Brendon

iTrader: (1)

One of the first steps I'm looking at to reduce the weight of my car is to swap the front bucket seats. From what I've read, it seems the passenger side weighs about 60-65 lbs and the driver's side weighs about 65-70 lbs. I want to keep my car looking as stock as possible, and I like the seats I got right now. They're soft and in excellent condition. Most important, they match the rest of the interior. I'm basically looking to try and drop the weight from the OEM seats, the power, memory unit, and heating, all stuff that I don't use or need anyways. There is one seat that I'm looking at which I think my be able to accomplish this, Corbeau's Sport Seat:
http://www.corbeau.com/products/sport/sport.shtml

They weigh only 23 lbs each which would drop a good 80-90 lbs off my car's curb weight. I've already removed my spare tire (50 lbs) and I drive on 1/2 tank (60 lbs) so with this final mod, I'm expecting my car to perform much better than it did originally. The question I need to know is if its possible to buy these seats, strip their cushioning, and mount the cushioning from my OEM seats onto their frame? Another question I got is if there are any companies out there that just sell lightweight seat "frames" which I could built and mount the OEM cushioning onto?

xx69xx

iTrader: (1)

Sounds like it would take a lot of time and money for this. Have you considered supra seats? They weigh less and look like they belong. If your really trying to save weight without taking away luxuries try getting carbon fiber hood and trunk painted of course. Some gramlites and your set.

Caoboy

iTrader: (2)

Try getting some CF doors. Your doors are super heavy.

Brendon

iTrader: (1)

Money wise, it would actually be much cheaper than swapping something else in. These seats cost only $219 each uncovered. Most other racing seats in this price range both lack the recliner and look pretty tacky. I'm sure getting leather covering will also add up. As for the Supra seats, I was considering them, but they're pretty hard to find and they don't save you that much weight (15-20 lbs each at most). They're also expensive, unless I buy one that's got the leather all scuffed up and dirty. Like I said, the seats in my car right now are soft and clean and they look factory new

CF is the second stage I'm planning on doing after the seats. CF's rediculously expensive though. An unpainted hood can cost $600+ and the doors are around $1000 each, so I'd rather start with the seats for now. When I'm out of college and I got a higher paying job, then I'll consider stuff like that.

5sp_jzz30

iTrader: (2)

just do supra seat for christ sake. your trying to reinvent the wheel. you wont save that much weight vs. the cost of things. i have a JIC bucket seat in my car. the driver seat weighed in at 70lb and my new JIC weighed in at 27lb. its black cloth and my car is tan leather. i dont care about keeping it looing stock and the seat only cost me 80 bucks(they retail for 550ish).

CF is not worth it. if you want a better performing car that is better on gas and looks stock get a 240sx. they are a lot lighter and better on gas. i know cuz i have one and plenty of friends with them too.

CF doors are a no no on a daily driving car unless you have a full roll cage. they will not hold up to a t-bone collision. the ones they sell for 1000/per door are crap. they are just decorational and look cool and lighter then stock. a lot lighter then stock.

i still dont understand your goals with the SC. what do you want out of it. if you want it to be a luxury fast car do an engine swap. that way you can get decent MPG, retain ALL the luxuries, and have a quicker far.

you gotta rethink your gameplan...so far it doesnt seem like you know what to do and where to waste your money. youre kinda of all over the place.

btw those seats that you have a link posted to are cheap until you have them reupholstered to fit your car. then you will also have to buy a seat bracket to mount it to your car. the seat is 23lb. the seat bracket is at least 10lb. thats 33lb per seat. the supra seats arent much off from that. save you money and dont be lazy. find some supra seats and call it a day.

Brendon

iTrader: (1)

I found a seller on eBay selling some JDM SC300 non-powered cloth seats:

GOOD FOR YOU, DON'T LINK IT.

Does anyone know how much do these weigh in comparison to powered ones?

5sp_jzz30

iTrader: (2)

ask the seller. he will have to weigh them prior to shipping anyways

aznevoviii

yeah,,, there are super nice people at Jarco.
...

Gunnar

My Supra seats are ~30 lbs. each and look like they could've come with the car.

Sakura_Pro

I saw those cloth soarer seats on EBAY +200 jdm points hahha. Corbeau seats are nice... I have a clubman in my rizzle. It weighs nothing... like less than 20lbs and its sweet i think for the money, it was like $200.

FormosaSC

just get supra seats.. they look stock and are light, the money you spend on the seats plus rewrap and all that crap will NOT be worth it.

Brendon

iTrader: (1)

I was thinking about the Supra seats, but they're uber-hard to find plus they cost a lot when you do find them.

An update on my status with this swap: Well I did go ahead and purchased those pair of JDM non-powered seats of eBay. They're black cloth, so I'm in the process of swapping over my stock tan leather cushions onto these seats. So far, I've started working on the driver's seat. I'll post the progress as it goes. Here's a pic of what out seats look like stripped to their bare frames:


I weighed myself+seat at 199.0 lbs, and then weighed myself at 159 lbs so these JDM non-powered seats weigh about 40 lbs each. When I remove the powered one next week, I'll be sure to weigh them. Most estimates run about 70-75 lbs. With this JDM swap, I'm looking to shave a good 60-70 lbs off the car's curb weight.

powerjunky

iTrader: (2)

keep posted, i just swapped out for RSX seats, they weigh half what the stockers do and kinda look like tan recaros

nolexhere

You could have done s2000 seats that's what I wanted to do until the deal fell through on the sc. I don't know what they weigh exactly but I do know it will be atleast $500 to get them.

JustinOlso

S2000 seats are around @25lbs each. They are very nice IMO.

Justin