Lightweight Body Parts for Stagea 260rs

[Duncan]

1 hour ago, flying fridge said:

Yeah it‘s certainly the easier and cheaper way to improve performance. What tires and rims do you use?

I put a set of R34 GTR wheels on it about a decade ago when they were a cheap, direct fit option.

I've been considering selling the wheels to an American, downgrading to some rays ce28s and paying off the mortgage

[Murray_Calavera]

5 hours ago, flying fridge said:

20kgs is the spare tire alone almost lol. 
So what you think, what weight reduction down from 1720kg is possible without ruining the car?

What a fantastic idea for a street car. Why don't you also bin the air conditioning, heater core and all their associated parts as well? You might almost find another 20kgs there too!

If it is a street car, I don't think there is any realistic way to reduce the weight in a meaningful way while still retaining  pleasant street manners. The OEM wasn't trying to add weight for fun, they don't like weight either - yet the car you have is the best they could manage while still being a pleasant street car. 

If your reason for lowering the weight is to improve performance, then just do that. Add power, sort the suspension and run the stickiest tyres you're prepared to live with. 

An R35 GTR probably weighs more then your car... Probably performs a little bit better too. 

[The Bogan]

I stripped AC, PS (did the whole delete thing to the rack), carpet, deadener, random brackets from my MX5, that was barely noticeable on a 1000kg car

It did turn it from a nice quite cruiser into a hot and noisy car that everyone but me enjoyed being in

I agree with the above, just add power

There is always carbon fibre carbon fibre carbon fibre.......or >>>>>

[Chi-Town]

 

Plenty of ways to cut weight in a C34 depending on how deep your pockets are.

Swap the front seats out with ultra light carbon buckets = ~ 20-30kg (depending on seats chosen)

Swap out the full size battery for a LiPo4 unit = ~20-30kg (depending on battery chosen)

Cut down the front and rear crash beams = ~ 10kg (roughly)

Light weight wheels and tires = ~10-20kg (depending on wheel and tire chosen)

2 piece front and rear rotors = ~ 5-7kg

Remove HICAS = ~ 5kg

Lightweight suspension links =~5kg

Carbon prop shaft = ~10-15kg

Light weight coil overs =~5-10kg

Billet engine block =`40kg 😅

Considering the car is just slightly heavier that a R33 GT-R but has a better weight distribution I would concentrate on the quality of the handling and adding a bit more power.

[Murray_Calavera]

1 hour ago, Chi-Town said:

 

Plenty of ways to cut weight in a C34 depending on how deep your pockets are.

Swap the front seats out with ultra light carbon buckets = ~ 20-30kg (depending on seats chosen)

Swap out the full size battery for a LiPo4 unit = ~20-30kg (depending on battery chosen)

Cut down the front and rear crash beams = ~ 10kg (roughly)

Light weight wheels and tires = ~10-20kg (depending on wheel and tire chosen)

2 piece front and rear rotors = ~ 5-7kg

Remove HICAS = ~ 5kg

Lightweight suspension links =~5kg

Carbon prop shaft = ~10-15kg

Light weight coil overs =~5-10kg

Billet engine block =`40kg 😅

Considering the car is just slightly heavier that a R33 GT-R but has a better weight distribution I would concentrate on the quality of the handling and adding a bit more power.

So, you just made up a bunch of numbers? 

Do you really think making up numbers helps anyone? 

It's about as helpful as all the fake weight loss ad's, "Lose 10KG in 10 days with these meal replacement shakes!!"... uh huh.

[Chi-Town]

Calm down, they were all rough numbers, but just showing possibilities of where to take out a good amount of weight. Here are some actual examples.

If you take it both 15-20kg front seats and replaced them with fixed position 6-8kg ultra light carbon Recaro QRT-C

A 4kg LiPo battery vs a 18-20kg lead acid 

Pretty sure I can cut 10kg off the front and rear beam RS4 beams combined.

A Volk CE28N (or lighter) with a lighter tire vs the heavy stock wheels and tires, pretty sure between a set of 4 you'll save 2-4kg each. That's rotational mass so even better.

4 Stock rotors vs Project Mu SCR-Pro 2 piece front and rear, pretty sure they save close to if not more than 1kg each, so all together roughly 5-7kg. And again that's rotational mass so even better.

HICAS rack weight I guessed on, but still heavier than a Midori Seibi or Cusco HICAS delete.

Aluminum or chromoly links will weigh less than the factory stamped steel links and cast front lower arms. Depending on brand, bushing type, and other variables I figured between 8 arms and links you could squeak out 5kg but possibly a tad optimistic.

