The 370Z Weight Reduction Thread

[wstar]

The engine responds well to exhaust and intake mods in general, thanks to VVEL and the self-tuning it can do with the MAF + Lamba inputs, so I wouldn't say the main purpose of an exhaust upgrade is weight savings, but weight savings can be had there. Since most of the weight is low and to the rear though, it's not the ideal location, but every pound counts in the end

[wstar]

Also, I can report now that the electric tape and plastic conduit material in the car's wiring harnesses adds up to approximately 443 lbs of messy, sticky, crap. At least, it feels like that as you pull it all apart

[ZoroItaliano]

Originally Posted by wstar

Also, I can report now that the electric tape and plastic conduit material in the car's wiring harnesses adds up to approximately 443 lbs of messy, sticky, crap. At least, it feels like that as you pull it all apart

So saving weight in the muffler location is not recommended?

[synolimit]

Originally Posted by ZoroItaliano

So saving weight in the muffler location is not recommended?

I say remove whatever, whenever. If you have coilovers you're better off since you can corner balance some of the weight around. If you don't have them the track feel will be effected but at least for a DD you're not lugging so much weight around and saving on gas. I'm at least averaging around 23-24mpg city and highway.

[dirTy_shoeZ]

Originally Posted by theDreamer

I just started talking to Wstar about moving mine but at how light the batteries are getting & efficient, may as well keep it up front.

ive seen race cars make a box under the headlight, looks really nice, and is out of the way, also not using to much more battery cable. just a thought

[wstar]

I bought one of those Evo2 batteries referenced earlier btw. Planning to stick it back in the stock battery box, once I figure out some mounting and wiring solutions.

[ChipsWithDips]

Originally Posted by wstar

I bought one of those Evo2 batteries referenced earlier btw. Planning to stick it back in the stock battery box, once I figure out some mounting and wiring solutions.

Just gonna copy and paste this from a PM I responded to a while ago asking about my setup:

The mounting was a bit of a pain for me, I don't do a lot of fabrication like that, but I was able to make a new battery tray out of stainless steel sheet metal and foam that the battery was packed in and zip ties. Its hard to explain, heh. Here is a small photo album, it duplicated some of the pics for some reason Ballistic Performance EVO2 16cell battery in 370Z - Imgur

Another issue I didn't realize until after I had made the new tray was that there is a white plastic wiring conduit that goes under the battery tray, but it actually sits higher than the mounting points for the tray. The stock tray has bumps where it mounts so that it can clear this piece. I ended up just throwing some little wood shims under my tray so I could clear that which you can just see poking out in the pic.

I had to extend the battery cables since the battery sits so much lower and the stock cables don't have a lot of slack. I got cables from this guy and they are really great quality for the price I think.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-AWG-Custom...:X:RTQ:US:1123
I got one foot each of red and black wire in 6awg, with 1/4" terminal lugs.

[theDreamer]

I stopped by wstar's place and saw the battery...holy cr@p is it light and tiny.
Minus it being an odd shape, it is light enough to throw like a baseball.

[Kingbaby]

^^^

Are you refferring to the battery chipswithdips posted ? Also did you guys buy the tender aswell...

[ChipsWithDips]

Originally Posted by Kingbaby

^^^

Are you refferring to the battery chipswithdips posted ? Also did you guys buy the tender aswell...

I don't use a tender, I just don't run any electrical when my engine is off and it hasn't been an issue. I was concerned when I got this that the battery would need to be balance charged, but after checking the individual cell voltages every so often, they have amazingly stayed balanced within a couple millivolts without any special treatment

I just went and measured the voltages again:
3.342V
3.341V
3.340V
3.341V

Can't get much closer than that. This is after daily use for nearly 6 months now.

[synolimit]

Here's mine....


Decided to do a lightweight battery. Went with a etx15l which is basically a odyssey pc680, 11lbs. I highly doubt the Braille p2015 puts out what it says it puts out and everyone says Deka makes the brallies anyways. I ran that battery here in ohio for 2 years without issue. Also if you look at Dekas sheets, every ETX battery you find will have identical specs at any store with the same part number! I ended up buying a etx15l from autozone with a Duralast sticker on it.

I had to do a little work to get it to fit right but I had all the stuff so no big deal. I replaced the OEM tray with a lightweight 1/8th peice of aluminium, made 2 paper thin steel tubes to increase the height so the terminals would be at OEM height, and had to buy 2 steel cylinders so the OEM rings had something to fit around as a terminal. The etx batteries don't come with the right kind of terminal top like the OEM battery has. Last I relocated the negative ground wire which worked out perfect because there was a bracket there with the same size holes. Just a simple bolt down. The bracket was holding 2 relays so I just zip tied them to some wires.

All in all I'd guess I saved around 22lbs.

[wstar]

Originally Posted by Kingbaby

^^^

Are you refferring to the battery chipswithdips posted ? Also did you guys buy the tender aswell...

Yes (and thanks for the install pics Chips, it helps!). I went ahead and got their little digital balance charger too, because the car spends a fair amount of time shut off between events or during electrical work, and it's not impossible that I'll sometimes have battery drain going on as well just from shoddy temporary work or mfg issues (last time, it was my datalogger was draining the battery when it was "off", if I didn't physically disconnect it from car power).

I haven't gotten around to testing it in my car (waiting until I finish the other electrical work), but from what I've seen so far of the specs and the battery itself, I think it'll work great in my car, but keep in mind my car's electrical system is pretty minimal at this point (I've gutted over half of the factory wiring harness - no a/c, no radio, no airbag system, etc). It's probably borderline on a stock car unless you're very diligent about not draining it with the engine off, and/or putting a trickle charger on it all the time.

[Kingbaby]

Thanks alot ChipsWithDips & Wstar.....my car only moves on fridays night and maybe a early morning sunday morning run, then it's stagnant for another 5-6 days.

[synolimit]

Originally Posted by Kingbaby

Thanks alot ChipsWithDips & Wstar.....my car only moves on fridays night and maybe a early morning sunday morning run, then it's stagnant for another 5-6 days.

Why?! Dear lord drive it! I'd be the only millionaire with 150,000 miles Avenrador for crying out loud.

[mwhit02]

well, now that I removed all the rear hatch interior plastic panels, I decided to look around the underside of the rear-end to see what's what. I had no idea the tow hook piece was so heavy. I'm not saying a weighs a ton, but it's a lot heavier than I thought it would be: