Any 2012's losing weight?

[Tommyatomic]

My previous car was a 1993 JDM Subaru WRX rhd. It was a Subaru GC chassis which is very light. Most turbo GC chassis subaru guys can tell you that the best way to speed up your ride is to loose factory fat. Making it light weight improves fuel economy and make power more effective. Most new cars have a bit of weight tucked away here and when that weight is lost the car is able to convert existing engine power output into more usable power.

I get that this is a "new" model in north america but in europe they've had this chassis for a while. SO Has anyone started their foci weightloss plan?

This should appeal to anyone who wants a faster ride or better fuel economy.

For my Subaru I had lightweight wheels. A lightweight battery, lightweight aluminum hood I was eventually going to replace with CF, Lightweight seats, lightweight alloy accessory pulleys including the crank pulley, a full AC delete, headers that weighed half the stock manifold, lightweight axles (4), custom CAI that weighed half what the factory intake with resonators weighed, put the spare tire in storage and removed deadening plates (weird heavy steel plates manufacturers put in strange places to make plastic bits like gloveboxes seem more solid. Hint: if they are structural they can be replaced with aluminum).

This isnt bragging. This is just me explaining the options I'm used to seeing. Before the Subaru I had an 03 Ford ZX2. I did weight reduction on the ZX2 as well.

So to reiterate my question: What weight saving deletions and lightweight upgrade parts are available for the 2012 focus?

I've used the search function and know there isnt yet a light weight hood option. But what about pulleys? Underdriving isnt good. But lightweight is awesome.

How much weight can we loose and how much rotating mass can we loose. Ford specs say the Focus hatch 5spd is 2,920lbs. Thats pretty light. If we save a little weight here and there how low can we go?

[Sponsor]

[theshrewz]

most guys are going with lightweight wheels like the Sparcos, I took out my rear seat bottoms in my 12' Hatch, It was most so that I had more room to move my seat back when I had seats down, but thats few pounds. The Steeda Lowering Springs I swapped were lighter then stock springs but Im not sure how much. The Steeda Sway bars are also half the wieght of stock as well. Most Aftermarkey exhaust are lighter as well.

[Joeywhat]

I gutted the rear. I'll eventually be building a new floor, but it should still end up lighter then stock. Rear seats are gone, will be a single floor for extra storage.

[Tommyatomic]

Are you guys weighing any of the stuff your removing to figure out how much weight your saving?

BTW which Sparco wheels? and how much do they weigh?

Reducing unsprung rotating mass is huge for improving acceleration and fuel economy.

On my Suby I ditched about 70lbs of rotating mass. And close to 200lbs of dead weight.

On the focus a change like that would be huge for fuel eco and acceleration

[Sonic_HedgeHog]

Quite a number of people are running Assetto Garas... 18x8 at only 20.5lbs is quite a difference from the Ti Handling Pack 27lbs

[BetaDnB]

Originally Posted by Sonic_HedgeHog

Quite a number of people are running Assetto Garas... 18x8 at only 20.5lbs is quite a difference from the Ti Handling Pack 27lbs

Even lighter than the 16" sport wheels.

I good place to start is removing everything from the trunk and replacing the spare with a plug kit and small 12v air compressor.

[raptor1956]

Yeah, weight, or more accurately, mass, is critical for ultimate performance and the reason a small Lotus with barely 150hp can humble much more powerful cars.

But, I have one car and it's purpose is to get me places efficiently so butchering the interior to save a hundred pounds is pointless. If I were racing it that would be one thing and gutting would be called for if it's allowed, but I aint racin it so...


Brian

[Tommyatomic]

Originally Posted by raptor1956

But, I have one car and it's purpose is to get me places efficiently so butchering the interior to save a hundred pounds is pointless.

Brian

Other than stripping the trunk I also dont see a point in stripping the interior especially when the focus interior is pretty nice.

But very commonly manufacturers will put additional weight in the car to give it a more solid feel in leau of using a better material. Almost all automobiles are made out of stamped steel. Its expense is reasonable and its strong. Many times these steel pieces can be constructed out of equally strong machined aluminum that is much lighter.

Do anyone have any exploded view pictures of the chassis and interior assembly? Odds are that there is weight hidden away or components easily up graded to lighter stronger materials.

[Sonic_HedgeHog]

If you check out FordParts.com you can find good exploded views

[darkangelism]

Not as much is available yet as your wrx, There is a good 100-200 lbs difference between an SE and a Ti stock, so just the electronics add a bunch of weight, the Cobb racing focus they stripped 200 lbs off and had it down to 2600 lbs.