GT4 Weight Reduction

[Boosted_162]

Having a Pod filter will increase peformance and increase air flow which increases fuel usage......................................................

Its a gt4 right.....

Get rid of your air-con, turn up the boost to 10 - 12psi, get some good tyres and brake pads also get a nice setup suspension wise...

Just because their skyline can be faster than you in a straight line means sh*t.

Go take them for a drive through some windy road and see if they can keep up with you :

EDIT: Oh any by the way go buy a $80 K&N pod filter not a $30 repco sh*t one... the difference is quite a lot

Mike

Yes a 1990 GT4.... thanks for that.... shall go and get one this week.... how hard is it to take out all the aircon

And yes winding down the window creates about 15% more drag.... and dont even think about sticking your arm out the window.... the drag that will cause is huge!
I think i will remove the air con as I can never have it on for more than a minute at a time because I get so cold.... and it currently isnt running at the mo anyway.... doesnt have enough charge or something and I can be bothered spending money on fixing aircon

Its raining. Its hot. Your windows are fogging up like a mother. Your fast gt4 race car (on the road) now has no air con, and you pull over for 15 mins to demist your windscreen. Now what? I must admit if im driving and i turn my air con on and off, i can hear the pitch of my exhaust change, but i couldnt tell you the difference if i drove around for a week with it on or off.

Im pretty certain pulling the a/c doesnt affect the demister. Otherwise how would non a/c equipped cars have a demister??

[Chickenman]

lol...

Air con doesn't affect your heatering abilities much and you want hot air to demist your windscreen.

[Chickenman]

Do what Toby said and get a tap and set it at 12psi.

Basic boost taps are evil...

Ball and spring boost controller.

[Alex B]

AC dries out the air. If the car has not heated up AC will defog the windows.

[Chickenman]

AC dries out the air. If the car has not heated up AC will defog the windows.

How much do you weigh Tania?


Seriously, if you chop off a leg or two you'll go much faster.

[Boosted_162]

Do what Toby said and get a tap and set it at 12psi.

Basic boost taps are evil...

Ball and spring boost controller.

Cant comment on them, ive only ever used a Profec B Spec II

[Jazza]

AC dries out the air. If the car has not heated up AC will defog the windows.

Cheers

[Silent Knight]

Do what Toby said and get a tap and set it at 12psi.

Basic boost taps are evil...

Ball and spring boost controller.

Cant comment on them, ive only ever used a Profec B Spec II

Ditto,

EBCs are way better than any other manual type...

[Chickenman]

Well..

Not everyone is rich au..

I used a turbo xs ball and spring controller on my 323, made a huge change to spool up and didn't seem to have any spikes etc. held 18lbs steadily without any problems (except for the inevitable engine failure )

But, how much is an EBC? I think I paid around $250 for a new BC.. can't remember (don't want to $&#$% mazdas)

[Silent Knight]

EBCs vary greatly in price depending on which type you buy and with how many extra features etc.

Back when I brought the Profec I paid 530$ for it to my door.
If you have a play on TM for a while and keep a look out for some you're bound to pick up a bargain. Otherwise I find that 70% of the time it's cheaper to buy in Jap or in the States and just ship it over...

[Adydas]

I'm not too sure what the W2A intercoolers go for, they tend to pop up now and then.

For what its worth im currently selling mine for $950

[Stealer Of Souls]

Air-Con is no need... Just wind the windows down
Plus air-con uses more petrol...
Off topic: Has anyone figured out the drag you get by having your window fully down???

Myth Busters...
Having your windows down actually creates more drag meaning you use more petrol...
Why sacrifice your air-con to save 1$ worth of petrol a month?
Weight reduction as a reason is feasible but if it's not a race car I can't ever really justify removing your air-con just to save a couple of KG.

Okay...
Mythbusters found that winding the windows down was better than a/c at (I think) 45mph (approx 72 kph). I don't think they could do the test at 60mph due to safety issues... it was a while ago now...

BUT...
They didn't measure the in car air temps, the blower fan on the a/c was set to full (you'd really only need that much cold air in a very hot country IMO), and it was a cold day they did the test on (they wouldn't have needed a/c anyway, so objective temperature measurement was pointless too).

[Silent Knight]

^^^ Granted. That all said though I would imagine regardless of temperatures etc that having the aircon on would have a really trivial effect on gas consumption.

The only point in really removing the aircon would be to save a couple of kg which again I would think will make minimal difference to your lap time at the end of the day.

And you can't really use the argument that they rob you of hp as well who is going to notice 2/3hp missing?

[Tania]

AC dries out the air. If the car has not heated up AC will defog the windows.

