Mindquicken

Thanks Jibby, I read your comments across the forums and they have always been informative. Yes, I'm planning to do everything myself. I can weld, fiberglass, design, whatever. Everything I own I've pretty much put together myself. I would not have put out these ideas without thinking about their implementation first. If Ueno can get his Soarer to be 2400 pounds, I'm thinking reducing this 3600+ lb. monster to 3300 pounds is possible, without sacrificing luxury. Changing the seats would have already gotten me halfway to my goals. I will first do what Jibby does and then weigh the car. After that, I'll decide on my next steps. I've already replaced the stock speaker system with much lighter neodyium woofers. Saved quite a bit of weight and sounds better too. =)

As you all know, the Lexus SC is heavy, like 3600 pounds or something, and very nose heavy at 7:3 weight ratio. This poor weight ratio is the reason why 350Z handles much better. However, Ueno's Soarer is only 2400 pounds and has a almost perfect weight ratio, and says that the car feels so much better and more comfortable after simply getting the weight below 2900. Handling can become world class. I want a luxury car so I want to reduce my SC300's weight down and improve the weight ratio. Btw, what is more important: absolute lower weight or better weight ratio? For example, removing spare tire reduces weight but makes the weight ratio even worse. Since I want a luxury car, I'm not going to remove any sound insulation or AC or stereo system. Actually, I'm adding more sound dampening and a pair of subwoofers in the rear, but I'm definately not going to add any extra weight to the front of an already nose-heavy car. I'm planning to swap in a 2JZ-GTE and do some performance modding. So here's what I came up with in order to reduce weight from the front of the car. Goal is to have an under-2900 pounds car with good weight ratio. 1. Change front seats for something lighter. Don't the pair of front seats together weigh 200 pounds or something like that? Anyone know what are good lightweight seats that can fold? I can't find any bucket seats that can fold, but I know that many of them are only 10 pounds each. 2. Fiberglass hood. I can fabribate it myself for pennies. Fiberglass is lighter than carbon fiber but not as strong, and tends to save around 30 pounds. I'll drive to 200 MPH and see if it's strong enough. Edit: correctly done carbon fiber is actually lighter, but it's rarely correctly done. I actually think fiberglass is better for car applications and much easier to fabricate. 3. Remove cruise control, window wipers, window wiper fluid. 4. Move battery to trunk. What else can I move to the trunk? 5. Lightweight coilover kit, saves weight but also improves handling on its own. 6. Fiberglass doors and bonnet. Saved 125 pounds for Ueno's car which used carbon fiber. With fiberglass I might be able to save even more, minus 10 pounds of sound insulation that I'm planning to add. 7. Custom lightweight radiator fans. They also save space in the hood since they are lower profile. Don't know how much weight this would save, but it's in front of the front wheels so it really counts. 8. Getting rid of moonroof. It's heavy though not sure how much. But it highers the center of gravity which can't be good. 9. Replace full DIN stock headunit with a half-DIN aftermarket one. I actually already did this and saved a few pounds and got better sound quality too (Pioneer P880PRS). What did I miss? Oh and I want to go for the major ones first, not find out a way to spend thousands only to remove 2 ounces of weight.