Weight Reduction

I personally don't see the obsession with dropping weight on these cars as most of our cars sit. After we've exhausted every bit of hardware and technology to pull as much power as we can out of it, then maybe its time to start dropping weight at the expense of comfort. For me this would only be an option for a full out track car. I can see taking out the spare tire or even deleting ac if you don't mind the heat, but beyond that, I don't see the point. The comfort and beauty of a Riv's interior far outweigh the 1/100 of a second they might cost you on a 1/4 mile run. Just my opinion.

I entirely agree. Though I suspect some people might want to do it for the performance gain. On most any car you get the biggest bang per $ performance wise by dropping weight. If you wanted a result on a budget, you could gut the car and it would give you more result per doller spent(assuming your time to tear out stuff is worth something.)

The way I see it if there is a part or assembly I'm going to replace and something lighter is available, then sure I'll go a bit lighter. But its really a side benefit, not the driving force.

Karma wrote:

The way I see it if there is a part or assembly I'm going to replace and something lighter is available, then sure I'll go a bit lighter. But its really a side benefit, not the driving force.

This has been my philosophy when buying parts for the riv since day one. Lighter and better quality than stock when possible.

hold up hold up. I wasnt writing the bible here. Just getting the ball rolling. I wanted to leave it to you pros to polish up. I would just love to see a stage list of stuff we can do to our Rivs to get approximate weight reductions.

It's not just about speed. it's about mpgs too. I can totally feel and see (mpgs) the difference when I have a couple passengers in my ride. If I can substract that weight ~300lbs from my Riv, I would love to feel the difference.

I want to get her on a scale to see what I'm pushing right now and reweigh once I make some cuts. Maybe I am the only one obsessing about putting my Riv on a diet, but whatev.

In my opinion, I would trade the fatty 'luxury' (i still dont buy into that) the ride itself, is the most luxurious thing to me about my Riv. Smooth as butter. but I would trade the fluff 'luxury' you guys refer to for a couple extra MPGs.

I think we can swap out the battery too with another brand to drop like 5lbs. Every little bit adds up.
Get AAA and leave your spare tire at home.

Karma wrote:

man. A 20lb catalytic converter. That would be something.

Whats the saying again? Something like every 1lb of unsprung weight is similar to 10lbs sprung weight?

Yeah something like that. From what i've been told there is no lighter fly wheel we can use on the 3800. It's too bad, really.

*cough*Cough*

im 3850 according to the scale at my local track. And that is with the 2 10's + amp+ box. (75lbs? shits heavy)
And 1/4 tank of gas.

So Robo has found a way to remove ~250 more lbs than me.

Yup! Pre-coil overs & F-body brake mod, one year ago.I'll go weigh her again in a couple days and see how much more I dropped.

You can just go to any semi weigh station and pay to weigh in? It's that easy?

4087 lb at Norwalk (pre-trailer hitch). I ran 13s in the 1/4 mile with the jack & spare, subwoofer box and amps.

Nothing wrong with the Riviera's weight. All we need is a 400 HP V8.

stan wrote:

Nothing wrong with the Riviera's weight. All we need is a 400 HP V8.

Extra 2 cylinder for added front weight ballast
400hp is pretty easy to do on our motors...just saying.

That's what I'm talkin' Matt.400 will do us just fine.Nice V8 with a racing supercharger a Matt?

You guys must have cash cows in your back yards. I want a low RPM V6 with boost when needed that gets sick MPGs. Y'all are crazy!

charlieRobinson wrote:

You guys must have cash cows in your back yards. I want a low RPM V6 with boost when needed that gets sick MPGs. Y'all are crazy!

Sometimes I feel the need for extra punch but my 240 HP can't deliver.

There's much more efficient ways to make extra punch power instead of plopping a 400 HP V8 in your Riv. A ~3300lb Riv @ 300WHP is my ultimate goal as of the time I write this post.

500lb weight reduction? Good luck unless you gut the interior completely. If that's your goal I suggest you start with another car.

Right on Jordon.That's what I meant by implanting a more powerful engine then gutting the nice intetior.I'd like the feeling of a MAYBACH driving the Riv.

I've weighed the interior of the Riv and that is not where weight can be found except for the seats.
Replacing the seats for lighter ones is a piece of cake.True weight saving can be had by deleting the rear RSSA alltogether and replacing the rear control arms with tubular steel ones. Youre probably looking at about 70lbs or so right there.all that together is about 160 or 170 lbs. give or take.
Fabricating a front engine cradle is doable but you would need to be able to weld aluminium. You might lose another 50 or so pounds there.
So 220lbs or so, total weight loss is within reach but you need the skills + $ to get it done. other than that there is nothing else to be done. The heaviest part of the interior is the top section of the dash board called the "Upper trim pad" in the FSA,and the door panels. Together they probably weigh,the 2 panels and trim pad,about 10 to 15 lbs.
So yeah...the seats,rear RSSA, front cradle,rear control arms, are porky bits.delete and replace them and the Riv will perform better and you wont lose any of the Riv's comforts namely the super interior.
btw,the Riv's glass is super heavy solid thick sound deadening lead!

Now that I've managed to reduce the weight of my Riv,down to 3500lbs,I can feel the difference.It's tremendous. Weight is Important.

I weighed my car this past summer, and it was 3780 with my spare tire and jack. I also have a box with two subs and an amp. Apparently, my car is the lightest one on here other than Robo's, which is to be expected after all of his modifications. I wonder why mine is so light? My Riv doesn't have a sunroof thankfully, so I'm sure that contributes a little.

The only weight savings measures I would make would be F-body brakes and forged light weight wheels. That would make a tremendous difference in itself.

i am dying to drive a MAYBACH everyday,and how many of you wouldn't wanna?

69GSColorado wrote:

I weighed my car this past summer, and it was 3780 with my spare tire and jack. I also have a box with two subs and an amp. Apparently, my car is the lightest one on here other than Robo's, which is to be expected after all of his modifications. I wonder why mine is so light? My Riv doesn't have a sunroof thankfully, so I'm sure that contributes a little.

The only weight savings measures I would make would be F-body brakes and forged light weight wheels. That would make a tremendous difference in itself.

I hear ya! I'm beginning to question the validity of the scale that measured my Riv! I mean,3500 seems a bit too much(or little) I'm on my way to the weigh station tonight.Should be fun.Dont get mad at me if they fucked the scales the first time tho.I'm just the driver.

Well boy's & girl's it's official.Next to Schmidts tubbed race car I most likely have the lightest fully optioned Riv in the U.S.No doubt.



3480 pounds! Thats gotta be a record of some sort!?

Once I get rid of the RSSA I'll be lighter still,sunroof and everything! haha!

See! You guys are all freaking out saying a 500lb drop is impossible without making a gutted soulless Riv.... Robo is almost there!

Nice!

Robo has put a huge amount of time, research, and effort into his weight reduction. And it wasn't weight reduction by getting rid of things, but adding and changing well away from OEM. And while I know Robo tries to make his money work for him, it sure wasn't free. It also helps that Robo is one to just try something instead of talking about it. Some things just need to be tried instead of being frozen in discussion, and Robo's car is a testament to that.

(Hey Robo, just wait until you add all that weight back with fibreglass and bondo... )