I figured it would be nice to share some ideas about how we can make our max's lighter on a day to day basis. Everyone knows you can rip out the seats and stereo etc. but that ruins your maxima. Now the things I want to discuss are objects we could live with out that weigh are cars down (no not airbags ).

Heres my ideas,

Carbon fiber hood(40 lb savings ?)
Removing the AC assembly(maybe 40-50 lbs)
Getting a aftermarket Y-pipe (15 lb's less)
UDP is good for a good 3 pound saving
The piece that is on the undersid eof the hood(2-3 punds)
Lighter wheels(can get 20 lb's here)
Engine cover, valve cover cover(1/2 a lb)
A nice intake setup knocks a few pounds off
Sound detonating material 9maybe 50 lb's)
Spoiler (about 10 lb's)
Wind reflector is another pound
Light weight racing battery(another 10 lb's
Aluminum flywheels(12 lb saving)

What do you think? All this stuff adds up to a saving of 215ish pounds of weight savings and would have almost no effect on your max. The car would handle a bit better and be a few tenths quicker at the track.

A friend of mine just told me about the sound detonating material under the carpet. He claims that stuff weighs a good 50 lb's and all it does is quite the ride down a little bit under certain situations(gravel roads etc.) . I am really thinking about pulling out my whole enterior(seats, carpet and panels) and then removing this sound detonating material. I can always put it back if I want to, hehe.

Let's hear your thoughts on this stuff.

 

well if u have oversize rims or care about your car you might as well leave the spare donut at home im only flatbedding my baby from now on.

 

But what if you get a flat?

 

I wouldnt dispense with the A/C. The sound dampening is up to you, but to me that seems like such a waste. THe max is supposed to be a luxuryish car, not a full race car, its supposed to have some refinment to it and by tossing these things sorta defeats its purpose. If that were the case I woulda bought a Fox body mustang or an older F body to make fast. You can also run it with minimal oil, minimal gas, antifreeze, no washer fluid etc if you want to gut the car. Removing the sound deadening is gonna make the car feel more cheap then it already is. You can run it open headers/exhaust manifolds and loose the entire exhaust as well.

When I race, I throw out nothing. I race with trash, subwoofers, complete interior, whatever gasonline I have, full fluids, floor mats, mirrors extended out.

Oh yeah, what about driver weight? If you drive naked, you can shave a few pounds off. If you go on a diet, you can also shave some weight off too.

 

only drive with a 1/4 tank of gas

 

think you could save some weight with aftermarket shocks?

 

That would be a waste of a good car to do that. If you were able to remove 200lbs that would only drop the ET around 2ths and add maybe 2mph. It would be better to just drive on drag radials instead. However I'm sure you can drop around 100lbs without really sacreficing some creature comforts (like AC). The CF hood, lightweight 15in wheels, lighter seats, UDP, flywheel, no spoiler, aftermarket Y, lighter battery could drop the curb weight by 100lbs. Then you don't really make the car less desirable.

 

Ethan, you do all that and it's stil FWD



















removing the sound deadening would be ridiculously difficult and it would make your car louder than ****...Trust me..it's not there only for gravel roads. You're better off investing in other mods instead.

 

Ethan, do you ever slow down? Relax man, it's only a Max, a 4 door grocery getter!

 

Gut the trunk.
Take out lousy bose sub.

 

 

if you remove the whole AC system you could drop more then 50 pounds. Compressor, condenser, evaporator, reciever/drier, lines. removing sound deading material is ALOT of work, and dont think "oh i can juss put it back in" hehehe it aint that easy. seems like your giving up some good creature comforts to be a bit lighter. IF its a daily driver i personally wouldnt do it. If its a track car. strip everything!

 

the wilwood kit on the 4th gen was lighter than oem but you will need light weight 16's rather than 15's.

relocate the battery to the trunk for more balance

light weight cv joints, control arms and rear beam... lol, cost benefit would blow that idea out of the water

removing the a/c on a daily driver is just uncivilized

 

 

Did u do that yet?

But emax is up north, they get the cool refreshing Canadian air

How about Atkins(sp?) diet?

or maybe fiberglass bumpers?

 

Yes that helps tons. Once my car hits a 1/4 tank its on feels like I got boost on my car. Thats why if you ever go to the track do it with a 1/4 tank of gas it makes a difference

 

How much do you weigh Ethan? Just a thought...

 

Buy a 95 GXE

 

I'm 6'1 165 lb's.



BTW guys the things I said where just ideas, I don't plan on pulling my AC out any time soon

 

You're a lightweight.

BTW, I think you should start with the sound deadening material and a lighter hood.

