The street car that wants to be a track car.
 

I am seriously contemplating a couple of things for my car this summer, but am torn on the "street" reality of my car. Two things, first ditch the damn power steering pump on the engine and associated plumbing and put in an electric up front. I would prefer to keep the frunk carpet if I were to do this, but I'm not sure if that is realistic or not. The other is ditch the A/C and components. Of course, this would save some significant weight. Anyone know how much? Also, any cons to removing these other than convenience/comfort? My primary concerns are properly removing the AC components without loosing my fan/heat capabilities. Anything I am missing, not considering?

You’re not going to get much weight from pulling either (compared to what you could pull at the point you’re at). Modern ac systems are faily light. You certainly can pull the ac without loosing air or heat though. The power steering is much more complex. There are a few threads on it but there is no good way to eliminate the pump. I’d start by converting your power top to a manual one (just pull the motor, gearbox and links), install a lighter battery, pull the sound deadening around the engine, and install lighter seats. You can get greatknock off GT3 seats online. Those three things could save around 150lbs.

The A/C compressor weighs about 15 lbs. The lines weigh about 4lbs.

The power steering pump weighs about 6 lbs and the lines weigh about 3lbs.

You might get close to 30 lbs total.

And here is a good post from Truegearhead on the subject: http://986forum.com/forums/performance-technical-chat/52442-weight-reduction-results.html

Cool, thanks guys. The power steering pump isn't really about weight at all, it is just problematic as we all know. I did install a UDP and that has seemed to help. The other part of the equation was less rotating stuff on the motor should free up a bit of HP. The tough part is keeping some creature comforts as my wife likes to go on fun drives etc. so I've got to find the balance of all of that.

TGH: are you talking about these seats?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Porsche-997-style-GT3-Seats-in-Black-Cloth-w-Black-FRP-Backing-EURO-GT2-PAIR/161752094079?epid=1963314499&hash=item25a92d157f:g :ILwAAOSw7s5Xhp8-&vxp=mtr

Doing a bit of searching and came across a power steering fluid inline cooler setup by TuneRS that is pretty reasonably priced. What other options if any, are there to help or remedy the PS fluid spill over with track time? Isn’t it required that the stock hydro pump is maintained in the Spec cars? If so, what do you guys do? Thanks!

Wow those look great. They’re a little different than the old GT3 seats I was referring to but I’m sure they’d work well for you.

How much do you weigh?

A muscular 190... It's easier to take stuff off the car!

go for fia rating if you actually want to track the car. otherwise the seat is potentially not made to any standard at all.

agree. I would avoid the replica seats and do 1 of 2 things:

1. buy a set of sparcos/OMP, etc for like $1500 and accept that resale is pitiful.
or
2. Buy set of OEM GT3 seats for $3k, take care of them, and then sell them for $3k or more in the future.

If you're going to track the car, then you really should get FIA approved seats. While the eBay 997 GT-3 seats look nice, you could get a FIA approved seat for just a little more money.

Yes, the stock steering fluid pump has to remain unmodified in the Spec Boxster race cars. An UDP and/or a power steering fluid cooler is used to keep the temps down.

Stone, I see that you are an instructor. I remember an instructor awhile back mentioning that if the drivers seat is replaced/modified the pass seat needs to be the same? Does that ring true?

What I really want to do is simply modify the drivers side, harness etc but leave the pass side stock intact. I’m not sure if my wife wants to be getting in and out of a race seat. I’ve also considered an in between sport type of seat, but would ultimately prefer to keep the airbag operational at least on the pass side. The seat stuff is down the road a bit. For now, I am going to try the lap belt lock idea for our next AC and see how that goes...

not sure what the frunk carpet has to do with anything - electric ps pump will mount up where the cd changer sits no problem. electric ps requires significant fabrication - hoses, pump mounting bracket; not for the timid. or you can go manual - i did, no big deal.

ac can go without affecting heat or fan. just realise that you can delete ac or can delete ps, but if you delete both then you need to install a dummy pulley (or gut your ps pump - i have a gutted pump i can send you if you like). note that deleting ac is not just about weight; with the condensors gone you get a lot more airflow over the rads.

a lot of other places to save weight - airbags, stereo and speakers, seats, wheels, 2-piece rotors, suspension, exhaust, charcoal canister and smog pump, carpets, insulation, bumpers, spare tire, battery, roof motor, carbon hood, flywheel, skinnier gf, ... dude, i removed the struts that hold up my trunk and use a tent pole that i leave on the tarmac when i go out on the track.

Yes for most clubs the driver and passenger setups must have equal restraints. This normally translates to the seat belts have to be equal (if driver has 6point passenger must have a 6 point) but the seats are normally up to the instructor. If you have a GT3 seat and a stock seat the instructor may not mind. If you have a stock passenger seat and a FIA race seat with a Halo they will be concerned.

***with boxsters racing seats are normally required to get the driver low enough to pass the broom stick roll bar test. In other words if your helmet isn’t below the roll bar and windshield you won’t be allowed on the track.

i’m 5’10” and was able to meet broomstick by mounting gt3 seats right to the floor w bk brackets (ie, no sliders - less weight!) and removing the lower seat cushions (the cushions on gt3 seats are just in w velcro).

