how should i gut my car but still have it be a DD?

[TSi Kid]

This is what I have so far for my list, I plan i keeping this car as my DD so i want it DECENTLY safe and don't put "research" because I have for several days and made my list

READ THIS LIST BEFORE YOU ADD ANYTHING

AC system
Power steering/manual rack
Manual windows
Back seat
Electric Seat belts/five point harness
Front Bumper supports
Carpet, interior trim, muffling
Rear seat belts
Window Wiper Fluid
Read window wiper assembly
CF hood (not hatch because its mostly glass
Light Weight Rims and Seats
Cruise Control
Short Shifter

When I do my clutch
Lighter Flywheel
Stage 4 XTD unsprung clutch

 

[cookmeup272]

You could always get those race breaks with the custom rotors. Rotating mass > Stationary mass

 

[GTOJohnny67]

Depends what you wan to do with the car. Personally I like to go fast and be able to pic up a girl and take her to a nice dinner with a car that is nice on the inside. AC is a must for me for that reason. The five points are just going to snap your back if you get in a wreck and don't mount the top strap high. With all the really good clutches out there you do not want to go unsprung on a DD.

These are just my opinions though.

Every thing else looks good.

 

[constant_proj21]

Not sure that a short shifter will drop much weight, all mine have ever done is ruin syncros. You plan on DD'ing this thing? Keep in mind, ridding of the bumpers isn't always a great idea. I know my last accident would've been a lot less painful if I would've had a bumper up front. I always suggest cutting the backside out a bit, if you want to cut weight.

 

[ryan90tsiawd]

The front and back bumper supports can be replaced with some homemade alluminum supports. I took mine out all together, but I know you are looking for a daily driver.

 

[LiquidX]

As long as you don't remove anything that would go against DOT laws then it's still a DD.

You do understand that gutting means taking out everything that has weight to it (for the most part) right? Also, the list, is that what you have or are getting rid of, what's the list about?

 

[Limegrntaln]

Its a stupid idea for a DD, too dangerous, removing safety equipment for lightness. Buy a free- $500 roller and build it.

 

[TSi Kid]

The list is my current plan for what I will start to do

Both my friends (people who have been in the dsm scene for about 8 years) are running unsprung clutchs and i have no problem driving it. you get a feeling for it and can drive it like a regular clutch

I forgot to add cross drilled and slotted rotors

In reguards to the bumper supports, unless its a head on collision, an accident occuring from the front would not happen unless it was my own carelessness while a rear collision would be the complete fault of the other driver (this is why i would take out the front yet leave the rear)

After I get into the final steps of completely gutting her I plan on installing a roll cage safty first

Depends what you wan to do with the car. Personally I like to go fast and be able to pic up a girl and take her to a nice dinner with a car that is nice on the inside. AC is a must for me for that reason. The five points are just going to snap your back if you get in a wreck and don't mount the top strap high. With all the really good clutches out there you do not want to go unsprung on a DD

I make sure that the girl is really into me before i even show her a picture of my car (and that is in its pre-gutted stage) if i had a 2g it would be a seperate matter because i see those as a quick/sexy car and i see 1gs as a quick/agressive looking car

 

[Limegrntaln]

I used to think the same thing, although (knock on wood) I have been driving for almost 2 decades. I will tell you that you arent going to be able to control driving through an intersection at 30-40 miles an hour and someone from the left of right running the light looking at their phone or GPS. You will T-Bone them. And the only reaction time you have is the space in the center of the intersection. And no one can re-act that fast. And you stopping almost instantly, the person behind you isnt going to be able to aviod you either. Its just not safe. They are there for a reason, there are plenty of people that take them out and drive the car on the street, but for the amount of protection they provide, its not worth the risk. But hey its your decision.

 

[HIGHPSI4]

That lists looks good to me. I have removed a few more items but have left the factory belts and the power windows. I removed the rear seat and made a custom sub box.

 

[dsmTripp]

Its a stupid idea for a DD, too dangerous, removing safety equipment for lightness. Buy a free- $500 roller and build it.

Where can you find a roller price ranging from free - $500? I have been looking in my area for some time now and can't find any for that price. I need one to swap my gsx into due to rust issues!

As far as the op dd'ing his car... just keep it dot. Legal for the street and you will be fine. Check into your local and state laws in-depth to find out what is required to be kept in and on your car.

 

[TSi Kid]

its arizona so pretty much anything goes haha

I used to think the same thing, although (knock on wood) I have been driving for almost 2 decades. I will tell you that you arent going to be able to control driving through an intersection at 30-40 miles an hour and someone from the left of right running the light looking at their phone or GPS. You will T-Bone them. And the only reaction time you have is the space in the center of the intersection. And no one can re-act that fast. And you stopping almost instantly, the person behind you isnt going to be able to aviod you either. Its just not safe. They are there for a reason, there are plenty of people that take them out and drive the car on the street, but for the amount of protection they provide, its not worth the risk. But hey its your decision.

I understand its a risk but because i'm going to college my car won't be driven that often (a mile a day tops) because of how the area is setup. I know that when i take it on trips thats always going to be constantly on my mind and for the most part I can tell when someone is about to turn in front of me so, knock on wood, i'll just have to as defensive as possible

That lists looks good to me. I have removed a few more items but have left the factory belts and the power windows. I removed the rear seat and made a custom sub box.

what else did you remove?