 

fiberglass fenders, fiberglass front and rear bumper body kits, that should be good for a few lbs

 

Try this:
http://www.myshoppingonline.com/metaboburn.htm

Paul

 

Ethan if you are gonna start doing that it's going to become much less fun to drive.
I wanted a fast car so i started hacking.
My entire AC system was out and now it's back in because it's my daily driver.
Cruise control came out not a big deal for me.
Everything that has anything to do with emissions is gone, i.e. charcoal canister, EGR, blah blah
You can get a lightweight exhaust, my full 3" is lighter then the stock one.
You can also start hacking away but that is where it gets messy and can't be reversed. I took my front bumper off amd started cutting stuff off with sawzall in an attempt to fit a new intercooler.In the end I hacked away 50 pounds of scrap metal. All this and I didn't touch the chassis or front bumper reinforcement.

all that other little stuff doesn't add up to enough to make any kind of difference.

Yeah so if you want to lighten the car drop it off at the shop, I'll take care of it for you

Out of curiosity how much do maxima's weigh
I think my 95 SE was 3200 with me in it ?
My galant weighs 3600 with me in it .. dam


Ant

 

Tear out the seats.

Replace the windows with Plexi.

Radio delete, heater delete, PS PB delete.

Wasn't there a thread on a chopped up Sentra or something like that a day or two ago?

 

Here's my take. I'm all for reducing weight, but not to the extremes of your example. Here's why.

You take out ac, sound deadening and all that, and you remove 200 lbs. But I think the sacrifice you make to get rid of 200 that way is way way more than 200 units.

You get rid of only 100 lbs here and there, and 100 lbs is a significant weight reduction, but the sacrifce is almost 0. nothing.

I say aim for 100 lbs.

I'm talking in econ terms here.
The 200 units I mentioned is "utility cost".

 

I would never remove a radio or a heater to lose 10 pounds or so. This would make driving really dull and isn't worth the .0001 sec gain in the 1/4 mile.
Paul

 

Well, whatever you decide on shaving just don't do what SCC did to their project Sentra.

Although, they did manage to shave a couple of seconds off their 1/4 ET

Baseline run:
1/4 Mile:16.3 @ 84.0 mph
60-foot:2.9 sec.
0-60 mph:8.6 sec.

After modifications:
1/4 Mile:14.3 @ 93.2 mph
60-foot:2.6 sec.
0-60 mph:5.8 sec.

 

ahhhh, finally someone with some sense!!! lol weightower is the key, but yes, trust me, sound deadening material just doesn't come off, it's a pain!! nonetheless, you can drop a few tenths just by running with lighter wheels, i did! (10.2s to 10.0s in the 1/8th) taking out aftermarket stereo stuff helps. also, who needs a wing? oh, and no need for trunk material, it doesn't make your car sound quieter unless you take the seats out.

 

Yall still going to end up with 3100lb fwd sedan

Mine's at 3070 lbs

 

Don't forget to drop in the VQ35 and 6-speed.

 

You could stand underneith a clothes line in a driving rain and not get wet...........damn bean pole

 

all juice diet

anorexia

lyposuction

train your hamster to drive

 

that's the best damn article I've read in years. now we know where that maxima convertible came from

 

hey ethan
. so you wanna have your car go on a diet?
heheheh.

CF EVERYTHING.
that's about it. you'll save like 500 pounds of metal for fenders, hood, trunk, doors.

FIBERGLASS IS HEAVY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PLEASE understand this people.

the reason why CF is so great is because the way the fiber is WEAVED and the resin.. compared to how thick fiberglass is and how fragile it is.

CF laying is pretty easy technique. only thing is you need alot room, and the right stuff.

if you got foam. its easy. just take off whatever you want molded, and cut a foam mold . then lay a mold with fiberglass first. once you have that, wet sand the fiberglass mold until its hella smooth, then lay the CF on the mold and vacuum bag it... simple. but yet takes like 10 hours per layer to mold and cure.

--c

 

yea shocks would work, im thinkin koni adjustables, theylllll saveeee about 2 poooooounnnnnddsssss, i have that thing calllllled ADDDDDDDD

 

I'm really not that skinny, I am just right. 95% of americans are over weight so 165 sounds light



Cheston thanks for the idea, I could only amagine how my car would look if I did that my self

 

Ok, all the above is nice. It's like going on a diet, it's nice to slim down. But you also need muscle if you want to get the job done. Example, 6'4" is always good for hockey, but there'll always be someone 6' that can kick your butt if they're muscular (hehe I'm telling you from experience).

All of the items you list are items that ride on the springs, with the exception of the rims. I personally don't think it's worth getting that particular about the Maxima, but you would need some forged suspension parts to achieve what you speak of. Hmm.......a forged aluminum beam for a rear axle. That would be something out of the Simpsons. DOH!!

 

i knew someone was bound to recognize that

 

I love this pic:

That looks hilarious...it looks like a damn go-kart. If I saw that guy on the road i'd chuck something at him.


Ethan,

Step 1: Put Max on autotrader and sell
Step 2: Go buy a Mustang Cobra
Step 3: Whoop all our @sses


...Or you could convert your Max to RWD...mix that with some boost and you got a BEAST.

 

Your a real sick puppy Craig BTW a new Cobra would be nice Insurance would be sky high though. Maybe in a few years I will get something really mean like that. I am a would be race car driver stuck in a fairly quick 4 door FWD sedan By choice though, LOL!