Any suggestions for things to remove from a 914 for optimum weight reduction?

You need to talk to URY914 = Paul Woodbury... He has the lightest 914 on earth.

Floor tar and undercoating. And use dry ice, best stuff and comes off incredibly easy.

just kidding of couse, but i believe it was rodney dangerfeild that stated "i recently got rid of 200 lbs. of ugly fat (weight)... i just got a divorce... drumroll...

The driver could also go on a slight diet too if they were on the heavy side. I don't mean to sound rude but I have seen quite a few chubby drivers who could lose a couple of pounds. Less weight = more power and maybe a slightly longer life too

Other things would be unneccesary parts not used. I guess it depends on the car if its purely a racing machine thats towed to events or if you drive on the road. I believe the 914-6GT cars were about 200 pounsd lighter than a stock 914-6 model.

Is this a full race car?

Toronto! I'm in Georgetown.

Maybe lightweight battery?

Lightweight Odessy PC 680 battery, Remove backpad and replace with carpet, remove lower portion of dash, replace steel hoods with fiberglass, lose trunk springs, remove exhaust shield, replace heat exchanges with headers, remove undercoating, remove tar from floors, install lightweight flywheel, replace door panels with RS type panels.

I took 500 out of mine...
then added 150 back in motor weight

check my thread in the signature for details.

Stay outta the drivers seat. that ought to save some weight, lol.

The most important question is "What do you want to do with the car?"

For instance - do you want to need ear plugs on longer drives?
Is the car going to be driven on the street a lot?
On the street but only a very little?
Is the car going to be trailered to events (Race/AX)
If you get tapped in the front or rear (under 5mph) do you mind replacing bumpers?
Do you want to spend a lot of money?
Are you willing to trade a "safe" car for a "light" car?

Everything to make the car light has a detrimental effect to either comfort or safety - or both.

Zach

Thanks for the introduction Rob

It's really very easy. Simply remove everything that doesn't make it stop, go or turn.

Now what do you want to do with your car?

I've never been a big fan on f/glass on a daily driver. Those steel hoods are there for a reason.

Here is the weight savings list of my abomination. Obviously some of these weights do not apply to a conventional 914 but a lot of them do. My projected final weight is currently at 1870 pounds.

Targa Bar 15.8
Targa Top 19.5
Targa Trim In/Out 5.2
Boxster humps 0.0
Chopped Windshield frame 4.0
Regulators 7.6
Side/Rear Windows 26.6
Head Unit/Amp 11.7
Sub and Box 21.5
F & R Speakers 11.8
Sound Insulation/Tar 22.2
Inner Door 7.3
Intrusion Door Bars 23.6
Heat Ducts/Wiring 18.0
Heat/Blower Unit 17.2
Wires/Tabs/Misc 10.3
Interior Mirror 0.6
Center Reflector 1.1
Headlight buckets 5.8
Heat Shield 4.8
C/F Deck lid 20.2
F/G hood 21.0
Headlights/Motors 18.8
Wing Removal 23.2
Wipers/Motor 8.6
Huge Steel Air Intake 6.1
Stripped Fuel Filler 1.1
Engine Brackets 4.5
Odessey PC680 23.8
SS Header 12.2
Muffler 21.1
F/G Rockers 4.8
F/G Bumpers 26.4
Rocker Sills 0.9
Trunk Floor/ Tubing 3.2

Final Total 430.5

light weight starter motors and race batteries are available too, lexan glass and removal of all uneccesary parts helps too

I keep this in my blog so when someone asks I whip it out ....

This question has been asked several times recently so I thought I would post all the things you could do so I can just cut/paste when it is asked again.

First you need to realize that making some of thse changes will change what clas you run in at your local autocross. And if it is a street car, these will effect the safety of the car. Steel saves lives- fiberglass saves weight.

1. Change the hoods, bumpers, and valances to fiberglass.
2. Switch to a lightweight fiberglass targa top.
3. Change the glass to polycarbonate
4. Remove the carpet, backpad, pass. seat, sun visors, console,
5. Remove the sound pad from the engine compartment
6. When you change the hood to f/g remove the springs and hardware.
7. Remove the fresh air fan from under the front hood.
8. Replace the heater boxes with a header.
9. Remove the windshield washer system
10. Remove the headlight motors and assocated stuff
11. Remove the arm rests from the door panels
12. Change to early doors w/o the steel beam
13. Remove the door windows and cranks.
14. Remove the heat shield which is over the muffler
15. Remove the sound deading material and any undercoating
16. Remove the seam sealer that cover the welds in the trunks
17. Some think f/g rocker panels save weight over the stock ones. It is true they are lighter but not by much.
18. Aluminum wheels.
19. Racing slicks are at least half the weight of a street tire.
20. Install a racing battery. Saves 15-20 pounds easy.
21. About half the wiring can be cut out.
22. Remove the cover plates from the back side of the brake rotors.
23. Grind/cut off all the brackets/bolts/tabs/ etc that are everywhere on the car.
24. Remove glove box and door.
25. Install f/g door skins

People have covered the specifics, my basic theme for my car is "do I need that? no? get rid of it.

The little things start to add up though, taking out wiring and heating and little brackets for stuff only saves fractions of a pound, but it adds up to a fair bit if you do everything.

Be very wary of cutting out structure, these cars already flex a fair bit. I've had a few 914s that came through the shop that had just really stupid things done to lighten them.

Two more things to note are that if you can reduce unsprung rotating mass, do it (I drilled the shit outta my rotors and want to remove some more from different parts, inboard would be even nicer.). And if you can reduce drag on the engine you gain effective power. The real serious car I've seen has nothing driven from the crank.

Drilling the rotors is more a PITA than it is worth in IMHO. I have not done it on my car.

I like what you did with the hood Brant. I wanted fiberglass hoods but they fit so bad that I got steel instead. I got the headlight buckets along with all the other useless stuff under the front removed. I got a big roomy trunk now.

I didn't do anything really in the back of the car. I really should cut out the rear trunk which I don't use anyways and mount the oil tank up front to balance out the car.

I do have the battery in the front of the car and have one of those little oddesey batteries. They are so light compared to a optima red top I had before. I bet it's a 30 pound difference.

I also removed the rear valance and made a custom muffler that is up and out of the way. Probably saved some weight but also really makes the car quicker without it catching all the air.

I hope that removing those huge recaro seats I have now and putting in some GTS classic seats will shed a few pounds.


Finally I see alot of fat 914 drivers. Go running LOL