Isphius -
Lightening the mk3 supra....

Ok, I always see posts on this, so im making an official lightening the mk3 thread, built of all the other lightening threads. If you have anything at all to say about taking a few pounds of your supra, post it here. Ill start by stating my position on lightening the mk3

Everyone seems to want to take weight out of the back. Subs, spare tire, seats, rear interior, etc. This is where you want the weight. A powerful mk3 would probably cut some time off its 60 foot and quarter mile if you threw a bag of cement in the hatch. If you have a high powered mk3, someone pleaseeee try this for me. I would empasize taking weight out of the front, or at least the middle. Definatley get your battery relocated to the back, its not hard. take out whatever from under the hood you dont really need. I took ut my charcoal canister, cruise control, and a few other parts. Get rid of the a/c if you want, it totals about 20 lbs. Im also planning on cutting as much metal off the front end as possible using a rotozip. Im also going to make fiberglass mk3 fenders and hoods, and maybe other parts, with the intention of saving weight. What i strongly recomend, If you have money to spend, get an aluminum 1 piece driveshaft, lightweight fly wheel, and lighter small diameter wheels (15s), with small tires(low profile). This alone will give you a 10x bigger gain than most of the weight taken off the car. The smaller tires will shrink rotating weight, and increase your effective final drive. Another thing i would suggest doing is changing the seats to light weight racing seats, the mk3 seats are heavyyy. Also, pull the carpet up, and remove all the padding and sound deadening material. It is pretty dense and heavy. But all in all, the weight in the mk3 is actually well used. The car is very stiff, and it helps it handle and ride well in the real world. And as a disclaimer, I dont not guarantee that anything mentioned is safe, so do so at your own risk. /rant off!!!

Edit - post #911. Thats almost as bad-luck-ish as # 666!

acousticrawk -

"what can you do, besides cut the interior and get a carbon fiber hood? id like to cut 600 or more lbs....i know thats quiet the diet but anyone have ideas, i just wanna make sure i didnt over look something obvious or unobvious. thanks!"

- sorry for using your post, but i needed to have the first post as an explanation

The only way you are going to drip that much weight is to build yourself a tube chassis and make yourself a dedicated race car...the heaviest parts of the Supra are the actual body/frame. The parts that you can practically swap...hood, fenders, hatch, glass, doors, interior, a/c, powersteering (not to practical in a 3000+ lbs car) don't really weigh that much. The Supra was designed to be heavy. It's a Grand Touring car...designed to drive at high speeds for extended periods of time on real world roads. Just come to terms with it and embrace what was planned for the car from Toyota. If you want a super light car...buy a CRX or AE86 (if you can find one).

Yes, but you CAN cut a lot of things out, and still look quite stock. Stock interior is VERY heavy, composed of fiberboard, foam, and then vinyl over that, plus all the sound matting all over the car. It's up to you, if you want to make a race car, gut the interior (sell the parts, you'll make a ton :lol: ) and make a custom lightweight interior, or none at all and race. Supras are heavy and are stable at high speeds because of it, so it's up to you...

Only way to go faster is...
1) Lighten up
2) More power!!
3) More gearing

It's not TOO hard to get more power...and you still end up with a nice car girls will ride in B)

is it for street use and strip or just strip/track??

well, i normally drive higway racers and 10 second street cars. so i like em both, but i will be doing both of the above with the sup. even if i cut a ton of weight, im still going ot be really stable at high speed because it will still be heavy by any standard.

pull all the electric motors out. The front seats has 6 motors in it??... like 70 lbs or something crazy?? plus ya got 2 in the doors, 2 in the headlights, 2 in the mirrors, and 1 in the power antenna? did i miss any??? who can do the math lol.. 13 motors @ average 7 lbs each plus the hardware. so call it 10 lbs each, for total of 130lbs in just electric motors crap..
then get the aluminum flywheel (-40lbs) and aluminum driveline or in CF(-40lbs). get the exhaust system made from CF or ceramic even.(-30lbs++). Get magnesium ultra light wheels w/ low pro tires(-100lbs). just start swapping or fabricate every thing else from carbon fiber... upper and lower controll arms front and back..there probly (-80lbs) both swaybars.(-20) on front and rear in CF and valve covers in CF(-5lbs), use the smaller lighter under drive the pullies(-10lbs). change the intercooler plumbing to aluminum pipe(-20lbs). Cf the glove box and dash and armrest console.(-10lbs) its a wash bit looks sweet.. drill the rotors out (-10lbs) and remove the spare tire. (-15lbs)

Pull the carpet and remove the pad and door panels.. (-12lbs).. weld all the spotwelds and seams and fill the frame with viagra foam.. stiffener it up a bit..(+5Lbs) pull the ac..(-50lbs+-) it would be cool to see a whole supra body in CF.unpainted... (-150lbs++) shhhwing..

these #'s are just tossed out there so dont quote me please as i have nothing to back it up with its just my guestimation and im probaly way off.. and its late lol...

however, that may trim 600 -700 lbs of dead weight maybe bring it down to under 3000lbs or less.? just need to preload the rear end a bit with torsion bars? and or sandbags now to get some good hook up.. besides replacing floors and crap with aluminum or CF.. i think thats bout it..? replace glass with lexan?? any thing i didnt address? fill tires up with heliumm lol ok ok now thats just plain silly. hmmm...

my 2-6 cents.. :ph34r: less weight = fast and loose..

what is viagra foam???

It is a foam that starts out as a liquid and you pour it into all the gaps in the frame and body and it expands and sets up harder. It helps to add rigidity to the car.

where do i get it or some info on it? i could have used it in my 240.

if you have the money, use chromemoly tubing for a roll cage. maximum rigidity at its lightest.