KahnBB6

iTrader: (5)

It's a contentious topic and while opinions may differ I think everyone can appreciate the humor in this video

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

I suspect that car would be extremely loud even with an interior. That's all engine noise, not road noise. IMO, the interior is 99% responsible for elimination of the latter. I had no interior in my '95 M/T and the engine noise wasn't much more than normal. Road noise was significant but not annoying.

As for track cars, one of the people who looked at it when I had it up for sale said that stripping the interior puts it in a more competitive class (street modified?) for autocross, negating the weight advantage. The guy who eventually bought it was going to build it for drifting, so no such limitations to worry about.

RudysSC

I've had a couple of stripped out street cars in my day and... I don't know if I'm beginning to show my age but I appreciate having a full or close to full interior these days. Unless the car is a pretty strict Saturday/track day machine I don't think the loss in comfort is worth the loss in weight.

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

I did do one thing atypical (duh) by keeping the driver's portion of the carpet. That greatly minimized the sensation of no interior, feeling nearly as comfortable as normal. You barely notice the passenger and rear areas while driving, but boy can they hold a lot of stuff as voids!

1997Soarer

iTrader: (1)

Why remove the whole interior to save weight when you can just remove the passenger seat, spare tire, jack, and all the trunk lining. Just removing those saves more weight than completely gutting the passenger cabin.

I will never understand all the kids who gut a car for weight savings but keep BOTH OEM seats AND the full size steel wheel in the trunk.

t2d2

iTrader: (8)

Because you can do both? Removing just the interior stuff would never cross my mind. Those are the diminishing returns, not the starting point. I stripped 500 lbs from my '95 M/T by doing all the obvious stuff, then turning my attention to things like the 20 lbs of door panel(s), 3/4 of the carpet, etc. The heavy stock seats should always be the first to go when chasing weight (or support).

Somewhat funny story... The guy who bought it took it for a test drive and came back grinning, saying, "I really wanted to find something wrong with it so I could talk you down, but it's exactly what you said." Somewhere in there, he raved about how awesome it drove. Shedding that much weight transforms the car in ways that are difficult to describe. You just have to experience it to understand the difference. It makes me think, the ultimate version of the SC might just be an aluminum block 2JZ. Unless you're building it for big power, there's no reason to make the engine as heavy as the 1UZ... Taking that much weight off the front end is the one thing that eluded me.