ATaylorRacing
03-14-2009, 09:57 PM
Today I got a bit of warmer weather and was able to do more planned wt reduction on my 96 1.0 ltr Geo. My main plan was to change out my stock seat for a Swift seat. That was easily done with the only mod being to switch over the wiring connector from my old seat to the GTI one. This seat is much firmer and more comfortable that my old seat, at the cost of an extra 2 lbs though. I had originally planned to take the other front GTI seat and put it in the back on the passenger side to replace the rear seat (still need a baby seat for my 2 3/4 year old son), but someone told me that the passenger seat was a bit heavier than the rear seat! I ended up removing the bottom cushion (8 3/4 lbs), the passenger rear seat belt, and unneeded passenger side seat latch for a grand total of 12 1/4 lbs. All in all I have a MUCH better feeling seat and a total wt reduction for the day of a bit over 10 lbs. Just 10 lbs should equal .10 better mpg. When I first got the car I weighed it out with a full tank of gas at 1800 lbs. I took out 70 lbs the first week I owned it. It was a bit heavy because it also had a baby seat, bag, and toys in it during weigh in. In Sept I took it drag racing and took out the baby stuff and retained a 1/4 tank of fuel. The wt then was 1660 lbs....and yes, it was able to run in the 19.9 range at 65 mph and I won $250 by winning 5 rounds! My future wt reduction will be to remove the 10.6 gallon tank and put in a 4 gallon one. In warm weather that 4 gallons will still be good for a 200-228 mile range and the car should be another 43 lbs lighter for another .4 mpg gain. I also want to replace the air bag steering wheel for a Grant one and remove the passenger side air bag since there is no front seat there. In real world driving at 65 mph every 200 lbs extra is 2 mpg less and every 100 lbs is 1 mpg less. I even though of Lexan, like I have done in one of my drag (street legal) cars, but in the winter you don't want to scrape ice of of Lexan!:bananapartyhat: