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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Definitive weight reduction thread


uzthedentist

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anyone know about where to get a lexan rear window?

 

i would like to know too got a spare rear hatch i started to strip and was going to drill it on inside as its double skinned.strippled all items that not needed.its heavy with glass in.would be good with some plastic.sure i heard you can use the stuff builders use.maybe u could bolt and mastic it in or get it cut same size as stock window and get fitted like a replacement.

i have asked about the carbon fiber replacements but it was hard work getting a answer if its much of a weight saving.

leon gone all carbon body parts

 

 

i started to weigh some parts was just curious about stock items and where u could save some weight.started putting them into drag thread.

 

just an idea to put info on weight of supra parts,just curious how much weight could be saved and how much items weigh.

 

just a couple to start with.done on some digital scales in kg and lbs not the best thing to weigh items but better than nothing.

 

Rear hatch full weight with everything 26.4 KG or 58.5 LBS

Rear Spoiler 3.0 KG or 6.5 LBS

Torque Convertor 13.0 KG or 28.6 LBS

 

 

Leon Supra   DSC01313.JPG

Leon Supra   DSC01314.JPG

Leon Supra   DSC01312.JPG

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sumo power do them for skylines and a couple of other cars may be worth a call

 

http://www.sumopower.com/tomeilexan.htm

 

lexan really is for race cars, the pucka stuff is expensive expect to pay £100-150 for a metre square, allthough this is the stuff bullet proof glass is made from (it is a laminate with glass either side) you can scratch it with a feather it marks very easily and you could not have a heated rear window either

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.... so, continuing the diet, the interior has been stripped and stereo system removed.

I'll try an weigh some of the stuff tomorrow to give an indication of weight benefits :)

 

i took all the noise reduction stuff off the floor with a heat gun its a pain to get off and i dont think theres 20kg worth maybe 3-4kg at most, i also use cobra seats so ditched all unecesary wiring and junked all the arial wiring which i notice you still have, i think you have to be pretty anal with weight reduction once you have done all the easy stuff its a case of nibbling away a kilo at a time

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i took all the noise reduction stuff off the floor with a heat gun its a pain to get off and i dont think theres 20kg worth maybe 3-4kg at most, i also use cobra seats so ditched all unecesary wiring and junked all the arial wiring which i notice you still have, i think you have to be pretty anal with weight reduction once you have done all the easy stuff its a case of nibbling away a kilo at a time

 

I must be missing something... I did not see that much noise reduction stuff :search: ... Only bit I can remember is the carpet, which I will be removing eventually.

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I must be missing something... I did not see that much noise reduction stuff :search: ... Only bit I can remember is the carpet, which I will be removing eventually.

its all over the floor, boot area etc, have at a look at steves pics closely its like tar cloth sheet about 3mm thick

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...yep - its the small panels on the floor, mine are black and yours look yellowy.

Not much, and as already mentioned, probably not worth it.

 

I went for an appendix removal instead - been on hospital for 3 days... and I reckon thats more worth it :blink:

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...yep - its the small panels on the floor, mine are black and yours look yellowy.

Not much, and as already mentioned, probably not worth it.

 

I went for an appendix removal instead - been on hospital for 3 days... and I reckon thats more worth it :blink:

 

I thought it might be that... was never going to be trying to remove that crap! Way to much effort, and would probably give myself another hernia!

 

good luck!

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  • 2 weeks later...
Probably a stupid question, but if you go as light as possible wont it effect the traction for the launch or is it the case that this far outweighs the benefits once you actually get going?

 

it may on the initial launch but applying a bit of physics acceleration is directly effected by weight whereas velocity (top speed) is generally unaffected by weight

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I went for an appendix removal instead - been on hospital for 3 days... and I reckon thats more worth it :blink:

 

Bloody hell, taking this weight reduction stuff seriously, even removing non essential parts from the driver :p

 

One thing to consider if you are really serious about the weight, is to take the dash out, I'm sure someone with some good fibreglass skill could use it as a mould to rebuild a new lightweight surround.

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Just been (begrudgingly) removing my interior, looks like there is not as much sound deadening in the MK4 as there is in most cars, For sure in my MK2 I removed 2 tesco's carrier bags full and it weighed in at 15-20kg (cant remember exactly)

 

It might not seem worth the ballache of chiselling it all off the floor, but weight reduction is a game of 'every little helps' each bit of plastic trim you unscrew weighs grammes, all together it weighs kilos. And its not just weight, its a safety aspect too in a track car, I don't need to tell anyone here tar burns well.

 

I'll weigh how much tar crap there is in the MK4 when I get round to it, I'm not even halfway through stripping it yet, as I'm still using it as a daily I've only done the back.

 

So far I have removed:

 

-Rear Seats & hinges (foam base weighs very little, folding back weighs loads)

-Electric Aerial

-Rear Wiper, Wiper motor

-Rear Speakers

-all interior plastic trim, bits of foam, wood from the B pillars back

-Rear seatbelts

-Passenger seat (might go back in :D )

-Spare wheel, tools,

-Charcoal canister, factory air box and ducting

-Some of my fat, diet includes: cut down on certain fizzy drinks that will not be named, less fast food, skip lunch. Hopefully I can go from 80kg to 75kg in a month or 2.

 

To go:

 

-everything in the front except Dash and door cards

-Air conditioning (at the end of summer, may as well do it now the way the weather is...)

-Automatic gearbox etc :D 5 speed manual is lighter...

-swap 2 ton factory seats for buckets

-add a little weight with harnesses in place of factory inertia reels

-lexan 1/4 windows and hatch window when i find a source of lexan...

 

Right, off out to take some pics, will upload them tonight. Oh yeah, suppose now I got a MKIV (told you idiots have money too :eyebrows: ) I better pay my membership fee when I get paid at the end of the month...

 

:rulez:

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How have you removed sound deading in the past?

 

A wood Chisel and a hammer, real shallow angle so as nor to gouge the metal, tap tap tap. Then when its all chiseled off I use a Rag and solvent (thinners, petrol, diesel and tar remover work well) to remove the black marks it leaves behind on the floor.

 

Some people go on about freeze spray, dry Ice and CO2 fire extinguishers, but that seems like more hassle than its worth.

 

Some use a heat gun and a paint scraper but I find that leaves too much residue, so you end up scraping it for ages to get the residue down to a point to where you can wipe it off with solvent and a rag.

 

There is no real easy way I've found yet, Its just a pig of a job.

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Little addition, get the air con pump out of there...the pump itself is about 8Kg...plus bits your looking at 12-15kg!

 

There are four towing eyes on the sup too, I've removed one from the front and one from the rear, about 3kg each;)

 

I have HKS coilovers which havent been setup since I lost all the weight, there is litterally inches been added between the wheel and arches...especially at the front, where my battery was removed, it was an optima red top...heaviest thing ever...18-20Kg...and a complete waste of money!:rolleyes:

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