I’m 6’3” I used the same approach with GT3 seats before I installed the bar. I can’t say enough good things about the GT3 seats. Best money I ever spent.

Hmmm? Manual? Did you have to replace the rack? That is an intriguing idea. I could care less about power steering.

I'm not quite ready for the full gut. I need to keep a few "creature comforts" for those weekend drives. What I should do is just buy a cheapy and do a build. Years ago I tried that with a 911 SC, man that got $$$$$$ fast! Lot's of great advice guys! Thanks!

i bought a second rack on ebay that i had drop-shipped to a specialist machine shop that did the conversion. i can't recall the name offhand, but if you search manual steering on this forum it should come up.

you can dump weight without losing creature comforts. going from 25 lb to 20 lb wheels is a 20 lb weight savings in the best place - rotating. a lighter exhaust also brings performance benefits (apparently). etc.

Ha, found your original post. Cool thing is, the shop you used for the conversion is a shop I have used before right in my home town. Funny how that works. It’s the Machine Shop. They have done work for me for my Jeep and a couple of other projects. Cool! Have to give that some serious thought.

I forgot about the exhaust when I posted originally, this is absolutely the first thing you should do. It saves a ton of weight, has no adverse effects and makes working on the car much easier (more room).

The car already had headers and cat delete, but for some reason the stock S muffler was retained. I'm looking into various mufflers, and the Brombacher looks like it may be the ticket. Looking at other systems, drone sounds like a real issue. Drone and my head are NOT happy together. If there are other suggestions, I am all ears!

Headers, cat delete and an exhaust will make the car extremely loud. This is the setup I’m running, it’s to loud to take above 5k on public roads.

My boxster is a street car that was race car inspired. Losing weight was the easiest way to make it go faster and I believe I took 250lbs out of it. No carpet in the trunks, insulation, stereo, Miata battery, lightweight seats, Chinese headers, custom made exhaust using a 987 muffler, no rear bumper support, manual top, deleted airbags, GT3 center console, and the rubber trunk gasket. I had to put the front one back on as it helps the frunk pop open. You can see it all on my thread but you have to use google chrome because all the pictures were used with Photobucket. There's an app on chrome that gets around photobucket's block.
http://986forum.com/forums/show-tell-gallery/59449-woodys-build-thread.html

My 986 was set up exactly as a track capable street car to BSX class rules. I didn't have any issues with the PS pump in over 100 track days so I don't think it *MUST be a weak link. Unless you are running 40 TW R-comps and sawing the wheel way too much you probably won't have much trouble with it either. The UD pulley does help take the strain off by effectively lowering the PS RPM with no downsides. Remember that the steering wheel is effectively a brake so drive the car with your right foot and apply minimum steering input. This is faster and improves reliability.

I also kept the A/C because I live in the desert and on rain days the AC works great as a windshield de-fog. Ask the SpecBox guys about this. A lotta work to pull it out for little gain and you do lose a lot of creature comfort in the process.

Getting competitive:
UD pulley
Race seats bolted to the floor
Lightweight battery
Roll bar ext for safety
PSS9
Comp sways
4 sets of 17" wheels
Racing brake pads
Motul 600 brake fluid
GT3 front brake ducts
NT-01 tires both square and staggered for different track configurations.
Pro corner balance, alignment and suspension setup.
Class weight was 2950 lbs all up with driver and I was right on it with 1/4 tank of gas. In CA we have to meet sound rules to run Laguna Seca so I left the exhaust bone stock. I never got blackballed for sound as many of my competitors did.

This car was very competitive with several BSX TT championships and 4 BSX track records across all of PCA, POC, and NASA. It was also still comfortable and fun to drive in the canyons.

What would I do differently? If not constrained by BSX class rules I would have added GT3 arms for better adjustability, to get more camber up front and improve tire wear. PSS9s are a compromise strut and work *just ok*. If I wanted better control of the contact patch I would go with JRZ for full adjustability at the cost of around $8k installed and tuned. I rarely ran R7 tires and felt that the comp sways often tied the car down too much for NT-01s so I ran them at or near full soft. I might have gone with the simpler M030 sways and tuned with the struts instead for better control.

You guys are great! SO much info.

Regarding harnesses, is it reasonable to mount shoulder belts to the stock roll bar crossmember? Seems like a good spot?

Now... where is the check book...

yup that works

yessir, you can only go as fast as you can trust your brakes - high temp brake fluid is a must - i swear by rbf600.

While I run Moton Motorsports on my Boxster - I just had Ohlins R+T coilovers installed on my 987 Cayman S. I've had numerous coilovers, shocks/spring combos before on a street car or street/track car and I have to say I'm incredibly impressed with the Ohlins. With 400lb/460lb spring rates f/r - I was worried they'd be pretty harsh on the street and it's not the case. The special valving is excellent and works as advertised. I only paid $2300 for the set new from Performance Shock at Sears Point Raceway.