nuttyprof and Koz, I shouldn't have even wasted my time to check but I just weighed the engine cover and the battery cover, including the little plastic bracket is snaps into. 3 lbs. on the dot. This doesn't include the 4 nuts that may add a couple of ounces :-)

Just a friendly reminder that you should have some type of clue before questioning a fellow forum member's contributions.

 

al503,

I was just playing with you, but wow it's amazing how the engine cover, battery cover and the brackets weigh 3 lbs together. And don't be mad at me. =)

Peace,

-Chris-

 

After I read my post, I was afraid that it would be taken the wrong way. I was hoping that the :-) would give the right tone. I'm glad that you took it the right way. I was not mad at you guys.

Now if we could get some pics of that damn spoiler. :-)

 

The list you made was good, I actually took out my spare too, now I am thinking of taking out the tools as well. I know the pictures of the spoilers take a long time. But like I said Jacob (CustomCFshop) is responsible for the pics not me. I only can tell you this far I saw the prototype pics of the spoiler and they look nice. The spoiler is gonna look sick.

Thanks,

Kozlikracing

 

looking forward to it, my friend. Can't wait.

 

Don't take out the spare. Removing the spare is a safety hazard.

The reason? The crumple zone was designed with the spare intact. Removing the spare puts you at much greater risk if involved in a crash.

Legend in Time

 

If my coupe gets that damaged, I'd rather die.

Black / Black 2004 GcoupeMT. Premium. Splash Guardz.

 

lmfao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Where did you hear that the spare is designed into the crumple zone? If a credible source states that it is, then I'll apologize for being wrong here -- but I don't think it is.

When engineers design crumple zones they are deliberately weakening specific parts of the metal structure so that the car collapses in a controlled manner.

The energy of the impact gets "used up" in deforming the metal and the rest of the energy gets directed away from the passenger zone -- usually through the floor, sills, pillars, roof, etc. -- then there's conversion to sound/ heat energy.

Anyway, the point is, crumple zone design involves two things: (1) deliberately designing weak spots in the car's structure to control the collapse, and (2) engineering the structure to channel excess energy away from the passenger compartment. The spare tire doesn't really matter -- at least I don't think it does.

Even if it did matter, I would guess that Infiniti engineers would have designed redundancy in the trunk structure to meet any safety requirements with the spare removed -- after all they would have to make the car safe in the event of a rear-end collision while the spare was being used.

 

Regarding the spare tire as part of the crumple zone...

I'll tell you guys about the time this TTC streetcar (that's Toronto transit Commission) tried to make my car his b*tch.

This was two cars ago. I had a Dodge Stealth RT (what you down in the States would call a Mitsubishi 3000 GT VR4). I was in downtown traffic making a left turn into a laneway so I was stopped in the left lane with my turn signal on, waiting for oncoming traffic to clear.

The left lane is shared with streetcars. I see this streetcar in my rearview mirror and I remember thinking, "he's coming a little fast"... "uh oh" -- SLAM!!!
It happened about as fast as it took to read it.

The driver later admitted he was watching a distressed passenger in his rear-view mirror and didn't see me at all. (They charged him too, which kinda surprised me).

Anyway, although it wasn't going very fast, the mass of the streecar (Newton's 2nd law...) crushed the rear end right up to the back seats. Since the Mitsubishi 3000GT is pretty heavy, I had done a few things to lighten it, including removing the spare.

Despite not having the spare back there, my girlfriend and I more-or-less walked away from that collision. In fact, after having experienced that first-hand, I would say that the presence or absence of the spare back there wouldn't have made a smidgen of a difference -- it would have just ended up as part of the wreckage.

The only negative consequence I see from removing the spare (assuming you have 24 hr. roadside assistance) is to the car's balance. By lightening the rear of the vehicle exclusively, you are slightly increasing the G's tendency to understeer -- so you might want to compensate (with a stiffer rear sway for example).

Some of the local G's / Z's and I all experienced this at-the-limit understeer first hand while running laps at the track recently (a couple cars pushed right off a decreasing radius turn at the end of a fast straight, for example).

By the way, I'll say this just in case anyone thinks that reduction of rear-weight would tend towards more oversteer (since there is less weight over the rear wheels to provide traction) -- that's only the case if the grip is extremely low, like in snow. In dry conditions, the extra grip from the added rear-weight is much less significant than the "pendulum effect" that more weight in the back produces (which promotes oversteer) -- so the net effect of less weight in the back is to increase understeer.

 

meta brings up a very good point regarding the balance. Most of the available weight savings come from the rear of the car that is already lighter than the front (54% Front and 46% Rear according to R&T this month). 1 way to compensate would be to re-locate the stock or lightweight battery to the trunk. This would affect the balance x2 which would more than make up for the spare and tools.

 

Al503,

Just by draining your windshield washer fluid you lose about 8 lbs and it's pretty far forward. Some people have the option to keep the gas tank that cuts off at 1/4 tank during fill ups instead of getting the new gas tank. It would mean that you'd save another 70-80 pounds at all times, but you'd have to fill up 4 times more frequently. [img]/w3timages/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

Another thought is the carpeting in the trunk, the floor mats and don't forget to remove the heavy cigarette lighter next to the drivers right leg, don't ask how I know but it's 1.3 ozs. [img]/w3timages/icons/tongue.gif[/img].

<font color=blue>The above statements are only my take on the issue. If you disagree with anything I typed then you are 100% right!</font color=blue>

 

Ok all kidding aside, lets be realistic here. The key is to remove weight without affecting the balance. Some things are feasible and some are not. Moving the battery is never a feasible option because direct current travels a very short distance, I wouldn't do that. Removing the spare and back seat (lets say) will make the back too light. But what would be nice is aluminum quarter panels/hood/trunk, lighter wheels and maybe lighter cats. I think these doors weigh a ton too, it would be nice to have lighter replacements. Doing this would I think be a tremendous weight savings. Too bad you can't get most of these parts off the shelf.