LS1 S2000, heh kinda silly.

[IcePickFreak]

As for being overly obsessive about weight, to quote a comment someone made eons ago on this forum, not everybody want's a motorcycle disguised as a car. I don't care that your 2,000 lb car only needs 150 HP to do 0-60 in 4 seconds, I'll take my 3,600 lb pig that can spank your 2,000 lb 150 HP ultra light at the stop light, and then raise you AC, power everything, stereo system, comfy seats, windows, a top, a rear seat, and all the rest of the things you had to take out to "increase" your performance. Have you ever seen those gutted out N/A Hondas? It's pretty ridiculous for a street car, pretty much destroy the car and are being baked in the summer with their head next to the bare metal roof all so they can run 12s.

I'll preempt the argument that "well you can also put 600 HP in that 2,000 lb car and it will be faster than 600 HP in your 3600 lb car" with "I can also put twin turbos on my car and with 1200 HP without much weight increase because it already has the iron block and drive line to handle it" and "I can put a top fuel engine in a shopping cart and be faster than both combined".

It's one thing to fight obesity, but it's equally repulsive to be anorexic and bulimic. There is a happy medium in a street car. Yes a STREET CAR not a STREET LEGAL race car. I'd say 3000-3600 is acceptable for a normally equipped daily driven street car. 2800 lbs is light in my book. If you think that's heavy, you need to be driving a motorcycle and just give up on cars.

People who dream of daily driving a race car on the street have never actually driven any kind of high performance car in their life. It gets old fast. Just ask Jules if he would take a Elise as his only car and drive it every single day. I doubt it.

Leave it to AT Garage to not be satisfied with and find fault in a 400+ HP V8 fully optioned and equipped full interior and aesthetically pleasing full street trim S2000 that only weighs 2800 lbs.

Nothing wrong with *some* basics and modern conveniences on a street car like power door locks, driver and passenger side air bags, maybe even a power driver seat. It's when you start adding 5 TV screens, back up cameras, home theaters, heated seats, spas, and then adding side, above, under, behind, inside, and outside triple air bags, etc, and 26" wheels from the factory that you start going overboard with obesity.

Pffft that's ridiculously heavy. Real sports cars almost down to 200lbs these days. http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20006474-48.html

Personally though I drive a 4,000lb street barge.

 

[Throckmorton]

Most of those people want a car that's 2200 lbs but then complain that the ride is too harsh when their bones are turned to dust. I do feel modern cars are too heavy, but I'm not expecting a Camaro SS to be 2600 lbs, more like 3500-ish. 3800-3900 is just too damn much.

I don't know if anyone every played (iirc) Interstate '76 where you could do all sorts of crazy shit like drop a McLaren F1's engine in a Miata. Hilarity ensued.

Interstate '76 had Miatas and McLaren F1s? Mods?

 

[punjabiplaya]

Interstate '76 had Miatas and McLaren F1s? Mods?

I guess that wasn't it, that was more like twisted metal. Dammit I'm getting old and can't remember which game that was. I know it wasn't a NFS game. ugh.

 

[daw123]

A powerful Honda S2000 - I want one.

I wonder how much it costs in total for the engine conversion, upgrading the brakes, suspension, etc.?

 

[alkemyst]

Well the average LSx swap runs most $6000-10000 for the engine and electronics plus getting the exhaust and what not hooked up.

Brakes can be anywhere from a grand to $6k+ for something like Project Mu's.

Suspension can be basic Konis from $750-1000 to uber coilovers at $4k+.



depends how deep you want to go into it.

 

[daw123]

Well the average LSx swap runs most $6000-10000 for the engine and electronics plus getting the exhaust and what not hooked up.

Brakes can be anywhere from a grand to $6k+ for something like Project Mu's.

Suspension can be basic Konis from $750-1000 to uber coilovers at $4k+.



depends how deep you want to go into it.

Thanks for the reply.

So you are looking at about £5k to 12k ($8k to $20k) depending on whether you go with basic or higher end parts.

 

[zerocool84]

Thanks for the reply.

So you are looking at about £5k to 12k ($8k to $20k) depending on whether you go with basic or higher end parts.

There's no set amount of money cus there's no kit for you to easily do it. This is all people doing custom jobs.

 

[daw123]

There's no set amount of money cus there's no kit for you to easily do it. This is all people doing custom jobs.

I realise that. Its just gives me an idea of how much it would cost to do.

 

[Elfear]

I realise that. Its just gives me an idea of how much it would cost to do.

You could just buy a completed one. Just saw one over on LS1Tech for $14k. Needed a little work but nothing too major.

 

[alkemyst]

You could just buy a completed one. Just saw one over on LS1Tech for $14k. Needed a little work but nothing too major.

There is a big danger buying someone's incomplete project (and a potential big savings). Many end up selling because they came up short on funds...going into a project that way probably means they cut corners else where.

However, to do a swap like this as the guy as asking and assuming you won't be the one fabricating your own kit and doing your own welding, for the engine only (including anything needed to make it run right) figure what I said. This is assuming you are doing the labor.

If not that can double the cost of the project.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

There is a big danger buying someone's incomplete project (and a potential big savings). Many end up selling because they came up short on funds...going into a project that way probably means they cut corners else where.

However, to do a swap like this as the guy as asking and assuming you won't be the one fabricating your own kit and doing your own welding, for the engine only (including anything needed to make it run right) figure what I said. This is assuming you are doing the labor.

If not that can double the cost of the project.

Very true. A guy who spends 20 hours a week on his own project for two months isn't out any money. Someone who has to pay a guy $80/hr is out $15k. The difference between a cheap project and an expensive one can be the difference between writing a check and grabbing a beer out of the fridge.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

My Saturn SL weighs under 2400lbs. That's with A/C, 4 doors, and a backseat. It's around 100hp, gets 40mpg hwy and is fun to drive. Why more manufacturers never caught on to the plastic-body thing is beyond me.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

My Saturn SL weighs under 2400lbs. That's with A/C, 4 doors, and a backseat. It's around 100hp, gets 40mpg hwy and is fun to drive. Why more manufacturers never caught on to the plastic-body thing is beyond me.

Look around here at how many posts have been made deriding Pontiacs for their plastic bodies, and "plasticy" interiors on GM cars.

...that's why.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Look around here at how many posts have been made deriding Pontiacs for their plastic bodies, and "plasticy" interiors on GM cars.

...that's why.

If so, people are confusing one thing for another. The plastic cladding on Pontiacs looked horrible, but it was cladding over the top of sheet metal. The body itself was actually metal. No weight savings there at all. The interior is a totally different story too... most interiors are made out of plastic, leather, or other soft materials anyway, not sheet metal.

I understand that there were some issues with the plastic body panels that Saturn used, when it came to expansion/contraction and body gaps... they had to anchor one side of every panel and leave the other free to expand. Also the plastic was not suitable for long unsupported horizontal panels, so the roof, trunk lid, and hood were all made of metal. But the fenders, doors, and bumpers were all out of plastic, and IMO it is hard to tell unless you touch it. Certainly "good enough" for an econocar, and if it means light weight then you are adding performance and/or saving costs on the whole rest of the car. (Smaller engine, smaller brakes, lighter suspension...)

I'm not saying it's ideal for every application, but it makes me laugh when a "lightweight sports car" weighs 500lbs more than my 4-door family sedan (with A/C, dual airbags, and all the standard accoutrements) from 10 years ago.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

You could just buy a completed one. Just saw one over on LS1Tech for $14k. Needed a little work but nothing too major.

There probably aren't many completed ones in England...

There probably isn't a huge abundance of (cheap) V8's either to do it yourself