My version of a 2500lb NSX....

So as promised here are some pics of my "lightweight" NSX. I just got done doing a whole bunch of stuff to it. Here's the short list: new suspension, GTLW exhaust, 02 valence, corner balancing/alignment. This is about as clean as it's going to get. Not bad for a car that gets "abused" by most NSX owners standards. I didn't buy this car to leave it in the garage and never use it for what it was designed to be used for. This car get's driven HARD! I love Honda's

My whole goal with this project was to have a car that handled like no other and a car that was fast while still being NA. I wanted a track car.... Having a "show car" with bling bling rims, a $5000 BBK that i'd never use, a boom boom stereo, etc. etc. was never part of the plan. There are better cars for that...... I realize that weight only gets me so far so I never once believed that my car would be "faster than a C6 Z06" or any nonsense like that....... With that being said, here is an example as experienced in real life: I had a chance to drive out to Mulholland Hwy (a very very very twisty and loooong road) today with a friend. She has a STOCK 2002 996 TT 6spd, fully optioned out blah blah blah..... We took turns driving each others cars (not the first time btw) and we were out there for a good 4-5 hours. The 996 felt like a freakin BOAT! It made me appreciate the nimbleness of my NSX. Despite being underpowered we pretty much both agreed that the weight difference + my suspension mods gave my car a HUGE advantage in the twisties. Of course the 996 pulled like a mofo on straighaways, no argument there...... I'm happy with the car

What's next? Probably going to SC the damn thing...... Also i'm going to go in and take off some more weight..... I still have a lexan center divider window that needs t be installed. I'm also planning on "cleaning up" the interior by having some lightweight door panels made (RSR style), covering up the airbag hole, cleaning up the floorpan and painting it black.....

I know there are a lot of pictures, so if you have any specific questions on what was removed go for it........

Just fyi, those first picture is that of Darrin's (West End Alignment) handwriting. That was the "data sheet" he gave me after my corner balancing/alignment last Tuesday....

Wow! Simo

The new rear end looks great. Adding John's brake caliper/rotor set up will trim another easy 50lbs. T1-R tires another 15~20lbs.

Hello 2400lbs

nsxsupra said:

Wow! Simo

The new rear end looks great. Adding John's brake caliper/rotor set up will trim another easy 50lbs. T1-R tires another 15~20lbs.

Hello 2400lbs

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Are those tires really that much lighter? Wow! I love the Falkens but if those tires offer similar dry weather performance i'm probably going to switch over after my rears wear out.......

Looks awsome did you remove the ABS? Can you compile a list of all parts removed for reference? :smile:

There is nothing more special than a light weight exotic. I would let it be no SC.

Diablo360 said:

Are those tires really that much lighter? Wow! I love the Falkens but if those tires offer similar dry weather performance i'm probably going to switch over after my rears wear out.......

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Yes, they are one of the lightest tires you can run. The discontinued older T1-S were even lighter 1~2lbs lighter than even the T1-R.

You will NOT get near the dry weather same performance as the RT-615s. However, on the street more than plenty and last almost forever, no complaint here. It is perfectly ok to have a set of track wheel/tire combo and one street wheel/tire combo. RT615 is already a bit lighter than oem Bridgestones from the start.

Weight:
http://www.falkentire.com/rt615_sizes.html

http://marktg.toyotires.com/file/18966.pdf

In your case, it is already an all out weight reduction as far as I can see, so it only make sense to go maximum lightweight on everything IMO. At least this is what I really would do to my car if I were aiming to create an all out maximum lightweight NSX, I imagine and visualized many different set ups in the past.

Imagine the acceleration with brake caliper/rotor combo that is lighter than oem. Then add even lighter wheels (yes, there are even lighter wheels in 15/16 combo) and finally lighter tires too. 10lbs of rotating mass might not be significant, but when you add up all the above, yeah, it will be darn significant. Brake caliper/rotor+wheel+tires= -80~100lbs off, not only that, it is where it will effect your acceleration and handling the most. There are track specific tires that are not only lighter than T1Rs, but also stick way better if money no objective.

Oem wheels:
Front 15" 6.5" 15.20 lbs.
Rear 16" 8" 18.86 lbs

Oem NA-1 NSX-R wheels by Enkei in 15/16:
Front 13lbs (just guessing)
Rear 15.86lbs (just guessing)

SSR Type-C (called Competitions in the US) SSF 15x6.5 8.6lbs
SSR Type-C (called Competitions in the US) SSF 16x8 12.1lbs

Volk TE37 Forged 15x6.5 8.8lbs
Volk TE37 Forged 16x8 13.3lbs

Volk CE28N 15x6.5 8.1lbs
Volk CE28N 16x8 12.21lbs

I can definitely see you getting into 23xxlbs with just replacing a couple items.

Diablo360 said:

This is about as clean as it's going to get. Not bad for a car that gets "abused" by most NSX owners standards. I didn't buy this car to leave it in the garage and never use it for what it was designed to be used for. This car get's driven HARD! I love Honda's

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Don't even worry about them. It is not their car, they probably don't even give a damn nor meant anything with bad intent. Just enjoy what you like and continue to do what you believe in. Just smoke them at the track while they are listening to boom boom stereo with all that added weight:biggrin:.

I had the T1-S they were light but loud.

Very cool to see that you can get the car down to 2500lbs. And I like the "keeping it real" NA1 wheels :smile: Once you get that SC on there, it's really going to scream!

Now just lose that glovebox door and shave another 2lbs. :biggrin:

WOW! If you take the wheels off and put the car on blocks, it kind of resembles my daily driver that was recently recovered 2 days ago from being stolen.:biggrin:

Simo finally some pics of the rear valence! Looks like the painter did a good job, hopefully mine will be done one week from today. I think it looks 10x better with that and the new suspension. :biggrin: I agree it might be worth the 10+ lbs to "refine" the look a bit.

