anyone gone lightweight ?

i removed the doors and seats (except drivers seat of course). massive improvement. thinking about the hood and hatch, but wondering about aerodynamics?

 

I ran data through calculator and at speeds above 45MPH aerodynamics have the biggest impact, second to rolling resistance. At speeds below 45 LRR tires would mean more then loosing a couple hundred pounds, YMMV

 

sorry, i was on the third glass of my two glass limit. thought you were serious about trashing it out.

 

About all there is to remove is the spare and a few tools and maybe the out side rear view mirrors.Radio and speakers. Not sure what that would amount to! Hal

 

Easily removed and replaced stuff would include at least the:
Passenger seat
Rear seat
Spare tire and jack
Hatch area floor and storage tray
Rear seating and hatch area carpeting
center console
glove box parts
lower dash panel...

I'd guess ~250 lbs.

Then it's on the the roof liner, door and rear hatch inner panels.
(Better add a pair of Bose noise canceling headphones at ~$300.)

maybe ~30 lbs.

All your clothes and shoes, wear a Speedo year 'round.
(Add limo window tint on all windows.)
~8 lbs.

Shave your head, armpits, and pubic area, full body wax hair removal

2.769 gm.

You will get bigger MPGs gains just by setting tire pressure to
42 psi front/40 rear and slowing down 5 MPH. :biggrin1:

 

After ripping out interior parts to shave weight during my drag racing day, I found the gains were not worth the discomfort or the ugly look of missing interior. I bet you could increase mpg but you would have to remove a lot of stuff. The money and fuel saved would be pretty minimal due to the already high fuel efficiency.

 

F8L I think your bang on!!,but Rokby had some good points.Hal

 

Back in the 1970's in the bicycle industry, the thing to do, for racing enthusiasts, was to "drill out" and mill away all the "unnecessary" areas of components. Cranks, chainrings, derailleurs, shifters and brake levers, handlebars, seat posts. You name it, they drilled it. And all to save weight. Not to say weight wasn't important, but when derailleurs broke off at an inopportune moment because the mounting clamp no longer had enough strength, then it became laughable - and dangerous!

My favorite moment was coming upon a kickstand off to the side of a road, on a hundred miler, that had fell off someone's bike because it was drilled out way too much. (kickstands are considered a totally unimportant part anyway, to enthusiasts). We saved the thing and brought it back to the shop as a trophy to stupidity.

Save weight for fuel economy where you reasonably can, but please don't go nuts with how you accomplish it.

 

Thanks Hal. Rokeby usually does.

 

Remembering, of course, that it isn't really speed which is important here, but distance between stops. If you drive 25mph with no stops, reducing the car's weight won't help much at all. If you drive 60mph, but stop every 1/2 mile, reducing weight will help immensely (as, of course, would driving like a sane person ).

 

You forgot an old bicycle racing tip to reduce weight: take a crap before the race.

Kickstand!?!?! People even had them on their bikes???? I've never had one, but then I was born post-1980.