black mamba1
Enthusiast
WEIGHT! What is the best way to shed weight on the Gen 3 & Gen 4 Vipers? I know of the wheel-tire swap to shed about 70 lbs net...anybody out there got any really good and practical ideas to shed weight?
I want to LOSE!!
- Thread starter black mamba1
- Start date
yogibayer
Enthusiast
You could always start eating subway like Jared 
AFL in NJ
Enthusiast
Not to be sarcastic, but the new ACR dropped the rear carpet, the sprae, jack, etc. You could buy lightwieght speakers (they actually make them), go with lightweight racing seats take out sound deadening materials, change to acrylic side windows (you've gotta be really serious for that one as your safety is compromised), change to a lightweight hood. I figure those things might save you 300-400 pounds....which supposedly is .3 - .4 off your 1/4 mile et.
Regards,
Aaron
Regards,
Aaron
Fast Viper
Enthusiast
Get some wheels, I can't even explain how much faster the viper feels!
Canyon707
Enthusiast
get rid of the crossover exhaust
Canyon707
Enthusiast
oh one more thing drive alone.
Paul Hawker
Enthusiast
Carbon fiber hoods available, take out hood and trunk supports, stop tech brakes with aluminum hats, remove radio and heavy amp, remove fog lamps, lighter battery, floor mats, empty glove compartments, remove right mirror, empty washer fluid, remove belly pan, corsa track exhaust, windshield wipers and motors, front airdam, rear aero diffusers, visors...
Just depends on what is important to you. Probably get over 100 lbs off easy.
Just depends on what is important to you. Probably get over 100 lbs off easy.
Warfang
Enthusiast
Strip the paint... lose 2-5 lbs.
OP
OP
black mamba1
Enthusiast
Some of these ideas are actually pretty good. Along w/ increasing the rwhp, I would like to lighten the car for better response. Is removing the windshield wipers legal? I never drive her in the rain and really have no use for the wipers. No need for the carpet in the trunk or floor mats either. How much weight savings comes from removing sound deadening materials? Hell my car is so loud already I probably wouldnt notice the material was gone.
AFL in NJ
Enthusiast
My first learning experience on this topic was a Hot Rod magazine article a long time ago (damn it's gotta be 16 years or so), but they took at 500+ cubic inch caddy and just started remvoing stuff. I know at the end of the article, they just cut off the entire rear quarters and trunk....the weight transfer wasn't right, but it really helped in the E.T.!
I don't know if anyone archives that stuff, but you'd be surprised how many tenths of a second simply removing simple stuff did.
I think you could also shave a bunch of weight taking out the a/c and heater stuff, some of the collision bars, etc. but then your Viper is a track-only car and not too safe one at that. I think the carbon fiber racing seats, plus those ultralight wheels and brakes would be your biggest help without sacrificing safety or driveability.
If money was no object, I'm sure you could replace all the aluminum parts with magnesium and the body panels with the ASC panels in the Diamondback Viper they raffled last year.....damn I wish I had won that car!!! Maybe you could craft carbon fiber suspension parts too.....heck what if they made a carbon fiber Viper frame....that'd be at least 350 lbs in my estimation!
Regards,
Aaron
I don't know if anyone archives that stuff, but you'd be surprised how many tenths of a second simply removing simple stuff did.
I think you could also shave a bunch of weight taking out the a/c and heater stuff, some of the collision bars, etc. but then your Viper is a track-only car and not too safe one at that. I think the carbon fiber racing seats, plus those ultralight wheels and brakes would be your biggest help without sacrificing safety or driveability.
If money was no object, I'm sure you could replace all the aluminum parts with magnesium and the body panels with the ASC panels in the Diamondback Viper they raffled last year.....damn I wish I had won that car!!! Maybe you could craft carbon fiber suspension parts too.....heck what if they made a carbon fiber Viper frame....that'd be at least 350 lbs in my estimation!
Regards,
Aaron
PatentLaw
Enthusiast
Lose the spare, the jack and the carpeting. That will lighten it up. Do the obvious, run on half tank or less of fuel. Again, saves weight. Driver only....saves weight. Pull out the other seat if you want more savings.....
ROCKET62
Has Left the Room!
Stock seats are pretty heavy as well.
Not to be negative, but IMHO Dodge says they put a real effort into lightening up the 08 ACR, light wheels, etc., and they saved 40 lbs, with the ******** option which guts comforts like a radio & speakers, they got 80 lbs. So in a straight line that should cut ETs by about 0.07 sec's. Just seems to me you spend alot of time and money to save maybe, maybe twice that for 160lbs, have a less enjoyable car on comfort (and lets face the Viper is already minimal on comfort and max on perf), for maybe a 0.150 less ET. You can get better improvement by adding 25-20rwhp, which almost any mod yields.
If you want it to "feel" lighter, I'd recommend shorter gears. For ex., going from 3.07 to a 3.33 or 3.55 would make the car "feel" like it dropped 500 lbs, amazing difference for like $600 or so.
If you want it to "feel" lighter, I'd recommend shorter gears. For ex., going from 3.07 to a 3.33 or 3.55 would make the car "feel" like it dropped 500 lbs, amazing difference for like $600 or so.
Kenneth Krieger
Viper Owner
Eat a lot of beans before you go out for a drive, and the gas will make you a lot lighter.....
