Can we start a thread for lightweight parts? My thinking is if we all pool our knowledge we can flesh out all the places that sell parts that will help reduce the weight or our cars. I DO NOT want to get into any issue of if the part is good or bad for the car, or racing. Everyone has their opinion, and opinions are like _ssholes, everyone has one and they all stink. While some opinions are good and needed, they should be left for PM's that way we can get a lot of info without going sideways and anyone getting flamed for doing something to their car that someone else has an opinion about. I do not want this to be what to remove to lose weight, anyone that races already knows how to do that. If they need help PM a few people to get the info, or start a seperate post.
Maybe we can have the vendor and what they have, also weight savings if you know it, pricing would be great if you know what it is.

So lets this be specifically for parts that are lighter than stock. I will start with what I know.

1. CF hood: I will look up vendors and other info, unless someone can add to this.

2. CF trunk: I will look up vendors and other info, unless someone can add to this.

3. Change the roof and take out the sunroof. Most any bodyshop can do this, I will ask my local shop for an idea of the cost which will include another roof, all material and labor to do the job. Does anybody know the weight of the sunroof, motor etc?

4. Braille battery saves a boatload, however you cannot go to small otherwise it will not have the power to go from the rear of the car through the cables and still start the car.
Price varies by the size. I will look at the one I am using as well as the diff in weight from stock battery to my braille.

5. I believe Modern Performance and Turbotech racing carry lightweight crank and alternator pulleys. Same size but lighter. I do not remember what I paid for the lightweight crank pulley. Mine has the steel that goes in the hub. Unknown weight savings because I have not pulled the stock ones off yet.

6. ACT, Fidanza, Exedy have lightweight aluminum flywheels. I will post the weight when I pull off the stock one.

7. Hahn has a catted DP that I paid $230 with shipping that will save 16 lbs over stock LNF DP.
8. I have sparco seats with stock brackets, so I retain everythign for seatbelts as well as adjustability. I will post weight of seats later this week. I will pull out one and put on regular scale and tell you the savings over stock.

Here is the start of our lightweight parts thread.

Slowbalt

 

Swap your steering wheel. Non-removable without airbag would drop the most weight. Won't pass state inspection though

 

subd! great idea! i can't measure but i can testify the cf wing blade is much lighter than stock, maybe by 5-10 lbs. still a useless wing tho

 

just go wingless that will drop weight good

 

lighter rims would work get all your bumpers and fenders made carbon fiber

 

That myfriend is good info. Any idea on where to purchase and how to do without throwing codes? That is infact a mod that is legal in the class and I completly forgot about it. I have done it in my other two cars but not this one.

Any additional info?

 

Great ideas

 

You da man, however I have removed the wing since there are cobalts that came without it, thus allowed in the class I drive in.

Good info though, just what we need on this thread.

 

Aaron from Turbotech, do you know of parts you have that are infact lighter than stock? Or aware of other companies that may have parts lighter than stock?

 

We will look into this....

I am sure for the LNF K&N intake (and other engines/brands of intakes) is much lighter than all the factory plastic air box system.

 

I think both Sparco and NRG have direct fit hubs. I think the Sparco one is part # 2099, but you'd better check, or get it somewhere with a good return policy like OG Racing.

As far as the code goes, you'll probably have to fab up some resistors to plug in. Not sure what this car requires to turn the light off. Measure the stock airbag connectors for resistance. If you can find plugs to fit into the stock harness that's even better. Then you won't have to hack either the airbag wiring, or the car's airbag harness.

edit: CED can probably help you with the plug for the airbag, if you send Tom a pic. If he can't, no one can

 

As always Wangspeed, YOU DA MAN!!!

 

a friend of mine started this company here in wisconsin

Lightweight Racing Batteries | Kronospark

If i move to STX this was going to be one of the things I do cause i know he will back me up.

I have had this battery in my hand, it is less than 2lbs lol.

Just one idea.

 

That's cool ^. I was wondering where to get a lightweight battery.

 

I forget if you have the stock exhaust or not. MPx with the muffler delete is probably about as light as it'll get, unless you get someone to build you a custom 2.5". No extra power with the aftermarket 3" systems, but the tubing is thinner than stock, and the mufflers and resonators are usually much lighter.

 

When I pulled my stock muffler off (which I put back on), I was surprised at how light it was. A bit of weight to be saved there though.

 

Suspension/ tire pressure adjustments aside, would not reducing weight in the rear lead to more potential understeer? (Thinking Nascar-based tuning here.... )

Then again, those going this route will most likely have or will have those adjustments made anyway.

 

WHAT?! 900 cranking amps from something thats a little 3" cube and weighs 1.3lbs??? wow, hell with Braile.

