lw carpets
 

welcome to my journey to nowhere.

i decided that i wanted to fabricate my own lightweight carpet set. the only retail thing i could find was a $1000+ kit from classic9 that isn't even on their website anymore.

i know nothing about carpets or upholstery. so, i thought why not just remove the insulation from the oem carpet? i don't care about the two pieces around the engine, as they are easily removed so can be pulled out at the track. so, just the floor carpet.

the thing is, with the insulation removed the carpet no longer forms to the floor. no biggie i figured, as i can just add some rennline track mats and look lightweight racer cool.

i got a cheap used boxster carpet and pulled the insulation off of half of it. then i hauled my bathroom scale into the garage to bask in all the weight i had saved. weight saved? 1.5 lbs. hmm, not that much at all!?!?!? i wonder what the trackmat weighs? 2.5 lbs.

golly.

do i want to add a pound and get a whole lot more road noise in return? nope, not even if it looks cool. i'll just keep the oem carpet, and continue to pull out the floor mats like old times.

Haha, yes this is the car modification journey most of the time. I'm shocked the insulation was only a pound. Mine was much heavier but was a little wet. As someone's who's ripped just about every lb of weight out of their car the one weight reduction id recommend the most is exhaust. It saves a ton of weight, has not impact on drivability and makes the car easier to work on by making some room under the car. I've had a cheap ebay exhaust on for 7 years and love it

I stripped all the insulation off everything. It can get loud on rough asphalt but otherwise isn't too bad. I don't have a stereo system anymore either so it gives me something to listen to. Another thing I noticed is that it makes you feel like you're going faster than you really are. That helps me from driving too fast because I drive like a mad man in my box.

so, 1.5 lbs per side, 3 lbs total for all the floor carpet insulation. say 4 lbs w margin for error. the two carpets over the engine are much heavier. i've also got all the insulation out from under the roof - a lot of weight there (along w roof motor, transmissions, etc.). makes the car noisier, but i am looking to get some Dynapad (non-adhesive) and lay in it there - can take it out when at the track. the idea is a street/track car, and in the case of the floor carpets don't see the benefits of removing the insulation.

otherwise, have all the engine bay insulation out. lw exhaust w no cats. lighter coilover suspension. ac gone. stereo gone. ps gone. sai gone. seat sliders gone and gt3 buckets mounted to the floor. gsr lw front and rear bumpers. oz lw track wheels. have girodiscs that i haven't put on yet (waiting to finish my current rotors). working on lw door panels. going to remove the charcoal canister this winter. gt3 console delete. going to remove airbags this winter as well (have a sweet clubsport steering wheel i can't wait to install). deka et14 lw battery yet to install.

currently have a z-top that isn't light but looks cool. working on a fiberglass clamshell/speedster hump panel that should get about 75 pounds out of the car when done. probably do fg hood and trunk at that point.

I lost a total of 16.5 lbs by removing all the insulation. That floor carpet insulation can retain water for a very long time and that's another reason I removed it. "IF" water makes it into the cabin. It would flow to the rear of the floor pan and drain out a small hole I poked in the floor pan. . I used luan board in place of the missing insulation. Luan is very light and cheap.
I wish I could get rid of the AC system like you but it's just too blazing hot down here to live without it. We've already had 32 days of 100+ this year. I might try removing the PS system one of these days.