How to make the snake LIGHTWEIGHT

[Aevus]

Will most probably install a small lithium battery, that will save me few lbs... But other than that, what are the most effective ways to save weight ?

- Aftermarket forged wheels ?
- neo magnet speakers + class D amp for the audio system
- aluminum lug nuts
....

anything else?

[13COBRA]

Remove all carpet. Remove passenger seat. Remove radio and speakers. Remove window glass, and regulators. Remove AC. Replace drive seat with a lightweight seat. Replace wheels with forged wheels, GTD1s or so. Remove parking brakes, lines and handle. Remove airbags. Replace belly pan, driveshaft, with carbon fiber pieces. Titanium lug nuts.

[Hawk]

wheels are easy to change

Rattler Five-Spoke Wheels
Front - 26.2 pounds
Rear - 29.3 pounds
Total weight 111 lbs

Venom Split Six-Spoke Wheels
Front - 24.3 pounds
Rear - 28 pounds
Total weight 104.6 lbs

Sidewinder II Track Wheels
Front - 18.7 pounds
Rear - 23.1 pounds
Total weight 83.6 lbs

[Steve M]

Seats, wheels, & rotors are going to be the best bang for the buck. You could also go with a much smaller AGM battery. I'm not sold on lithium batteries given the charging system wasn't designed for them.

If you have a decent sound system, make the subwoofer easily removable for competition.

Light weight exhaust components would be nice, but you may end up with issues if you use exotic materials (e.g. titanium) unless the fabricator has the requisite skills/experience.

Beyond that, it depends on how willing you are to ditch creature comforts.

[Aevus]

Thanks for the answers guys,

so basically nothing major (+100lbs) that would keep the car streetable...

- - - Updated - - -

gonna put myself on diet then lol

[13COBRA]

Thanks for the answers guys,

so basically nothing major (+100lbs) that would keep the car streetable...

- - - Updated - - -

gonna put myself on diet then lol

Losing 100lbs will cost you about $12k. lol

[LCatGA]

I understand tou still want it to look like a street car and not a race car oitside. Rotors and wheels are most important -unsprung weight.
Lightweight seats, replace carpet with Alcantara, Carbon fiber hood and trunk,lightweight exaust and headers, LI battery, and lightweight stereo. This diet should be good for 150-220 lbs
50 to 60 can be unsprung weight which is big

After that you moving in to lexan instead of glass. I don't know if somebody makes it for snake or you have to go custom.

I would not cut airbags unless you going with 5 point and getting rid of regular belts. At this point you no longer DOT approved.
I assume you want to live AC and other comfort creatures.

You can have custom CF dash and pannels, look wicked good and will save some serious weight
And as a last resort you can get gen 5 intake manifold , it's composit end weights less.

[white out]

Lightweight wheels
2 piece brake rotors (34 lbs)
Ti open ended lug nuts (1.5 lbs)
Coilovers (10 lbs)
Ti exhaust without crossover (30 lbs)
Lithium battery (20 lbs)
Lightweight flywheel & crank pulley (15 lbs)
Trim fat: under hood pad, center caps, fog lights, etc.

Easy to shave off weight, it simply depends on what you want to do and spend.

[LCatGA]

Here are some samples of GT2 which was put on extreme diet and shed over 350 lbs getting it close to 2800.

Ultra lightweight magnesium wheels, CF pannels, Alcantara over foam for interior, custom CF subwoofer enclosure, Ti exaust, Rear lexan, 12 lbs recaros CF with Alcantara(leather is heavy
)))))))))))))))seats, etc..........
My goal was to keep it as a street able car with reasonable comfort kept and high quality.
Foam provided thermal and acoustic insulation even better than stock panels while being just a fraction of the weight. That was crazy project with a lot of custom fabrication but it was fun and reduced car weight by over 10%
Would I ever do it again - no Fing way

[efnfast]

If you want to save weight you buy/build a real race car. My SL-C weighs 2,100lbs. My 917 weighs 1,600lbs.

[LATAMUD]

Adding to the list:

Delete fog lights
gut the interior, dash, center console, door panels, rear bulkhead
replace the seats, or at least remove the passenger seat

[Fatman2006]

Carbon fiber driveshaft.

[SA Heat]

Drill holes in the frame. Fill tires with helium. Replace heavy V10 with LS7.

[LCatGA]

We starting to have too much fun with this thread. BTW - scratch CF driveshaft - 4-5lbs savings are not worth it for a price. Lightweight flyweel, Carbon clutch. Pulleys. Rotors and Lightweight wheels. Anything unsprung gives you same effect as 6-8X more reduction in sprung weight.

[Steve M]

Carbon fiber driveshaft will save you 0 pounds. Don't believe me? See here:

https://driveviper.com/forums/thread...l=1#post413628

It's actually a little heavier than the stock aluminum piece by about 0.5 pounds (stated here: https://driveviper.com/forums/thread...l=1#post366063)

They're also close to $2,300 now.

The aluminum tubing for the OEM driveshaft is pretty darn light. Most of the weight is in the slip yoke and the U-joints.

Edit: since I currently have my driveshaft in pieces, I went ahead and weighed the individual components.

Total weight of the OEM shaft is ~10.9 pounds.

The aluminum shaft (bare) is ~4.1 pounds.

The slip yoke is ~3.4 pounds.

The U-joints are also around 3.4 pounds for the pair.

[Steve M]

If you are serious and really want to know the art of the possible, check out this guy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robertlinton1/

Pure automotive porn.

[Aevus]

Thanks guys for all the inputs

As I understand it, there is no easy or cheap way to do a diet on the snake....

Well, since I have few suppliers that can produce for me custom titanium parts, I might give it a try starting with the most effective (unsprung + front-end + highest center of gravity)

Carbon fiber is another ball game entirely so I might just stick with Ti or aluminum... So i'm brainstorming but here's my list of potential parts:

- Ti lug nuts
- Ti wheel studs
- basically any steel bolts that could be made in Ti (?)
- any steel parts in the engine bay that could be made in Ti (?)
- Ti pulleys (?)

and of course all the obvious: fog light delete (done), aluminum flywheel (done), Penske coilovers (done), lithium battery, replace all speakers with lightweight neodymium magnets + small class D amp, remove as much carpet as possible...

Not yet sure about Ti exhaust, since it's already a headache with my new engine to just have a good exhaust, but there is a lot of weight to save there even though its centered/low gravity

Would be fun to have Ti sway bars (solid ACRs are extremely heavy) but I doubt I could get that manufactured without NASA-like budget

[SSGNRDZ_28]

Tillett seats are the biggest / easiest chunk of weight to cut. Maybe an Nth Clutch next.

[LATAMUD]

Delete the baby seat anchor.