Putting the cam on a diet?

[Missouri Cam]

Hey all! I was just wondering all the different ways I can lighten up my Camry. Thus far I've discovered these:

• Lightweight flywheel
• Lightweight battery
• Lightweight wheels
• Lightweight engine pulleys
• Removing stock sound deadening (not that I would necessarily do that)

I'm just curious if you guys have any other suggestions on lowering the weight of the Camry (mine is a 95 LE 4 cyl by the way). I'm trying to find ways to do this without compromising too much of the goodness of the stock vehicle (I likes my Camry ). The first 4 on my list seem pretty doable (if a little expensive), but the last one seems like more of a last ditch deal.

Anyway, I'm all ears on any experiences you guys have with this kind of stuff.

[JMSinMD]

Remove spare tire, airbag system, passenger seats, replace your driver seat with a lightweight seat, remove cruise control, power steering, airconditioning, radio, all carpeting, all trim, all speakers, etc, etc or... accept that the 4 cylinder automatic or manual will never be fast and spend that money to make the car look a little nicer. In the end you'll be happier than having a stripped down slow car. My .02 cents. Jon.

[darksparkz]

Lightweight lug nuts, take out jack, lighter intake manifold.

Reduce a given rotating mass, wheels, tyres, engine flywheel, clutch pressure plate, gearbox, prop shaft, differential, drive shafts, wheel hubs and brake discs.

[Tony the Tiger]

No point of stripping the car down.... I'd rather save up money to buy nice parts that both look good, functions and saves weight.

Wheel/tires, if you can afford nice forged wheels and lightweight tires, you will save a huge chunk of weight. My SSR wheel and tire combo is 31 lbs each wheel/tire, and that is a weight saving of 25 lbs per corner. SSR TypeC are 12 lbs for 17" x 7.5", Pirelli Corsas are 19 lbs each tire. Stock 15" steel wheel and tire weighs 56 lbs a corner. All four wheels total up a savings of 100lbs.

I have Celica seats which are 15 lbs lighter than stock (both front seats)

Celica steering wheel was actually 5 lbs lighter than factory Camry steering wheel.

D2 coilover... 12 lbs each for front, 10 lbs each for the rears. Stock front struts were 18 lbs front and 14-15 lbs rear. About 20-22 lbs savings.

Stock full size spare tire (56 lbs) and jack/tools (10 lbs) totals 66 lbs.

I've used thin gauge stainless steel for my exhaust piping which was much lighter than factory piping (that is smaller in diameter too). Magnaflow muffler is 5 lbs lighter than stock muffler.

JP headers I have were 4 lbs lighter each than stock cast iron manifolds.

Lots and lots of stuff you can save weight on without affecting creature comforts and still look good and perform well at the same time.

Before my car was turbocharged, I was on my old 17" wheels (ASA's) and my Camry weighed in at 3020 lbs with 3/4 tank of gas, stock seats, stock headers, etc... No driver. It was weighed at a local courrier/shipping centre. Only things removed were spare tire and jack/tools. It makes sense because a stock Camry V6 is rated at 3150-3200 lbs curb weight, so without spare tire and jack, and aftermarket wheels.


Forgot to add, Optima battery was lighter than stock too, I removed my cruise control ECU and actuator module, which was a decent 10 lbs too, etc etc...

Just think twice before you buy each mod, and if it is worth spending a little bit more for nicer parts that weigh less.

[Missouri Cam]

Alright Tony! Thanks a lot! I never realized there were that many things I could save weight on. May I ask what year the Celica seats and steering wheel you have are and if they are simply straight bolt-ins? Or are there special adapters that are needed to use them in a Camry?

I think my goal with this car is going to be to take as much weight off as is possible (within my relatively tight budget ) and only then think about trying to add power to the engine. Theoretically I would think that I will notice my car getter quicker and quicker without ever having to worry about putting more horses to the ground.

[Gary_602Z]

Did you research first how much faster it will be if you drop 2-300 pounds?

Gary

[WestCoastff]

Whats your main goal for weight reduction? Ive always beleived that getting rid of certain things you dont need, like a spare tire or tools, is cool, but when it comes to things like racing seats, carbon fiber parts, removing the AC and power steering.... Just build your engine the right way so you can not only have a reliable fast car, but you can have things like your AC, Powersteering, and even a spare tire in your trunk and not have to worry about it making that much of a difference. After all, no bashing but we are talking about a stock 4cyl camry here...

[WhiteRabbit]

youll be sorry when you get a flat not repairable with fix-a-flat, keep the spare!

[Eye8Pussies]

^ that's what caa/aaa is for

I haven't had a spare in years....weighs down the rear of my car and jacks up the front

[Knailgun]

Originally Posted by Eye8Pussies

^ that's what caa/aaa is for

I was also going to suggest removing any and all rear seats too

[Missouri Cam]

Originally Posted by WestCoastff

Whats your main goal for weight reduction? Ive always beleived that getting rid of certain things you dont need, like a spare tire or tools, is cool, but when it comes to things like racing seats, carbon fiber parts, removing the AC and power steering.... Just build your engine the right way so you can not only have a reliable fast car, but you can have things like your AC, Powersteering, and even a spare tire in your trunk and not have to worry about it making that much of a difference. After all, no bashing but we are talking about a stock 4cyl camry here...

My goal is to drop as much weight as possible while still retaining all the creature comforts. I still want to have my cruise control, AC, and powersteering. Heck, I even want to keep my spare. On anything and everything else that I can save on, however, like seats and such, I figure why the heck not make it lighter? It can only help the car. Besides, I'm eventually going to start building on the engine some anyway, so lightening the car is not the only thing I'll be doing performance-wise.

[1shot1kill]

just strip the damn thing lol jk =) yeah what they said. if stock weights at least 3k my car should weight at least 3.5k lol wiht my fatass and my speakerbox =)

[Tarzan]

Carbon fiber hood and trunk.