What are the laws regarding partially stripped interiors?

[Timmo]

Just get like 7 rolls of that carbon fibre duraseal type stuff and stick it all over your seats and dash....since its carbon fibre it will weight less and you'll look like a pro

[Mr.Phreak]

You can ring the LTSA five times in a row and unless you strike the same person you'll probably get a different answer every time.

[whynot]

that sounds right. I had an old ae92 which had everything behind the front seats gone, had A and B piller covers, door cards and top half of the dash left and that passed wof's at vtnz no problems.

[wde_bdy]

I actually phoned LTSA(NZTA?) with VIRM manual in hand and VINZ inspector beside me. This was about 2 years ago but here what it was at that time:
1) if there are no seats at the back, seat belts must be removed
2) there is no need to weld the seat belt holes.
3) there is no such thing as "registering as 2 seater"
4) all the trims around the remaining seats must remain.
5) you can remove all the trims around the area of the removed seats providing that it does not expose the metal that is reachable in case of impact by driver/passenger seating in the remaining seats.

1) As per the VIRM, modification includes removal. Removal of seats is listed in 7-1-1 as ok however seatbelts is not listed in 7-5-5. Any modifications not listed in their respective table requires cert, although 7-1-1 does mention seatbelts so it is ambiguous.
2) The welding holes thing I think comes from the permanent removal of seats for a class change, haven't found welding specifically required anywhere though.
3) By two seater I was actually referring to NA class, light commercial vehicle which is where most cars with seats removed would end up due to load capacity then being more than standardised allowable passenger weight.
4) Trim removal is once again ambiguous, not listed in 7-7-1 so effectively requires cert but under reasons for rejections it lists removal where likelihood of injury has not been minimised.
5) as per 4, technically trim removal requires cert.

Callum

[h8wrxs]

why the hell would you have to weld up the seatbelt bot holes anyway? that makes no sense to me

[siren676]

Just get like 7 rolls of that carbon fibre duraseal type stuff and stick it all over your seats and dash....since its carbon fibre it will weight less and you'll look like a pro

How about completely sealing my car and filling it with helium?

Will i have to remove the seatbelts or just the buckles?

[Bling]

Both I would imagine.

Making sure you're not trying to do with 1/4 with a full tank of gas would be a worthwhile weight saver. I stripped my interior once, and went slower than full interior. All that proved was that my time came down to how well I drove the 1/4, not whether I had spent hours pulling my car apart. Things like tyres and tyre pressures affect times too. A skid before the race is pointless on road tyres... but that never stopped me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY1xQa15fhI I regret running shit tyres the most.

Each to their own though, but more track time will do you better than stripping your car.

That said, don't forget to take out the stereo, speakers, aircon parts if you have aircon, heater unit, carpet, roof lining, air filter, infact remove the whole intake if possible, headlights are over rated, pull those out, indicators too, tail lights, meh who needs them. Just leave a massive pile of parts in the pits

[siren676]

Oops i just topped it up to 1/2 a tank tonight.

Its only going to be my 3rd round at a dyo type event and about my 30th run down the strip so i just need the practice.(although i got into the top 10 on my first go at winters )

Cant be bothered removing the carpet, headunit and aircon etc just want to remove the heavy stuff thats easy to remove and chuck back in in the morning before going to work

[Bling]

1/2 a tank is sweet as, probably a tiny tank in your starlet anyways. What do your rear seats weigh? Mine weigh next nothing which is why I said its pointless, if yours weight a lot then could be worthwhile.

[siren676]

Tank size i think is only 35L. Have to check

Ill pull the seats out tomorrow and weigh them. My guess is maybe 20-30kgs

[Garreth27]

i doubt your seats are that heavy man. I'll grudge race u in my little starlet too haha

[siren676]

That race wouldnt be fair though, all your cars have hair driers hanging off the engines. Force the wastegate to open at 0psi and it may be a bit more even

[tsoob]

30th time...

$&#$% thats more than me bro... you should be hounding out the r/t's

[~SlideWays~]

Some wieghts from my AE92 Trueno:
- Stereo: 2.6kg
- Rear 6x9's: 3.4kg
- Passenger seat: 16.7kg
- Drivers seat: 17.1kg
- Rear seat base: 3.9kg
- Rear seat back rest: 9kg
- Random amp wire: 0.5kg
- Interior carpet: 3.4kg (not including boot)
- Floor mats: 2.1kg
- Sound deadening: 10.2kg
- Rear seat belts: 1.4kg
- Space saver 11.2kg

[siren676]

30th time...

$&#$% thats more than me bro... you should be hounding out the r/t's

Yeah r/t's arent my strong point. Im usually doing between .4 and .2.



Well i had a bit of free time today and decided to get most of the stuff out.
The rear seats, trim and belts are all currently sitting in my room.
While i was at it i removed the sub wiring (2 gauge) which wasnt exactly helping.

Today's progress


I couldn't resist going for a blat around the block and the car really pulls its s#!t together now. Even had it bouncing of the limiter a few times.

[siren676]

Cheers guys

I managed to get a new pb of 17.669@123kph and even got 3rd place in dyo! . My rt's were a bit better this time between .3 and .2

[cat007]

A skid before the race is pointless on road tyres... but that never stopped me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY1xQa15fhI I regret running shit tyres the most.

Oh god, did you drive backwards before lighting up?

[Bling]

You're almost smarter than I give you credit for if you can work that much out from that video, almost.

[cat007]

You're almost smarter than I give you credit for if you can work that much out from that video, almost.

Who needs first gear synchro's anyway. Just take em out. Save weight. And make your race downshifts from 2nd even faster!....

[siren676]

Wow you have to do rollbacks even mine can do standing skids and it only has 72hp