Lightening the load
 

Had my car for a few years now and she's a joy to drive every time, done a few mods which have made good improvements.

And as you can see she's in great condition for a 16 year old car.

she's worth more in entertainment value than financial value, so carried out a few mod's to lighten the load.

First thing ive done is remove the seats and has you can see in the photo

these whoppers weigh in at 20kg each

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399396120.jpg

Got some Sparco's that are 8kg each bare, i'm using the standard seat runners so expecting

them to be around 13kg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399396219.jpg

The Sparco mounts need a bit of work but they will fit and be held in place with 4 bolts each runner.

Changed my exhaust earlier but didn't save that much weight over standard, but it does

looks and sound better

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http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399396369.jpg

Seat brackets have turned out well and fit perfectly to the seat and the

fixing points in the car

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399396417.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399396447.jpg

Steering wheel and airbags system next weighed in at 7.5 kg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399396511.jpg

And replaced with a Momo Prototipo wheel at 1.5kg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399396550.jpg

Seats and steering wheel are now in place

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I'm going to get some black mats to break up the grey carpet, plus i need to find some passenger side seat trims to cover the front of the runners, ive got the drivers side but the others are missing.

The seats feel good to sit in, but i'm nearly 13 stone and i reckon thats the max for these, so lts diet time.

Battery next and at 16.5kg not the heaviest of boxster batteries.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399396831.jpg

and now down to 6.5kg with this Odyssey pc680

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399396893.jpg

Found another 7kg with the bumper inserts

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399397264.jpg

l've also removed the air con system saving 13kg even though it worked well i've used it once.

Also having the under drive pulley fitted removal of the compressor may enhance this mod.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399397406.jpg

Spare wheel, tool kit and jack at 14kg as for a can of tyre weld and RAC card

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399397518.jpg

So weight loss so far 67kg



Before ----------------- After

Seats 40 ---------------------- 26

Exhaust 15.5 --------------------- 12.5

Steering wheel + Air bag 7.5 ----------------------- 1.5

Battery 16.5 ---------------------- 6.5

Bumper inserts 7

Air con 13

Spare wheel 14

Total 113.5kg ----------------- 46.5kg

New battery fitted, bolted in a treat and looks good, well as good as a battery can look.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399397783.jpg

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399397836.jpg

Also change this little lot, 5 of the plugs where loose no wonder the engine was making chirping noises when it was turned off, also the coil packs looked well pasted there sell by date but the tubes looked ok

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399397929.jpg

So if your engine makes a chirping noise, your plugs are loose

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399397992.jpg

Another 7kg gone, foam from around the engine bay, left a fair amount of glue
on the body work and was a pig to remove, even using WD40 to break down the glue.

But worth it for a nice clean finish.

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Had a quick blast around without the carpet's fitted behind the seats and engine cover, noise level seemed ok nothing to high and light throttle was fine.

There's a fair bit of weigh in the 3 pieces covering the engine, the 2 carpets have a fair amount of foam giving scope to remove it.

Photo of the janspeed fitted.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399398292.jpg

So i've lost 74kg so far and for the moment that's it, the car has been off the road since the end of september and

it's time i got her back on the road again, so still looking to remove a few more kilos, but over a longer period......

Thought i'd add some weight, did a wrap on the center console came out looking good

thou it did take me around 4 hours

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Excellent post and good information. Thanks for taking the time to outline your project.

I just finished installing the Brey Krause R-9044 floor mounts for my seats - lighter than sliders and get you a couple of inches closer to the ground for a lower c of g; gotta be ok with a fixed seat position, however. also easy weight to be found in roof transmissions and wheels.

I was going to lighten my car, but decided that if I lost 50 lbs of fat on ME it would be far better :)

Why not both? :p


All those mods are very good for lightening. However, I think removing the bumper support is risky. It may be designed as part of the integral crash system. I can't really be the one to talk since I do not have an airbag on my car either, but light is good. I have almost all the same modifications done as too!

Excellent post! I'm shocked you didn't take out the power top motor and transmission. That's normally the first to go. Also what about the cats? Finally if you're worried about the bumpers you can get gt3 bumper reinforcement copies for a couple hundred dollars. Again awesome post, great work

Cats went a long time ago before i started this, but shame i didn't weigh them to see the difference

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1399661319.jpg

Did look at the Motors and Transmission but they only weigh 9.4 lbs ish and would rather have the electric roof

Are there any write ups on how to convert to manual steering? Is it possible to just loop the rack? I image that would save 15 lbs or so and you'd loose a pulley

Mine broke so it was an obvious choice. I'll have to weigh my old motor and transmission, I'd guess its heavier then 9.4lbs but then again if you're throwing out decimals you seem like you know.

Wouldn't the steering be really heavy thou, like when you turn the wheel with the engine off.
Or is it once the fluids removed its easlier to turn, would be worth having a look at if thats the case.

Ok just had a look on you tube on how they did it on another car and it looks fairly easy as once you take the Boxster front wheel
off the pipes you need to get at are right in front off you.

l got the weighs of the motor and transmission off the Pelican parts web site, but i could be wrong, would be great if you
could weigh yours.

If every gram is worth,
consider removing the motors and harness moving our mirrors.
remove carpets
remove spoiler motor
empty windscreen wash fluid!
I am interested in Manual power steer too, will look forward on yours feedback.

if you remove a/c and power steering you have to sort out new belt routing. only way i can see is gsr sell a dummy pulley. otherwiise the a/c compressor is the same for 986/987/981 and the cayman r has an oem dummy pulley you can buy (ie, sucoast or bgb sell it).

steering is heavy with no ps (ie belt off) because you are still pushing fluid through the pump. you can convert the steering rack to manual, but note that most cars that are running manual steering conversion racks are (a) much lighter, and (b) have narrower front tires, so less steering effort required. i did find one guy with a 996 that was running a manual rack who said it was no biggie. factory race teames use a trw electric pump. no great weight loss, but you get better weight distribution (mounts low in front trunk instead of high on engine). buy them on ebay.uk for under $200. gsr sells the rest of the conversion parts required.

What about the fan that pulls air into the engine compartment from the right air vent? With headers, no cats, and a small muffler my engine bay is not nearly as cluttered and I'm guessing cools easier. I imagine pulling the sound deadening helps cool everything off as well

RE: carbon fiber wrap
 

your skill level is way above mine. I tried several times to wrap the center console. never could get it looking good (ie. no bubbles or tears or creases). finally gave up, just going to hydro-dip it.

+1 on that. I figure that until I drop the 35-40 extra pounds I'm carrying there's no point picking on the car. Those sport seats are getting a tad tight!

Thanks it was a pain to get right but worth it in the end

On a diet myself, i'm just under 13 stone and it's the max for my seats

Will have a look at that this weekend

Think i'll leave this one then, thanks for the info

Great writeup and kudos for "just do it." Although I would be leary without an airbag and the metal bumper support for safety reasons.