The Weight Reduction Thread

niceeeee

Of course these items if lucky can be parted and maybe put toward lightwieght items
(i.e. Sell driver, passenger and rear seats for $$$ to buy one light race seat.)

keep in mind, if you have an S14, the rear seats weigh next to nothing (maybe just a few pounds). if you’re anal you can take them out, and it takes a few seconds to throw them back in (don’t even need to bolt them down, seatbelt buckles feed through the bottom of the seat while the backrest is held in place by the plastic pins on top). no need to take them out, unless you’re like me and use it as an excuse to not drive people around.

I found some weight in various areas

for a race car these are the areas you can remove a lot of weight:

gutting the doors and removing the windows and power window motors etc was about 17lbs per side

gutting everything inside the dash including the fan, a/c duct work and central duct was about 14lbs

a custom wiring harness with a smaller fuse box reduced 30+ lbs (including factory modules)

abs and air conditioning as gonad said is about 50lbs for everything

lightweight hood and trunk can save upwards of 30lbs

removing the hood latch +hinges and trunk latches and hinge mechanism was good for about 10lbs

a lightweight battery saved 17lbs

a race seat and removing all factory seats obviously saved about 40lbs

there are a lot of misc brackets welded to the chassis that are not needed and can be drilled out that saves a total of about 25lbs if you do the entire car under and above and inside the cabin

lexan windows all around should be good for another 20lbs

my s14 is currently estimated to be just under 1000kg (2197lbs)

the goal is to keep it at 2300lbs with me in it by the start of 2007

guys, you’re doing it the hard way. just buy a cheap S13, its already got 100lbs of underbody removed.

///\ hahahahaha

if your asking what the difference is… i’ve read that the sr is about 3lbs lighter approx.490lbs vs KA approx 493lbs

im pretty sure the sr is alot less than that even with a fmic, my car lifted at LEAST an inch… and thats a hella lot for suspension to travel under stock load… but the sr might only be 60 to 70 pounds lighter.

nope theres only a three pound difference!

sr20 = 490
ka24 = 493

somehow I do not believe that is accurate

im just googling around

so far i’ve found quite a few random tidbits:

Well, I don’t have any hard numbers…but I was told that a KA24E weighs 270lbs w/everything except flywheel (add another 20 lbs or so). Now, an aluminum Ford 351 V8 block weighs 80 lbs less than the cast iron version. So there’s no way an SR can weigh any less than about 210 lbs w/flywheel. But that’s a lower limit, its probably more since an I-4 is much smaller than a V8, so the amount of weight saved by going to aluminum would be less (even considering for the fact that the SR is a slightly smaller engine than the KA).

Weighed a KA24DE last night.Engine, pan on, no alternator, water pump in, rad hose on, no fuel rail, no valve cover, no exhaust manifold, no distributor, + 15 lb engine stand neck

309 lbs.

So basically the motor ring in around 300 lbs with no flywheel and clutch, and no alternator, pulleys, or pumps, or exhaust system.

etc etc.
no reliable sources anywhere that i can find

Maybe the SR is lighter, maybe it isn’t…and I might be out in left - but something to consider if your car was on a lift or even without a motor for a while: your springs may have temporarily “stretched” a little causing a slightly higher stance before “re-settling”. Just throwing the idea out there, I could be way off… :lol:

Until someone with some expertise weighs both motors under the exact same conditions & on the same scale, we may be left approximating.

From what i know, and have read

the ka with tranny and everything on it, weighs 497 pounds, the sr weights 492 or something…

wrong engine

yes you are 100 percent right. my car was with without a motor and on a lift for 2 weeks approx, my suspension did settle in the air and was higher at first drop… the motor has been in and running for almost a month now and the suspension dropped and has setttled but is still at least an inch higher… that is where i origionally posted… not the day i got it, i was aware of the suspension being in the air for so long… etc… but you are 100 percent right no one can measure unless under exactly the same conditions

i wish i had a scale other than a bathroom scale, i’m going to have an S13 blacktop and a '92 ka sitting beside each other in my shop soon. ka+5 speed tranny is already sitting on my floor.

i hate debates.

Tranny Wise… “Minus the Bellhousings”

I doubt their is a weight difference. Both trannys have the same internals, same oil capicity etc etc etc… only thing the KA tranny has which the SR does not is a 4th and 5th Gear Sensor and I cannot see the sensors weighting much so the difference between a KA/SR tranny will be very small.

More of a difference between the KA-SR motor for sure.

And I did a quick search on 240sxforums.com and most posts were claiming the SR-KA has approx a 25-35LBS difference “whether its right” who knows. But what was posted on the other page “like a 3-5lbs difference” I find that extremely hard to believe.

how much weight difference between a SOHC ka and DE…do u really thinkg its much if any? somebody could maybe weigh thoughs because in sportcompact the sr20det weighed 490 lbs with tranny

Either way, the point is that it seems that the SR20DET swap in and of itself can’t really be considered a serious “weight reduction” mod.

what is the difference between an s13 and an s14"weight wise" … because why fight over what weighs less when sasha doesnt even have an s13 ? that is how this topic was started in the first place… the mehcanic at racing evolution “mike” just pulled my ka and has done plenty sr swaps. i am getting my information from him “someone with expertise” that the motor is 60 to 70 pounds lighter… dont forget that the sr block is alluminum, and it is a 2.0 as opposed to a 2.4. but anyways… thats my input, how much lighter is s13 than s14?