 

Oh hai! I'm in on this one. Interesting to see what kind of weight savings you can get by swapping to light weight parts. Probably should mention lighter wheels, and light tires as well, unsprung weight is important.

 

Lightweight is great but...

According to the most racing references, 10lbs of weight reduction nets you about 1hp of net effective value - maybe a bit less. I can state that my Cobalt SS, with the GM stage I and other parts I have alredy installed, has so much torque and hp that I can easily spin fresh Hoosier 285/30 x 18 A6 slicks at the start and in turns - so I'm having to use throttle control (less throttle) to get faster, I can't just stab the gas and go - so do I really need more net effective torque and hp?

If I was road racing (which I can't afford), more hp particularly would be great because I'm pushing a lot of air at road racing speeds (100+ mph). I'm autocrossing (speeds of about 60 mph) so torque is a bigger deal -- and I can't use it all right now...

I've done many of the bigger savings discussed, like Cold Air and a custom bent 3" exhaust with the resonater and stock muffler removed (I use a simple 3" ID glasspack - not even a cool tailpipe), I've replaced the stock driver's seat with a light racing seat, I bought the car new without a sunroof to save weight, but beyond this everything else become $$$ in -- weight out. Custom, lighter wheels (track use only, they aren't DOT legal) can easily cost more than $1000 each - what's the value return on that? I plunk down about $1500 for a full set of Hoosiers and go through at least a set (sometimes more) each year - those $$$ are worth more to me than $1000 wheels. And racing tires don't get any lighter BTW - they are already as light as can be made -- my Hoosier 285 A6s weigh about 20 lbs each, so do BFGs, Kumhos, Goodyears, Hankooks, etc., etc.

So how much money do you spend and how much capability to you reduce to get maybe 10 hp value return? I don't know the best answer but I do know that I've already had to make some of those decisions.

At least one guy (it's on this site somewhere) removed everything he could off our Cobalt, gutted the interior, no carpets, no sound deadening, no seats, no head rests, no side panel facias, no spare tire, sub-woofer, etc. -- he saved a total of less than 300lbs from his gutted Cobalt -- about 30 hp worth of lightness. And it isn't legal to run like that anywhere except 'real' road racing or drag racing. If you just want to look cool, go for it, but if you're planning to run the car somewhere, check the rules first. Carbon fiber hoods and trunks which really are lighter than stock, for example, throw you up a class or two in SCCA.

I'll admit that I've already gone a bit the other way, I have installed an autopower competition rollbar which added about 50 lbs to my overall weight - I've probably balanced my current weight saving with the added weight of the rollbar (I really want to try time attack some day).

I'm waiting for someone to suggest lighter brakes, drilled rotors for example, which mean less braking because more mass, not less, equals better thermal efficiency.

An alternative for example, or perhaps a question: might it make better sense to add a big, heavy trailer hitch; a bigger, heavier battery; and a heavier spare to get a better front-rear balance on our FWD car? I don't know the answer to this but it bears thought.

I don't want to throw either water or gas on this thread, I'm not trying to be a schmuck, this isn't intended to be inflammatory, I just want to add some additional thoughts to the process.

Scott

 

Well I'm building my car for time attack and road racing and I've done a few things to help this including cf hood and trunk from extreme dimensions and lighter weight wheels from enkei pf01s but its my daily driver so no serious weight reduction till later which would be getting interior stripped out minus dash and front seats and possibly getting full cage welded in with race seats and harnesses

 

No. The only time adding weight is an advantage is when you have to ballast up to a minimum weight, and you can choose where to put it. I would never purposely make a car heavier, for racing that involves cornering. I am aware that adding weight in land speed racing is sometimes necessary for traction, but that is another discussion.

 

well if i go any faster at my home track fontana roval i feel like im gonna need some added aero cause the rear of my car feels light and wants to float away on the banked turn and its scary and i have to lett off now that i have my cf hood and trunk any thoughts on that?

 

How fast are you going? I went indicated 140 on Lowes Motor Speedway in my Honda, mid turn. Not sure how much Fontana is banked though. Anyways, it's scary feeling, but you have to suck it up and stay on the gas. You might need some corrections, but I doubt it given you have power steering, and a setup that isn't that aggressive. Even with the XXX bar on, my car is a perfectly tame little kitty cat compared to my Integra.

I agree with Mark. Would never add weight to the car, unless I had to ballast, or was adding safety gear.

 

about 130/140 before i hit the big bank i get up high and dip down low and i dunno the banking degrees i think its 40 or 45 lol its nascar course so yea and yea its a scary feeling and i wanna get better at driving and turn off esc and traction control but not with that bank there ya know lol

and im only running hardcore bar not even xxx yet lol