Weighed my car yesterday......

[WeeAsp]

Then it must be an issue with the scales at the track, because I came to the same conclusion after reading this thread. 2300 LBS seems RIDICULOUSLY light.

I'll check out some truck scales and go from there.

[GreenEnvy]

mine , after being completely cleaned, spare, and full interior, was at a whopping 2900lbs with me in it (I weigh 153). car also had a c/f hood, team dynamics pro race wheels (13lbs ea) and no options (moonroof, abs, t/c). but does have a jrsc.

[Klondike]

2900 HOLY SHIT!!!

also weeasp do u have a sunroof, if so then minus another 200 pouns thats under 2200 pounds!

im gonan get mine weighed sometime, im hoping its under 2700 with everything in/on it, hoping for 2500 tho

[HaveBlue83]

I was out of the car.......the guy told me 2660. that is with the spare tire & jack in.

[WeeAsp]

Mine is a bare bones SVT.

No winter package, base stereo, no sunroof etc.

You mentioned the sunroof. I always thought that glass was HEAVY. The more glass, the more weight.

Dunno...

[j-zetec_pr]

sorry to jump in here, but just a quick question.. how much weight should i expect from my zx3, with sub box, amps, and back seat taken out. no power options/no sunroof/no factory rack. i'm thinking it should be well under an svt since leather, power options, and 17 inch wheels add quite a bit..

[pelotonracer2]

So... considering a car that weighes 2,683-ish pounds and has 170 hp... the power to weight ratio is 15.78 pounds per hp. A VW GTI weighes 3170 (base, with no options) and comes out to 15.85 pounds per hp. Granted, it has 207 pft of torque (at the engine), but the hp is very close. Why is the SVT so much slower than cars with poorer power to weight ratios??? I'm guessing the lack of torque really hurts the SVT as well as inferior gearing.

Here's where I am going with this....

I plan on taking as much weight out of my '03 SVT as it is humanly possible. I'll buy another SVT as my daily commuter.

I'll get a FULL carbon fiber hood, OEM look carbon fiber front fenders, carbon fiber rear hatch, carbon fiber rear wing, remove the back seats, rear seat belts and mechanisms, replace the front seats with lighter racing style seats, install a 7 pound Braille battery, remove the spare, jack and stereo unit, speakers, wiring harnesses etc... remove the power window motors and replace with standard Focus ZX3 window cranks, remove most of the interior including any sound deadner, remove A/C compressor and set up a custom idler pulley, remove HVAC unit, install lighter crank pulley, install aluminum flywheel and Centerforce clutch, install ORP, find the lightest exhaust system on the market, I have 18" OZ Ulteggera wheels that weigh 16.5 pounds each and will couple them with lightweight (19.5 pound per) 215/35-18 tires and remove anything else that's not absolutely needed.... I'll also remove the sunroof glass and motor and replace it with a custon carbon plate.

How much, realistically do you think I could get rid of weightwise doing the above? I realize that's ALOT of work but I would also expect to remove a significan't amount of weight. As far as increasing the power a little, I want to stay NA and plan on Toms tune, SRI, 67mm throttlebody, underdrive pulleys, lightweight exhaust system, MSD coil with wires, new copper plugs, ORP and that's about it. I might consider stroking or big bore kit if it were possible to without robbing a bank AND it could be reliable with the right tuning.

For better handling I'll lower the car some (springs and shocks/struts), add some chassis bracing, install bigger roll bars front and rear, R&R all the motor mounts with better/stiffer ones, install short shifter, remove heat shields...

I'm curious to how removing weight and lightly increasing engine power a little using this platform... will have effect on performance... straight line acceleration AND handling.

Please share your thoughts and ideas...

[killer ZETEC]

i have a buddy who dumped everything but the stereo put of his focus (gutted interior) and weighed in almost a 1,000 lbs lighter

[pelotonracer2]

Good grief... That's NUTS!

Did that make a BIG difference in the way the car performed?

I mean, a Lotus Elise has 190hp (SAE flywheel) but they weigh like 1,900 pounds and can run 0-60mph in under 5 seconds and low to mid 13 second quarter mile times. Trap speed is low though at 101-103 mph.

Originally Posted by killer ZETEC

i have a buddy who dumped everything but the stereo put of his focus (gutted interior) and weighed in almost a 1,000 lbs lighter

[COSDEVSVT]

Mine weighs in at 2890 - fully loaded Euro 5dr with PW and RT-615 225/45/17s on the Euro rims. IIRC I did take out the spare/jack.