visible23

I am not planning on taking my car to the track so with that in mind what are the advantages to taking weight off of my car? Will it have a noticable effect on my street-use driving? What are some of the easier places to lose weight in my 95 C4? Any disadvantages?

As always thanks in advance.

M

DJF1

the benefits are numerous. Better acceleration, etc. If you take unsprung weight of the car from the wheels and tires you will notice better handling too. The easiest places are to replace your stock seats, take out the rear seats, exhaust system, light wheels and tires and many other places. It can very very expensive though....
There have been many Rennlisters here that went on a weight loss, notably Flying Finn. Do a search on weight reduction on this forum and plenty of threads will come up.

mhm993

My two cents: I don't see any point of lightening the car if it's not on the track. Put some loud mufflers on for the xtra testosterone, and keep your interior and cat's intact. Besides, with a c4, you aren't getting light no matter what you do!
Best places to lighten are wheels whether you drive on the street or the track.
Of course, my suggestion would be to get a second car for the track, learn to drive well, and rip the heck out of it, but I digress.

CarmG993

Some quick weight loss for just street, with out going nuts.
Lose the carpet in bonnet, spare and tools (that's a tuf one), lighter battery, carpet mats underneath mats, different exhaust or no cat's or smaller cat's, lighter wheels, motor mounts.

Bill Verburg

Any time or place you can loose some weight it will benefit all aspects of performance except noise

Whether or not this is of benefit to you is a personal decision.

leosayer

Drive around with a heavy passenger on a testing route, then do the same journey without the passenger.

You have just lost 70kg (approx 5%) from the weight of your car Do you notice any difference in acceleration, braking, handling, turn in etc....if not then it's just not worth losing weight. If you don't have any fat friends then do the same with an empty followed by full tank of fuel, this is probably around 50kg.

However, there are some weight reducing mods that offer more than just simple weight loss, for example:

Racing bucket seats typically hold you in much better than the comfort or sports seats and many people find them more comfortable as well. You will save you 30kg or more as the standard seats are unbelievably heavy.

Lightweight wheels in theory improve ride, handling, braking and steering feel and you are reducing your unsprung weight. If you can save 2kg per wheel then it's worth doing. The theory is that reducing 1kg from unsprung weight is worth 5kg from sprung weight, although I'm not sure why this is.

Sports exhuast will reduce weight from the rear and give you a much nicer sound that standard, some hp gains might also be possible.

I wouldn't recommend removing the spare wheel, I think it's part of the crash structure.

Lightweight flywheel imrproves throttle response and reduces weight by approx 10kg from the rear I think. Not much, but people have been raving about it on here recently.

Flying Finn

Modern cars unfortunately are too heavy so losing weight IMO is something every 993 (& basically all ) Porsches owner should do, regardless if you track.

You don't have to go grazy and make it obnoxious etc. but just changing the seats, better (lighter, better sounding) exhaust and say, removing the sound deadening (I personally think in a sportscar you should hear little noise, it's not supposed to be MB type quiet luxury) makes the car easily 100-150 lbs lighter and to me, more "proper" Porsche. Still comfortable etc. but little less stuff you really don't need in a sportscar.

Paul902

/tongue in cheek mode on/

That's a great idea! I didn't know the lighter had its own battery. I don't even smoke so I can take out the lighter as well!.

vjd3

Anybody not using their cashmere mats under the floor mats? I need to make my C2 heavier in that particular area :-)

AVoyvoda

I am not convinced you should. Here are my reasons:

a) You'll spend money you never recover on re-sale.

b) Conservative lightening will probably save no more than 50-100 lbs assuming you want to keep your comforts (see below). This, by itself, won't produce huge differences in performance.

c) By lightening the car you lose many creature comforts. For example:
1) Bucket seats: Lighter yes, but they no longer recline, so you lose use of rear; they are less comfortable over long distances; are less easy to adjust; more difficult to enter and exit the car (especially for women) and are designed for slim people.
2) Reduce insulation: More noise, can get tiring on long drives.
3) Light weight flywheel: Could have stalling issues.
4) RS type doors: Very neat, but you lose the door "cubbies" that are useful for all kinds of junk.
5) Different wheels: A valid option, but good - and light ones - are expensive. Add the cost of a new set of tires too. See (a) above.
6) Exhaust: There are not huge weight savings available for cat exhausts with heat exchangers. Power gains are minimal. They sound better, but is that worth the outlay?
7) Lose rear seats: Can be done, but is it worth it, especially of you have kids or luggage?
8) Lose spare tire and tools: This has been discussed extensively, I'd be very cautious.
9) Light weight battery: Worth thinking about (Optima style).

Overall then, I say "don't bother". Of course, if you are willing to spend big bucks on light-weight wheels, hood, rear deck, seats, carpets, exhaust, clutch, flywheel etc etc then by all means. But on a half-way house basis, what's the point?

RallyJon

That list does illiustrate the problem--the weights of most of those individual items are trivial. If you want a stripped track car, you can remove ALL of them for a decent combined weight loss, but then you have a stripped car. Removing creature comforts to save a few lbs doesn't make sense for a daily driver.

Wheels and tires can be huge. I know we're deprived here in Porsche-land, but owners of other cars can buy reasonably priced 17x7-7.5 wheels that weigh 15-16lb, and 17x9s that weigh 18-19 lbs. Combined with lighter tires like Contis or Toyos, that would save 5-8lbs per corner vs stock wheels and heavy tires. That weight makes a huge difference in perceived performance since it's both unsprung and rotational. Too bad the only light wheels for 993s are 18" and $700+ each, and they aren't all that light anyway.

For example: Stock rear wheel 17x9 (21 lbs) + Bridgestone RE050 (27 lbs) = 48 lbs total. SSR 17x9 (17lbs) + Michelin PS2 (24 lbs) = 41 lbs. diff is 7lbs x 2 = 14 lbs lighter! Like adding a lightweight flywheel.

A quiet, lightweight exhaust would be a no-brainer, but all the lightweight exhausts seem to get that way but removing function. The riceboys can get titanium exhausts--where are they for 993s?

TheOtherEric

I agree with Jon- removing creature comforts just to shed a few pounds that you'll never notice makes little sense in a street car. You won't notice 50 lbs.

I'd get some lightweight wheels, lightweight flywheel (has benefits far beyond just the static weight savings), and race/lightweight seats. Stock seats are 50 lb each (!).

Harvey Yancey

My car is currently at 2,915 lbs w/ a 1/2 tank of gas. No real loss of creature comforts ... although I have been tempted to yank the A/C compressor (40lbs?). But I still like doing club tours with the car ... and am planning on driving it to Rennsport this Fall.

TargaTango

I agree with most of what has been said especially Bill's comment that it is a personal decision. Project Orange should result in a net saving of 400lbs plus. As AVoyvoda points out this is very expensive and at the cost of creature comforts. I have long lusted after Porsche RS Club Sports of all vintages and types, and I believe that a sports car should be nimble, not a Ten Ton Tessie with a monster engine. That of course is my humble opinion only with my set of preferences. I will only know whether living my dream will satisfy me after living with Project Orange for quite some time after her expected completion hopefully in April 2007. It all comes down to what works for you and what pushes your buttons.

All the best,