Curb Weights for S12 and many other cars

[Leegamer]

Where are you getting either of those figures? Every account says otherwise, including people who have taken cars to weigh stations. There's no way a turbo S12 weighs 3K. And no way in hell that a Z31 weighs the same or less. Not even the 2-seater.

Numerous people on numerous Z31 boards have weighed their cars.

I think it may also be listed in my original owner's manual.  I can look.


Here's one

The OP has a gutted interior, but he weighed his car with a full tank of gas.

[Jay]

To get back to everyone on the lexan. There IS a Lexan out there that has a sprayed on protectant, it's called MR10, It's scratch resistant, and polarized (but regular lexan usually is also)

But that crap is CRAZY expensive. A sheet big enough to do a rear window, Is quite considerable. I got a quote of 110 bucks, just for that. And who knows how much it would cost to actually manufacture it.

If I can figure out the dynamics of it all, I have an old toaster oven from like, 1972 that I can guarantee could heat a 10 sq foot enclosed environment to make it on the cheap. We used it to heat our bathroom in the dead of winter when we couldn't afford to buy a space heater. Plus it has the temp requlation, so the lexan would never overheat and bubble.

If anyone is SERIOUSLY interested in this, I will go forth and apply my time to it. The semester is ending, And I will be bored (As I cannot have a job).

But as it was said earlier, It would only be for drag purposes as to make up the difference in weight with a wider tire. Drift would probably be a bad Idea, As the balance of the car will be SEVERELY altered.

[EV S12]

Maybe in a years time I'll be interested in a lexan rear. I've thought about it a lot, and I've considered fabing basic molds to curve the stuff. Have we already discussed the temp needed? Since I'm planning a hack job on anything unnecessary anyway, I've really been toying with something thrown around before and just losing the hatch all together. Way easier and with a basic cage, I could have a vinyl tonneau made to cover the rear. Wouldn't be too expensive. I'd just be putting a full size spare or two, along with my battery, in the rear-most position I could. Also easily reversible if I wanted to fit the hatch again.

proly don't even need to consider the cage for now. I don't imagine the hatch amounts to a lot of structural rigidity.

[falkhen]

Julies: ahhmm aluminum exhuast manifolds are for marine purpose for good reasons...

but Aluminum Exhuast systems other can be used. though less resistant to scratching and being smashed  

lexan scratchs easly, low temp sustainablity(meaning it warps at low core temps 120 f° aproximately is shaping temp  depended on thickness) and breaks in large jagged shards(not safe) your better off using sheet metal or fiber glass to replace side windows. cost effective its not.

[Jay]

Julies: ahhmm aluminum exhuast manifolds are for marine purpose for good reasons...

but Aluminum Exhuast systems other can be used. though less resistant to scratching and being smashed  

lexan scratchs easly, low temp sustainablity(meaning it warps at low core temps 120 f° aproximately is shaping temp  depended on thickness) and breaks in large jagged shards(not safe) your better off using sheet metal or fiber glass to replace side windows. cost effective its not.

Your thinking plexi, and not lexan. Mallability of lexan is at between 400 and 450. go any higher than 450 and you get bubbles.

and Lexan does not shatter. If you don't believe me, I will put up a video of me hitting the crease on the piece I bent up with a 3 pound maul. AND throwing it against the ground. Ill drop my car on it for what it's worth. The crap is nearly impossible to break (that's why it's used as windows for airplanes)

Cost effective, It is for one reason. offsetting the weight of a cage without spending uber-time dimpling everything. That's pretty much the only way though.

[EV S12]

So, I don't know if it's just senseless or stupid, but I was serious about losing the hatch. Is that reasonable... has it been done?

[nismologist]

if you ditch the hatch,that may lead to chassis problems later on.especially if this car is going to be worked out daily.i dropped a good amount by ditching all interior behind the front seats.i ditched the carpet,the sound deadening,the back seats,and the spare. if you want to get reallly light,ditch all the ac piping in the dash and all that stuff.the heater core is pretty chunky too.the ac condensor,the ac pump.the list goes on.basically get rid of all the comforts and you will feel a difference.i dropped around 50 lbs,and no matter what people say...i could feel that missing 50lbs. when id try to slide a corner the ass would love to just float out and it was easier to slide.

[EV S12]

what about the front steel crossmember dealie, behind the bumper. Could that be replaced easily enough? Basically tend towards the colin chapman school of thought and want to "add lightness" as much as I can.
           I've read on the forum, some peoples goals of shaving 600lbs. I mean, short of replacing body panels, that shouldn't be too difficult should it?
           I really am as unexperienced as it gets, and tend towards a lot of guesstimation, but maybe I'm way off. I just see shaving weight as the more appealing startwork than just adding more HP. I see myself setting a goal of 600 (if that's reasonable) and then worry about balancing later.
           I think if there's a thread I've been hoping to gain some insight from those of you with the knowledge and experience, it's this one. Would appreciate some insight.