Also, does anyone know why when people build custom door panels they used sheet metal instead of aluminum? I would think aluminum would be a lot lighter and isn't that expensive

 

[brute]

When you get into stuff like small amounts of aluminum vs steel, sound muffling material, etc. it really gets to be sort of pointless. The amount of weight savings of say sheet steel vs sheet aluminum is very minute; and the muffling is quite lightweight as well. You might as well put yourself on a diet, as you can lose more driver weight than you're really taking out with some of these things. Hell, why not run a 1 gallon gas tank? Take your exhaust system off, while you're at it.

Bumper supports are a huge deal, as well. Of course no one expects to get in an accident - that's why they're called accidents. You can drive as careful/defensive as possible, but there's still a possibility. And removing the bumper supports doesn't net you very much weight loss (alluding to my previous paragraph). In my opinion, you either keep creature comforts (A/C, muffling, etc) for DD or just make it a fully stripped race car; there's really no middle ground. You can take significant steps if you feel the need (removing A/C system, lightweight wheels, rear seats, etc), but, like I said, when you get down to these little knit-picky things, it really becomes quite pointless.

Don't risk your well-being for a few less ounces.

Getting off my soapbox, here's a really helpful link that should help you make some decisions.

 

[rock1t]

The list is my current plan for what I will start to do

Both my friends (people who have been in the dsm scene for about 8 years) are running unsprung clutchs and i have no problem driving it. you get a feeling for it and can drive it like a regular clutch

man, i had a act 6 spuck unsprung with a 2900 pressure plate. i drove it around for months, and it owned me almost everyday. then when i hot lapped my car at the track, i thought i blew my clutch, so ordered a spec stage 3, dropped the tranny, and the clutch was good, so i put the spec in anyways, and haven't had a problem yet.

i hate unsprung clutches, on top of owning you, they also put a lot of stress on your drivetrain, by being super stiff.

 

[LiquidX]

To all whom it concern, the bumper supports are really only good for up to 10mph if that. After that, your crunch zones are what take the hit. I am not saying it's a good idea to take them out either though. 98% of you people with a large FMIC have a cut front bumper support/crash beam.

He can take out just about anything inside the car and still be 100% safe minus door supports and air bags. Hell, having a roll cage put in makes the car 100x safer than a stock gutted car as shock is distrubeted throuout the entire vehicle and it's also becoming a solid rigid frame work.

Might as well remove the CC as it cleans up the engine bay a lot. I doubt you ever really use it on yours and that was my decision (not hardly using it) to remove mine.

You're fine with the unsprung clutch as well as there seems to be fewer issues aside from the engagement differences between sprung and un sprung.


I will however agree with others on here, if you want to make a track car by the way it's sounding, then make a track only car that has only what it needs to run and hold itself together to pass track inspection.

 

[Limegrntaln]

Where can you find a roller price ranging from free - $500? I have been looking in my area for some time now and can't find any for that price. I need one to swap my gsx into due to rust issues!

As far as the op dd'ing his car... just keep it dot. Legal for the street and you will be fine. Check into your local and state laws in-depth to find out what is required to be kept in and on your car.

I'm not saying you can pick one up anywhere. You may have to wait for one. But there was just a guy selling one here the other day for $300. 96 GSX needed paint. But the roller was good. No engine, rear end or anything. But it was cheap. Keep an eye out. I check craigslist and 3-4 DSM forums daily for sales. Don't always buy something. But in the event I do. It's always good to look.

 

[dsmTripp]

I'm not saying you can pick one up anywhere. You may have to wait for one. But there was just a guy selling one here the other day for $300. 96 GSX needed paint. But the roller was good. No engine, rear end or anything. But it was cheap. Keep an eye out. I check craigslist and 3-4 DSM forums daily for sales. Don't always buy something. But in the event I do. It's always good to look.

Ha ha I'm on dsmtuners religiously along with Craigslist ever chance I get. For my girlfriend it's freaking Facebook but for me it's Tuners .

 

[TSi Kid]

i'm not making this a track car i'm trying to make it a quick street car

as for losing weight, i'm 6'1" 134lbs
I can't go much lower

 

[kimba1666]

That's why I have a completely gutted 5speed Tsi AWD that I love driving alone and a Full interior, stock, Auto GSX with a nice stereo for others' pleasure

 

[kspharris]

Someone might have said this I read about 7 of the posts but I'm lazy and my kids are up. I would NOT completely remove the bumper supports. Just do like I did and cut the middles out if you have to remove weight. Also the sound deadening material is pretty heavy....now that I think about it I am almost positive that there is a how to on this site about reducing weight... not sure where though. You can remove your center taillight section, plastic headlight sections you can also get plexiglass windows or whatever they are called...I mean you can seriously make your car ugly...I mean light...depends on how light you want it to be...don't forget the spare tire and your toolbox and extra oil, coolant and the normal things us dsm owners keep in our cars.

 

[TSi Kid]

Someone might have said this I read about 7 of the posts but I'm lazy and my kids are up. I would NOT completely remove the bumper supports. Just do like I did and cut the middles out if you have to remove weight. Also the sound deadening material is pretty heavy....now that I think about it I am almost positive that there is a how to on this site about reducing weight... not sure where though. You can remove your center taillight section, plastic headlight sections you can also get plexiglass windows or whatever they are called...I mean you can seriously make your car ugly...I mean light...depends on how light you want it to be...don't forget the spare tire and your toolbox and extra oil, coolant and the normal things us dsm owners keep in our cars.

Haha this made me laugh
I thought I was the only one who had oil, coolent, and tools in my car for those nice road side repairs

Also its an opinion on how it looks, its a style that I think looks nice so oh well