Do you run your car in 1/8 or 1/4 mile? Curious to know your trap and et with it being fully gutted.

 

How about using the aluminum rear subframe from a 370Z rather than the steel subframe that we have? I don't know how much either weighs.

 

So how much did your car weigh before and after? I assume you are using the Bride seat rails? How much did the seat and rails weigh?

That is a possibility, but I would prefer to remove weight from the front for the f/r weight bias if possible.

 

It would not be easy or cheap, but you could relocate the battery to the trunk.

 

Compared to some of the other ideas here, relocating the battery is a freebie.

 

Relocating the battery couldn't be that hard or expensive could it? my BMW 3 series had the battery in the trunk. was too young (19) at the time to really appreciate why but when I sold it (24) I put in enough time behind the wheel to appreciate the handling of the car.


as for CF, the $800 hood literally saves 2 lbs. and for that, you might as well get Koni adjustables. lol

I don't personally understand the desire to get the heaviest luxury sports car possible and then try to weight reduce it but I am interested in your results. :-)

 

Really? I thought both 370z and G37 were steel?

 

For those who asked, I don't have any data on weight difference. Nothing really saved much weight except for swapping the seats out (maybe 60-75 lbs total) and the spare tire/tool kit which weighed maybe 30-40. Everything else was maybe 15-20 lbs worth of crap. So roughly, 105-135 lbs saved. Once I ditch the speakers, a bit more.

However, I have saved a good bit of unsprung weight with my suspension mods, and wheels. Once I throw the full SPL catalog at the car, even more so.

Whenever I eventually weigh the car (most likely when the build is done), I'll post numbers.

 

Tanabe mufflers weigh 30lbs less than stock.

 

really?? I don't remember them being THAT much heavier when i swapped them out.

 

Yes, ~15lbs less on each side.

 

Thanks, that's a really good idea that I forgot about. I have a few friends who are welders who could probably fab up mounting brackets for the trunk. I think it would just involve running wiring from the engine bay to the trunk, so probably not too difficult. I am still looking into lighter batteries, which would be an even easier option, but I am having trouble finding any that either don't lose CCA or cost a small fortune.

Ditto on the battery and carbon hood. As far as "luxury" sedans go, the G37S is actually not too heavy- just look at anything Audi or Mercedes makes. It is a bit heavier than an M3. I'm not trying to strip the car out or anything drastic. I'm just looking for ideas to reduce weight, which will improve performance in just about every way.

 

What's the point of relocating the battery anyway? If your suspension is set up where you feel it's as balanced as you can make it with numerous suspension mods and chassis bracing, then relocating 30 pounds front to back is a pretty fine-tuned adjustment. Really... is it even worth it on this car? I think if you're trying to affect oversteer or understeer one way or the other, then you would start by adjusting your swaybars.

As for cleaning up the engine bay... the battery is already tucked. Very neatly too, IMO.

4DRZ, what would you hope to benefit from relocating the battery?

 

Relocating the battery does a couple of things. I have yet to weight it, but lets use your estimate of 30 lbs. If I relocate it to the back of the car it removes 30 lbs from the front and adds 30 lbs to the rear. This is a positive gain of 60 lbs in terms of getting closer to a 50/50 weight balance front to rear.

Nissan did a good job of putting the battery on the passenger side of the car to also counter the weight of the driver side to side. If I move it to the rear and far passenger side of the car this will also improve the weight distribution side to side. So when the rear breaks loose it will be more manageable and balanced as opposed to a car with snap oversteer. To be sure I would probably want to get the car on 4 scales and see about corner weighting it as well.

 

Well, that's true. Moving the battery shifts the front-2-back weight distribution delta by twice the battery weight. Fair point.

The rest... IDK. I suppose if you do it and the change is perceived negatively, you swap back in a few minutes, and are only out the time and materials to make the project happen.