How much do you weigh Tania?


Seriously, if you chop off a leg or two you'll go much faster.

Good point! Hadn't even crossed my mind.... my diet shall contist of lettuce only starting today!

[Silent Knight]

Good point! Hadn't even crossed my mind.... my diet shall contist of lettuce only starting today!

Yus, shed a couple of pounds and keep your aircon!!

Also we shall all require before and after pictures of this diet.

[flygt4]

Good point! Hadn't even crossed my mind.... my diet shall contist of lettuce only starting today!

Yus, shed a couple of pounds and keep your aircon!!

Also we shall all require before and after pictures of this diet.

its also convenient to remove aircon to simplify an enigne/setup , if it were a track car for example , and also to clear space for any other stuff you want to squeeze in there.
when i look in my engine bay , i see just an engine , gearbox and some piping i can actually stand in it between the gearbox and radiator to remove the starter motor for example, as thats on the back of the gearbox.
stupid e-w engines.

[Jebus]

If It were me, id be making the car lighter, superlightweight forged wheels, strip out all the crap, spare wheel, air con, any interior you dont need, lightweight exhaust sytem, just things like that. This accompanied with freeing up the engine (intake + exhaust) will make for a very fun sporty feeling car, something GT4's lack from factory.

If you make it lighter it will go faster, but the engine will also be under less stress, it will handle better, will brake faster.

Give it more boost and bigger turbo, youll go faster but will put the engine under alot more stress, use more petrol and your braking suspension etc will need an upgrade.

[eritate]

If It were me, id be making the car lighter, superlightweight forged wheels, strip out all the crap, spare wheel, air con, any interior you dont need, lightweight exhaust sytem, just things like that. This accompanied with freeing up the engine (intake + exhaust) will make for a very fun sporty feeling car, something GT4's lack from factory.

If you make it lighter it will go faster, but the engine will also be under less stress, it will handle better, will brake faster.

Give it more boost and bigger turbo, youll go faster but will put the engine under alot more stress, use more petrol and your braking suspension etc will need an upgrade.

I agree... GT4's are based on the rally car that was used in the 90s of vice versa...

If i had a gt4 id strip it down so it was lighter and you could hear the road each stone hitting the guards and shit like that..

Depends really what you want it to do ?

EDIT: Removing just the Air-Con isnt weight reduction as people think. Removing Soundeadning, Air-Con, Air-con piping, Back seats, Front seats changed with Lighter seats etc etc

Mike

[sergei]

Some times you have no other choice but to remove A/C.
When you have oil cooler piping remote oil filter, bigger i/c radiator, etc.
If you remove sound deadning carpets and interior you will probably save 100-120kgs. The front seat is about 30kg (pasanger 20kg) so if you replace those with buckets then you will save another 20kg or so. By adding roll cage you will negate most of the weight saving but gain in safety...

[Stealer Of Souls]

^^^ Granted. That all said though I would imagine regardless of temperatures etc that having the aircon on would have a really trivial effect on gas consumption.
The only point in really removing the aircon would be to save a couple of kg which again I would think will make minimal difference to your lap time at the end of the day.
And you can't really use the argument that they rob you of hp as well who is going to notice 2/3hp missing?

I agree with everything said here. But feel compelled to fill in the other side of the story a bit too.
The mythbusters trial (although flawed) found that with the windows down the car went a significant distance further. About 50% further than the a/c car.

The aircon, although only robbing a few hp, has the unfortunate side effect of greatly increasing the rotational intertia of the engine. The results in a sluggish response to throttle. HOWEVER... this is really only relevant to smaller displacement, and lower output engines (ie this is quite noticable on my 1.6L 4AGE, but MUCH less noticable on my friends 2L NA subaru, and almost unnoticable on another friends WRX).

All of the A/C gear (compressor, piping, radiator etc) weighs upwards of 15kgs. That's a lot of lettuce eating. HOWEVER, again, this is most noticable on cars with low output engines, or cars that are naturally really light. Just filling up the tank on a 4AGEd car is noticable on performance.

Fuel economy wise... Small variation. I get around about 10.2km/L with little a/c use, and about 9.7km/L with lots of a/c use. All figures are a bit approximate though, and there could easily be other mitigating factors. I would expect with a higher output engine the difference would be less.


Personally, if you're keen.
For a daily car. Lightweight wheels, remove the spare (for around town only), exhaust, filter, tuning, intercooler, perhaps a little more boost. Could at a pinch remove the rear seats (by all accounts you'd have to be very small to fit in the back anyway).
For a track car. Strip the sucker bare. If you don't NEED it, ditch it. Ifyou can buy a lighter version, do it.