Factory prop shaft 13.7kg vs carbon shaft 6kg (sorry, not quite my estimated numbers)

Stock suspension roughly 7kg per corner vs my Flag-L at 5kg, so 8kg for the set of 4.

Billet RB block is quoted as 46kg vs stock at 70kg. 34kg savings. Sorry a bit optimistic on this one also but cut down the crank counter weights and run some Ti rods and you'll lose the other 4kg 😄

I forgot these:

Full Titanium exhaust vs stock steel piping

Titanium or aluminum IC piping vs stock.

300M CV shafts (gun drilled of course)

Ceramic CV balls

Take out the floor mats

Go on a diet

Now I'm not saying any of this is budget friendly (or even close) but it's all possible without driving around in an stripped bare empty tin can.

 

 

 

[Murray_Calavera]

6 hours ago, Chi-Town said:

Calm down, they were all rough numbers, but just showing possibilities of where to take out a good amount of weight. Here are some actual examples.

If you take it both 15-20kg front seats and replaced them with fixed position 6-8kg ultra light carbon Recaro QRT-C

 

I'm not going to do this for every "actual example" you gave, so lets just do the first "example". 

So this carbon seat you're going to install, are you planning to just place it in the car and hope that with enough hopes and dreams it will stay in place or are you planning to mount it properly? 

Looks like you might need one of these - (it weighs 1.45 kg)

https://www.sparcousa.com/product/qrt-side-mount-steel

And one of these - (Amazon lists the weight as, 2.26 kg)

https://www.sparcousa.com/product/seat-base-600-series

Sparco don't list the weight on their site (probably because the real weight is too heavy to market well, so they just leave it out), hopefully the Amazon data is accurate, but who knows. 

Anyways, the moral of the story is, you are not installing a Sparco QRT-C seat at 6-8kg total when the side mount and base plate are 3.71 Kg on their own. 

Anecdotally; I have a bride fixed back seat in my car, on alloy side plates and on a bride steel base plate. I can tell you that as soon as you mount one of these 'super light fixed back seats' they are no longer super light weight. 

I'm not typing all of this up to have a go at you, I'm typing it up in an effort to keep facts on this site factual. 

You just asked for help with a wiring diagram, how helpful would it be if everyone here gave you a pinout that was "close enough" I mean, half the wires are correctly labelled, isn't that good enough for you? You'd kinda want all of your wires to be correctly labelled yeah?

When people talk about how much weight they can save by swapping 2 parts, I think it would be most helpful if the numbers posted reflected reality. 

[GTSBoy]

Yuh, my carbon recliners on steel runners and mounts would be lucky to be lighter than the stockers. Probably heavier.

[Chi-Town]

Let's do the math.

QRT-C seat 6.4kg

Side mount 1.45kg

Recaro fixed base 2.26kg

10.11kg total

My stock power driver's seat that I weighed today 17.8kg

I was simply trying to show there is a decent amount of weight to be shed if you have the cash and time. The weight will vary depending on the components you use as would be expected.

Take it as you will.

 

[GTSBoy]

9 hours ago, Chi-Town said:

I was simply trying to show there is a decent amount of weight to be shed if you have the cash and time. The weight will vary depending on the components you use as would be expected.

Take it as you will.

Oh, and we will. There's nothing like spending $50k to remove 100kg from a bloody Stagea!

[Murray_Calavera]

12 hours ago, Chi-Town said:

Let's do the math.

QRT-C seat 6.4kg

Side mount 1.45kg

Recaro fixed base 2.26kg

10.11kg total

My stock power driver's seat that I weighed today 17.8kg

I was simply trying to show there is a decent amount of weight to be shed if you have the cash and time. The weight will vary depending on the components you use as would be expected.

Take it as you will.

 

So,

Sparco QRT-C $2,546
Sparco alloy side mounts $356 (steel ones are $180, but we are balling here)
Sparco base plate $395 

Everything x 2 = $6,594 with a potential weight savings of 15.38kgs provided they are starting with powered seats. 

Don't mention that fact that we just replaced seats that previously reclined and previously could slide back and forth on a rail, with a seat that doesn't recline or slide. Worst bit being, using a factory 3 point harness with that seat would be a nightmare and it's not street legal/not ADR approved. 

I still stand by my previous point that pulling weight out of a street car is not realistic or practical. Don't add lightness, just add performance/power. 

If you want a lightweight car, start with a lightweight car. 

[Chi-Town]

I said in the post that it wasn't financially reasonable for most people but there are those people with deep pockets (not me!🤣)

Edited September 9, 2023 by Chi-Town