What lip is that? I like...

I'm really surprised you are this obsessed with weight and you have an engine cover?

nsxsupra said:

Imagine the acceleration with brake caliper/rotor combo that is lighter than oem. Then add even lighter wheels (yes, there are even lighter wheels in 15/16 combo) and finally lighter tires too. 10lbs of rotating mass might not be significant, but when you add up all the above, yeah, it will be darn significant. Brake caliper/rotor+wheel+tires= -80~100lbs off, not only that, it is where it will effect your acceleration and handling the most. There are track specific tires that are not only lighter than T1Rs, but also stick way better if money no objective.

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Yup yup, you're totally right Jason...... At this point taking off 50-75 lb's of rotating mass would make a HUUUUUUUGE difference! I'm probably going to stick with the wheel/tire combo for now but i'll go ahead and start looking for the brakes......

chado said:

Simo finally some pics of the rear valence! Looks like the painter did a good job, hopefully mine will be done one week from today. I think it looks 10x better with that and the new suspension. :biggrin: I agree it might be worth the 10+ lbs to "refine" the look a bit.

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One more week? That sucks! You must be dying, hehehe

I had it painted by a mobile paint guy who charged me $150! Not bad at all...... The car was washed and waxed before I took the pictures so as you can see all in all I think the color match came out a lot better than I expected or even cared for. I've seen way worse.......

Brooklynzson said:

What lip is that? I like...

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It's the Shine Auto GT lip. Here is the link to the Ebay auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/JDM-...012QQitemZ220138868628QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V

And just fyi, before you buy it call/email them and make sure they have one in stock or else you could be waiting for a long time!

I admire your dedication to the cause. One thing I'd change is maybe the zip ties holding that battery in place. It's pretty easy fab a lightweight tie down with threaded rod, an aluminum extrusion, and some nuts from OSH.


BTW, is 2504lbs with a full can of soda in the cupholder? :biggrin:

The car highlights everything the nsx is about, lightweight, emphasis on handling, going against cars with a considerable power advantage.

Most places from here will get expensive, if you want to continue losing weight. The one exception would be to start cutting sections of panel out with a sawzall, or eliminating wiring for systems you're no longer using (SRS, cruise control, etc.), beyond that, there are options in several categories, but they're progessively more expensive, until they make little sense eg:

-remove glovebox
-lexan divider window
-lexan rear hatch
-lexan side windows (fixed in place)
-dry cf door replacements
-dry cf hood/trunk, with hood pins (no latch)
-remove window regulators
-lightweight 2-piece rotors
-lightweight brake calipers (eg spoon aluminum calipers)
-lighter wheels

Perhaps instead of a supercharger, ITB or stroker?

TURBO2GO said:

I'm really surprised you are this obsessed with weight and you have an engine cover?

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Engine cover protects wires-plastic from being scrotched in Sunlight.

The interior looks very much like my daily driver. Clean, refined.

On it's way. You going to put a cage in that thing? :smile:

Very impressive what you have done to the car to get the weight down. You might want to add a CF NSX-R hood and still improve your looks :smile:

When you are down to 2500 lbs, I don't think you would need a CTSC to give your car a serious jump in speed.
With the basic I/H/E-modifications, most people get around 270 RWHP. With 12% drivetrain loss, that equal to about 307 Crank HP.
With only 2500 lbs to haul, that equates to only 8.14 lbs per HP.

If I remember correctly, the 996TT has 420 HP in a car weighing in at around 1580 kg (3483 lbs). That comes out at 8.29 lbs per HP.

So, I think that actually, you would already be close to the TT car and you would still have the advantage of your light weight during cornering.

simo,
Nice job. Car looks great!!

Above all else it is always a pleasure to interact with you and see what you are doing because you have a great heart and a lot of enthusiasm

One question....do you really track the car that much to justify all of that, or are you just REALLY into lightweight?

nsxsupra said:

Wow! Simo

The new rear end looks great. Adding John's brake caliper/rotor set up will trim another easy 50lbs. T1-R tires another 15~20lbs.

Hello 2400lbs

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what set up will that be? (brakes)


anyways, that is one light weight machine. is it your daily driver? have you removed AC/heater parts?

What about a lightweight flywheel? You could shave 10+ pounds that way and gain some performance on the way.

Meeyatch1 said:

One question....do you really track the car that much to justify all of that, or are you just REALLY into lightweight?

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A little bit of both. I do a LOT of back road driving in the Malibu canyons with some local friends. Probably once or twice a week which = 5-10 hours of hard driving per week....... So much that when I fiddle with one little thing (such as air pressure, no swaybar, etc.) I notice! I'm almost done with my 2nd set of rears (Falken Azenzis 615's) in less than 5000 miles!

sonnynhoung said:

anyways, that is one light weight machine. is it your daily driver? have you removed AC/heater parts?

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It is my daily driver and yes I have removed ALL of the AC/heat system, minus a few of the lines which are a PITA to get at....... I work from home and live in the dead center of the BH shopping district so I have everything I need within 2-3 minutes walking distance...... Other than my weekly drives out to Malibu and my occasional drives down to the OC my daily driving consists mainly of scooting around town no more than 1-2 miles from where I live.....

Where did you get the wheels?

holy lightness. very good stuff simo

John@Microsoft said:

The interior looks very much like my daily driver. Clean, refined.

On it's way. You going to put a cage in that thing? :smile:

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John, is that what you picture of my car??:biggrin:

Simo, your car is very simular to mine in terms of exterior mods but mine's definately 500 lbs heavier.

separated at birth:

then...