Half an ounce not enough for me to change out. Keep looking though.

 

I assume you mean half a pound (0.625 lb, actually), not half an ounce? I'm just shy of 190 lb weight reduction. I don't consider that half pound any less significant than the other 378 half pounds.

 

my bad, wishing I had a C.F. hood.

 

Same here. But the commonly available ones don't shed much weight (only 15 lbs reduced for a Seibon) relative to the cost, so I eventually decided to try lightening the stock hood. I don't where the alleged 20-25 lb hoods are.

 

I would have expected at least 20 lbs from Seibon. How about aluminum, like the T.T. Supra?

 

I was surprised by how heavy the stated weight is, too. I can't remember if Extreme Dimensions states a weight for their CF/fiberglass hoods or if they just give an "up to X% lighter than stock" estimate.

I've tried getting an answer as to whether the aluminum Supra hood is close enough in dimensions to be usable... The headlight cutout and nose slope look a bit different from pictures, so probably not.

Check out my edit to the bracing removal post on the previous page:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/sc-...ml#post9170319

I don't know if it's inconsistent readings to a difficult object to weigh or if I really removed that much paint and metal, but there may just be something to be said for lightening the stock hood and saving $700+. Once I get all the primer off (that baked on finish is a ***** to remove), I'll try weighing it again.

 

Figured I'd update this thread with some of my numbers. These weights were all taken via a highly un-calibrated Chinese bathroom scale!

Also note that my OEM seats I'm unsure whether they're heated or not. The car had the heated seat switches, but they did not work. So either they were heated seats that were broken, or someone else at some time swapped in non-heated seats.



OEM Drivers Seat: 68.5lbs

OEM Passenger Seat: 56.5lbs

Corbeau LG1 Seat: 29lbs

Corbeau Seat Bracket/Slider: 11lbs

OEM Windshield Washer Reservoir (filled): 9lbs




So doing all of that shaved roughly 54lbs off my car.

Right now my car weighs 3460 without me in it in street form. At the track it's 3300 (remove pass seat, sub/amp, rear seats, trunk carpet, all exhaust except downpipe, pass headlight).

I plan to do a little more weight reduction. Plans are a different hood (trying to figure out which one is the lightest). Also I have TT supra wheels, but would like to see if I can get something lighter yet at some point. Ditch the OEM style suspension for some coilovers. Then other than that, I think going much further would start to affect the comfort of the car and I don't want to start down that path.

 

the reason the after market hoods don't reduce that much weight is because they're mostly just fiberglass with a layer of CF on top for looks. fiberglass isn't very light compared to CF. a truly CF hood would only weigh i'm guessing like 15-20lbs. i'll be taking a stab at making my own next summer so i'll post the results.

 

Yeah I've seen the stock hood is right around 60lbs. And the 'carbon fiber-glass' hoods all over the market I read that they come in around 40lbs. $700 for 20lbs just seems like a bit of a waste. If I could find one 30 or less pounds, I'd feel a little better about it.

 

Food for thought: A lithium battery can be had for anywhere from half to the full cost of a CF/fiberglass hood, depending on capacity desired, and cut 40-45 lbs from the stock lead-acid boat anchor. Of course, doing both is the ultimate in weight savings, but the battery option offers a lot more bang for the buck if it's an either/or decision.

I added a column to my weight reduction spreadsheet the other day, tracking cost. The total came to $905 for a little over 190 lbs, with $420 of that being exhaust upgrades, and another $300 being LS400 brakes, 3-spoke steering wheel, and tail lights. I.e., stuff that wasn't done for weight reduction purposes primarily. (Some prices offset by selling old parts they replaced.) I'm at that same ~3400 lb point as Halon, where additional reductions start adding up in cost and reducing comfort. 3380 lbs is looking like the end of the road for me. Sniff, sniff.

 

The list I made above was simply the first time I actually took weight measurements that I could share. I already run a small battery, and have done a lot more than what I listed above. I just didn't weigh any of it when I did it. Other things I've done that I can think of off the top of my head are:

-ABS removal
-Small battery
-removed most trunk carpet
-removed the stock sub/amp/disc changer
-removed power antenna
-Single exhaust
-Supra TT wheels
-Supra TT brakes
-removed some of the PS lines that ran in front of the radiator
-removed misc unused brackets/hardware


Also note that my car weight of 3460 street form and 3300 track form was taken from a scale, not from a calculator. If I used a calculator and based it off the curb weight of 3570 or whatever it is, and deducted all the stuff listed above, I'd probably think I weighed a whole lot less.

I think some of those who are using a calculator and think they're car is at 3300lbs might be in for a rude awakening when they actually take it to a scale. Kind of like thinking your SC300 makes 225hp stock, and you put on an intake (15hp) and an exhaust (15hp) and telling others you think it makes 255hp. Then you show up at the dyno and put down 190hp and scratch your head.


PS - Note for the track, I removed the following to get from 3460 to the 3300 mark.
-Pass Headlight
-Rear seat tops and bottoms
-Floor mats
-My aftermarket 10" sub and amp
-All trunk carpet
-All exhaust was removed after the downpipe
-Passenger seat

 

I would counter that the reduction amount is far more significant than the actual weight, being the difference you feel, versus a fairly arbitrary number.

 

I can understand what you mean by that. And like you, I have a spreadsheet with various weights to help me decide the next thing to touch based on what nets me the best 'bang for the buck'. However, that's all at the mercy of the accuracy of your data. Seats for me was the best bang for the buck on my list, I mean for $1000 I could drop 120lbs by switching to race seats according to the 1st post, that's a home run! As I did more research, I realized that 120 may not be that accurate, and I came to conclusion it'd be more like 75-80lbs, still a really big win.

Interestingly enough, my stock seats weighed in at roughly 125lbs total when I removed them and weighed them. So unless I was running 2.5lbs seats, a 120lb reduction wasn't going to be the case. I replaced them with my "26lb" seats, which actually come in at 40lbs once you add in the slider/bracket. So what initially may have seemed like a 120lb reduction, actually was more of a 45lb reduction.

I'm looking for the next thing. I saw that stock hood weighs about 60lbs, and people claiming a CF/Fiberglass will be like 20-25lbs. Great savings! Now that I'm digging deeper, emailing the hood manufacturers, I'm finding out they will weight closer to 35-45lbs. Hmmm not so appealing now. Kind of reminds me of your info on the hood. One person claiming X weight, then you do it to your hood and realise their numbers were probably just a guess and not realistic because you didn't see nearly the same results.

 

What hood do you have that is 20lbs?

 

We're in total agreement. I weigh everything for myself on a postal scale rated to 75 lbs. I've checked it against the FedEx and USPS scales several times at a variety of weights and it's always within a tenth of a pound. I don't trust some of the crazy numbers thrown around by others...

However, with something like the seats, keep in mind, there may be differences across years. When I removed my '94 drivers seat for reupholstering, it was a serious back breaker. When I later removed a '95 drivers seat, it didn't seem that bad. Maybe I got the hang of how to handle it, or maybe some lighter materials were used. '95 got revised passenger seat controls and a different shape to the L-shaped garnish, while '98 got perforated leather. Who knows what else might have changed internally. Along those lines, my '94 passenger seat weighed in at 61.5 lbs, a bit more than the 59 lbs reported by many. At any rate, claims of dropping 120 lbs with racing seats is just plain silly.

Yep. I was hoping to see more savings, but at least others know now how much can be saved in that manner, no guesswork involved. Don't get me wrong, though, I appreciate all the suggestions by others as to where weight can be saved, even if the numbers aren't accurate.