SnakeBitten
Enthusiast
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I dont think it was a focused enough effort to reduce weight overall. But I guess this is the best they could do given the budget......Love the unsprung weight removal buuuut ..Racing seats, titanium exhaust, lighter cats, braille 11lb battery would probably lose much more weight than dropping the radio etc on the "********" lol package...80 lbs loss does not equal ********......The Comp Coupe is ********
..I think they could have easily dropped weight while still retaining the radio etc...Paul Hawker
Enthusiast
Don't forget the weight savings were net after adding the wing, splitter, and front dive planes, heavier front sway bar etc.
Harder to take weight out of a production car, than each individual choosing their own particular area of attack.
I remember Erick Messley taking so much weight out of a standard GTS for Ron Levy's racing efforts that they had to go back and totally recalibrate the suspension system to get the car to handle again properly.
Believe this particular ACR weight reduction focused more on unsprung weight to make the car handle better on road courses than in ultimate weight loss to enhance drag strip performance.
Harder to take weight out of a production car, than each individual choosing their own particular area of attack.
I remember Erick Messley taking so much weight out of a standard GTS for Ron Levy's racing efforts that they had to go back and totally recalibrate the suspension system to get the car to handle again properly.
Believe this particular ACR weight reduction focused more on unsprung weight to make the car handle better on road courses than in ultimate weight loss to enhance drag strip performance.
Smog Dog
Enthusiast
I dont think it was a focused enough effort to reduce weight overall. But I guess this is the best they could do given the budget......Love the unsprung weight removal buuuut ..Racing seats, titanium exhaust, lighter cats, braille 11lb battery would probably lose much more weight than dropping the radio etc on the "********" lol package...80 lbs loss does not equal ********......The Comp Coupe is ********
I think budget is a key word here. Look how quickly 15K was added to the price of the ACR.
ViperRay
Enthusiast
Let's face it, the ACR is a hybrid...by that I mean halfway between a street car and a track (road racing) car. It's purpose is to have a car you can drive to and from the track.
While I would be willing to pay more for a car with carbon fiber panels, etc., I'm sure there is not a big enough market for this due to the inevitable high cost. Once you get over $100K you put it out of reach for many.
For those who want just a track car but don't want to spend the $140-$160 (with options) for a CC, you can buy one of these and gut it and put in a roll cage and race seats.
For those who like the looks, just get the aero package on a standard Viper.
For those looking for a quicker ET just get the Mopar upgrades when available for another 75HP with the $15K you save on the ACR package.
There is a real smorgasbord (sp?) available so we can tailor the car to our purpose.
While I would be willing to pay more for a car with carbon fiber panels, etc., I'm sure there is not a big enough market for this due to the inevitable high cost. Once you get over $100K you put it out of reach for many.
For those who want just a track car but don't want to spend the $140-$160 (with options) for a CC, you can buy one of these and gut it and put in a roll cage and race seats.
For those who like the looks, just get the aero package on a standard Viper.
For those looking for a quicker ET just get the Mopar upgrades when available for another 75HP with the $15K you save on the ACR package.
There is a real smorgasbord (sp?) available so we can tailor the car to our purpose.
rcl4668
Enthusiast
One other thing to note is that losing one pound of unsprung, rotational mass (e.g., lighter rims, tires and brakes, etc) is like losing 6 lbs of sprung mass. So in terms of bang for the buck, I would look there first.
For example, adding Sidewinder lightweight rims, ACR Stoptech rotors and using Michelin Pilot Sport Cups tires versus the stock 08 rims, brakes and tires can save approximately 70 lbs right off the bat. This would be the equivalent of removing approximately 420 lbs of sprung mass.
/Rich
Wow, really. I always thought of unsprung worth double (just in my head sort of thinking), but 6:1 is really something, as you point out. Good info to know, thanks.
Kai SRT10
Enthusiast
Some things I did to my car to cut weight:
Custom billet crankshaft (29 pounds lighter than stock)
Lightweight pistons, rods, etc.
Corsa exhaust with crossover delete
Carbon fiber drive shaft;
Tilton carbon/carbon clutch with lightweight flywheel
SSR 18 inch wheels
Light weight stereo components
My car weighs 3360 pounds.
That is after adding a lot of weight for rollbar, fire supression, accusump, ATI damper etc.
Custom billet crankshaft (29 pounds lighter than stock)
Lightweight pistons, rods, etc.
Corsa exhaust with crossover delete
Carbon fiber drive shaft;
Tilton carbon/carbon clutch with lightweight flywheel
SSR 18 inch wheels
Light weight stereo components
My car weighs 3360 pounds.
That is after adding a lot of weight for rollbar, fire supression, accusump, ATI damper etc.
rcl4668
Enthusiast
Kai -- wow, impressive weight loss. If you know, what model SSR wheels do you have and are they 18 x 10 and 18 x 13? Also, what do your rims weigh? Thanks.
/Rich
B767DRIVER
Viper Owner
What spare and jack??
Didn't know Gen III cars came those???
Kai SRT10
Enthusiast
They are the SSR wheels that John B at Partsrack sells. "Comp H" I believe. I did weigh them, but it was a while back. Can't remember exactly what they weighed, but I think I saved a hair over 22lbs per rear wheel/tire over stock, and almost 20 pounds per front wheel/tire over stock.
18x13 and 18x11
redtanrt10
Enthusiast
Light weight flywheel will save 10 lbs and also make the car rev quicker. ViperX had a post a few months ago saying take off the seat tracks (and go with northwind fixed) and you'll save 25 lbs. Lastly, take off the metal door pulls, check it out, they've got to weight 2-3 lbs each.
ulllose
Viper Owner
spare tire??? Who has a spare tire and jack???
