethane or solid?