[rage]

yeah you can take the bumper supports off, just dont hit anything or try to stand on them afterwards. for the hatch, id leave it just for looks. im not into having missing body panels and such but you can completely gut it still, like take out the harness, wiper motor, etc etc. in fact id highly recommend stripping the harness and sound deadening too after youve done everything else to save a few more pounds

[dorimaster]

The weights listed are WAY off in the light direction!!  I have spoken about this several times on many forums, and i just typically say post the weight SLIPS from the stations, some are a little off like 40lbs or so, but most car calibrated on the regular.

AnyWEIGHS... the s12 is on the lighter side of things, but they is a 275 lb. swing from early base model coupe SRA, to late-model decked out v6 with IRS! So from 2500 to 2800. A stripped s13 with sr20 weighs 2800(no interier, a/c ect)

That being said I have several cars and weigh them all. I got 2 s110's 2500(early manual) and 2700(late auto) both stock at the MOMENT! An s14(had for 10 years) that is rediculously light 2150(lexan ect)track car, and 2 ae86's They are stock from 2400-2600lbs depending on options and -coupe or +hatch 100lbs. But mine both at 2000 with LOTS of weight reduction! (ive had 2 others)

So many people on this forum assume many things, and talk about things that they have no idea about. I'm not all high and mighty, or think i know everything, but please talk about what you know, or ideas, not post things as facts.

Pete
dorimaster1@gmail.com

[Redneck]

Dorimaster what are you talking about? If your referring to Arro's list of car weights yeah some of those are off a fair amount. Besides that I don't see what your referring to. Most of what I read that was directed at how to reduce weight in the s12 was by no means complete assumption by people that have no idea what they are talking about.

[Navy_Mech2]

http://www.percyshp.com/SpeedGlass.html

Good for the track...but isnt DOT leagal.

[dwardle]

I did an initial weigh in on Saturday for my notch (see thread in welcome area).  With the 15"SSR Formula wheels, SR20det, large FMIC, turbo back 3" mild steel exhaust I weighed in at 2630lb without driver.

This included 6 gallons of gas in the tank, some random tools laying in the trunk, and full interior/trunk/spare/jack/etc.  

At the track on the following day I removed the spare tire and all random tools and it was at least 50lb, so it looks like a notch with SR20det swap, FMIC and full exhaust weighs 2600lb.

[Low594]

I read this thread pretty quick, so I might have missed it if someone already mentioned it.

-An easy way to get a gross weight of your vehicle is to load it full of recycling, then go to the large metal recyclers.  Alot of them do it by vehicle weight on entry and exit. The exit weight is the one you want!

-There are kits with 4 weight pads, one for each wheel so you can balance out the car, great help!

-In the early days of the 510 & 240z, when they were new.  Downtown Datsun(San Jose, CA) & FAR Performance (Mtn View, CA) would strip the car clean, even paint and weld all the seams, in a 3"weld-1" no weld-3"weld-1" no weld repeating pattern.  This made the car stronger and still flexible at the same time.  Then they would dip the entire car in an acid bath to remove a set amount of metal, I think it was near 0.0005? which would save them like 300 lbs!

[silverton]

The press info for the 87 vg30 s12, shows a curb weight of 2976lbs , with manual trans and no A/C.

I weighed my car with a full tank, of gas two amps, and a sub+box.  I can't remember if this was with me (160lbs) or without me.  But it weighed in at 3258lbs (1478kg).

Being a VG car, it has all the standard options (power everything), but no cruise control, and does not have a sunroof.

[Does it moo?]

Wait, what? For real, the S12 is only 1.200 kg...? I think I'm being hustled on the road tax here then.

On my slip the car is taxed for 1.320 kg (2.910 lbs), and that's supposed to be dry weight! But check this out, according to the transport agency in my country, the S12 has a mindboggling curb weight of 1.670 kg - that's 3.680 lbs! What the shit! That can't be right though?

I got a decent stereo system, I keep my tools and a fire extinguisher in the boot and most of the interior is still standard, only factory extras were power windows and mirrors, so with the IC, bigger turbo and whatnot it should weigh more than 1.700 kg if the papers were true...I always wondered about that and thought it felt more like 1.300-ish.

I'm puzzled how this could happen. Perhaps the man responsible for the data got the S12 and Z31 mixed up. Perhaps he was a Dadaist. Perhaps he was retarded. I'll never know. Irrespective, the upside of this ghost weight is that my S12 is legally allowed to haul big-ass trailers!

Though it would look kinda dumb with a tow hook. On the other hand, using the S12 to haul a slammed caravan trailer with matching black/grey paintjob, sitting on, say, 15x9 ET0 Rota RKRs flushed with wheel arches and massive camber... I could totally go on the funkiest camping trips ever! But what a dick I would look like. Man, speaking of retarded, this is an awesome idea!

[pakii-afa]

not sure how it works else where but i know where i live (ontario, canada) my sticker on the door says 1670kg, that not the actual weight though. its the weight the car is allowed to be (full tank of gas, full passengers, luggage, tools etc) for it to be considered "safe".

[Basic]

There's a thread in general tech where some members have weighed their cars - http://club-s12.org/retro4/index.php?topic=15354.0