speedread

How much does a 996 air conditioner weigh? Is it worth loosing for a hp gain? How about if you do not remove all the plumbing? (thus still keeping my fast fading illusion that I could sell it some day to someone who might want to convert it back to stock). How much would I gain by removing all the carpet. I probably am not going to do either. I do not race. I only do DE with my street/track car. I just am going "heavy snow, no track, daydreaming crazy". Still..... what do you think?

mglobe

Have you ever lost a DE? If not, I'd keep the AC system intact.

Tom W

I think for DE only, on a car that gets used for both street and track, it's crazy to remove the AC.

A930Rocket

I'd keep the A/C unless you were going to do a lot more weight loss. The A/C removal won't you any faster and once it's out, it's hard to re-install. BTDT.

cr207

removing all the carpet and sound deadening material the interior of your car will get a lot louder and a lot hotter. so if this is not a track dedicated machine what's the point. you will never want to drive it on the street anymore. same with AC, it turns 85 out and sunny and now all of a sudden you would rather drive your SUV. doesn't make sense to me. on the other hand you could get probably 150 pounds out of the car if you took out the radio too. That is significant. If you are going that route why not take out the cats too.

Glen

Leave the ac.

VaSteve

LOL

I couldn't see the point in a nice high HP car doing that. We do it all the time in the older 911s since the a/c sucks. I pulled it out of my 90% track 944 since it didn't work anyway. The 40 pounds I removed and the lessened drag on the crank was significant. I just ripped out an additional ~30lbs of padding under the carpet. The valets are going to hate me at the country club.

speedread

YES IVE LOST ONE, YES, YES..... well.....no, not the way you mean it. I just have that strong itch to keep up with, and pass the GT3s out there. I do a pretty good job sometimes, but the straights eat me up, and I "loose a DE".
OK I admit it it would be crazy on a hot summer day, in a sports jacket driving to work, soaked in sweat. (But in my crazy logic, my fantasy of lowered weight on the track starts to take over.
I do get the points you all have made.

84-944

I raced 2 years with working A/C, I made weight and finished well so I left it.
105 degree day sitting on pit road while being gridded for 20 minutes, cockpit temp 120+, I had the A/C blasting until we finished our parade lap! It was great.

Keep the A/C.

speedread

So, do you regret it. How hot does it get where you are? In my twisted logic, I think that if I can wear a fire suit on a 100 degree day, with it much hotter on the track, with no cool suit, I can tough it out at home. As posted above, the carpet out probably lets a lot of heat in from the street. I never thought about that as part of a full race car's heat increase. the whole thing is nuts! But so is driving at speed on the track.

bgiere

Leave it in...Someday you'll buy a race car and wish you had AC in your cruiser...Been there and done that...it was a mistake to remove it and expensive to put it right again....

sjanes

Before you consider removing the AC, go without it for a full summer first. Unless you are planning on putting the car on the serious weight loss plan, pitching the AC alone won't help you keep up with the GT3s. My car has no AC or sound insulation (or radio or cruise or ...) and only minimal carpet. It's loud and hot (kinda like that girl from college) in the car on the street. On the track, you are concentrating on driving, but on the street, you may just be sitting in traffic sweating.

Do I miss my AC? Sometimes, but I now have my car down to 2700lbs and I think the benefits of the lighter weight are worth it. Depends on how much you can live with and how much street driving you do.

If your wife ever rides in the car, leave the AC in.

KLR

The compressor in your 996 weighs around 20lbs. You'd certainly be removing the weight from the right place in a 911, but the honest impact of removing 20lbs from a car that weighs 3300lbs or more with you and fluids aboard would be nearly 0. If you remove the lines, condensor, etc., you would take more weight out, but that's a much more complicated and potentially irreversable mod. Unless you're making a race car, what's the point of going to that much trouble?

MUSSBERGER

Sounds like cabin fever.

Redrum
Redrum
Redrum

Leave the AC. Even without it the GT3's are going to leave you and they will have their AC on.

mglobe

I've got it too, and I was just at the track earlier this month!