02.07.2015 – I sold the car in October 2014 after picking up my FRS, but Andrew has since recovered it. His vision is somewhat different than mine though, so between mending various injuries and adding his own flare, the car transforms.
Lame how I can’t leave well enough alone. Once raped, always a whore. It was supposed to stay stock, or at the worst an ultra light tune. It is now the least street able car I have ever tried to street… and it’s all because I was super randy when she was at her most vulnerable. Taking a 3000lb AWD car with 300hp, big scrub radius, welded diff, ultra light flywheel, heavy clutch and no power steering for groceries, is like taking a girl with beads in her ass out to Olive Garden.
Not that the car looks particularly hard tune, or really is even, but I’ve hit it where it counts. At least it drives on ice better than anything else I’ve ever driven… and I’ve driven a LOT of cars on ice.
Plan is to pull the beads out and take her to Church.
Specifications of the Machine
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FOOTWORK
POWER UP
DRIVETRAIN
INTERIOR
EXTERIOR
BRAKES
OTHER
SHOES
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So that’s 7kg including the air-bag as well as the cruise stuff?
What about the A/C, is that the next “low hanging fruit” for weight reduction? Or is it long gone?
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Wheels & shiftknobs, are such nice mods to customize all the things you touch on the car. They’re also very personal, much like wheels.
Very true, like wheels, I always regret selling steering wheels… especially when I shop for a new one and remember what they cost! This one makes me want a pair of fixed buckets and a lower ride height really badly. I haven’t even taken the car out yet, and I’m already in love with it.
7kg includes the airbag and cruise control bits. The stock wheel is actually pretty light without the bomb mounted on it.
AC is already gone… next on the list is likely the battery to the trunk. My splitter could be better as well. I’ll try saving weight and adding stiffness with fiberglass… or maybe even carbon fiber. Bucket seats could save a lot… and then there are all the hack job boy racer methods that I won’t tell any other Subaru guy I’ve done. I was surprised recently on WSC when I opened a thread title “DIY Sound Deadening” and found that it wasn’t about removing the factory sound deadening, but instead adding more!! Yeesh.
Taking a second look at the numbers: 55/45 weight distribution would require moving almost 40kg backwards, or pulling 80kg off the front all together. That’s gonna be a great challenge, as the items mentioned probably don’t even get me half way there… especially if I’m throwing two more cylinders on the front of my EJ20.
What have you done for the exhaust so far? Huge weight there.
On my S2000, I ran a straight pipe back from the cat, followed by an extremely smally muffler (street, not race). It sounds really good, but I had to add on a SuperTrapp to kill the drone when on the highway. Oh, and even using steel pipe and muffler, I still dropped over 25 lbs.
“and then there are all the hack job boy racer methods that I won’t tell any other Subaru guy I’ve done.”
Share, share! I’m a fan of your different approach & refusal to “ask the herd” what mods (including aesthetic mods like wheels) should be done on _your_ car. Are your secret “hack job boy racer methods” along the lines of your DIY seat lowering? Or more like leaving off the u-shaped under-brace?
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“I was surprised recently on WSC when I opened a thread title “DIY Sound Deadening” and found that it wasn’t about removing the factory sound deadening, but instead adding more!! Yeesh.”
Yea, those people aren’t building cars that hold my interest…
Murry, I have dropped the two cats, and presumably saved a good amount there. I still have a full size resonator and muffler. MotoIQ had a post a couple months ago about building exhaust out of aluminum… I wonder about trying myself. Once I decide what engine I’m going to actually use, the manifold will be a good place to save weight… the best way for me to save weight on exhaust of course though will be to trash the turbocharger!
I’m not sure about leaving off the U-brace, but it is one piece of Subaru engineering that makes me feel like I’m driving a tractor. I’ll probably try and replace it with something lighter, more elegant, but probably less friendly to wrenching (i.e. more like an X than a U.) The sound deadening will almost certainly come out. Carpets and backseat will stay, because I can’t be too obvious about my ways. I really want to swiss cheese some body panels too, not that there are significant weight savings there, but because it feels good. ha!
I also eyeball my ABS module every time I pop the hood. It’s particularly visible now that the cruise is gone… but as long as this is a snow and ice car I have to keep it. I know some guys that have stripped their cars of ABS because “real drivers don’t need ABS”… but I’ll say from driving their cars that it sure prohibits maximum attack, and highlights just how bad my heel-and-toe is.
The manual rack and locked rear diff, are two mods that always raise the eyebrows of other Subaru drivers. I shimmed my aluminum control arms for more caster as well… which seems completely logical to me, but forum dwellers all spend $300 on offset bushings.