Custom Trunk

[havanisda]

Has any1 ever seen a Fiberglass or CF trunk 4 an LGT?

[Dookie]

I haven't, once again you might find one JDM. There's no major interest here for any manufacturer to make one.

.com had a poll on this.
http://legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29755&highlight=carbon+fiber+trunk

[havanisda]

Looks like most people would rather have a lightweight aftermarket hood but the hood is already aluminum and correct me if I'm wrong, the trunk isn't, so a greater weight saving would come from replacing the trunk, also the trunk is the highest body panel you can replace which would lower the center of gravity more than any other part. Also worth noting is that poll was done in 3/06 theres obviously more LGT owners now hence more interest in all parts.

[havanisda]

I actually found a lightweight aluminum trunk on sojdm that weighs 11 lbs and according to this reviewer it saves 30 lbs over a stock STi trunk and spoiler. http://www.iwsti.com/reviews/showproduct.php?product=1&cat=33

[Dookie]

Kewl.... but if your looking to save some good weight, replace the front seats. Each front seat weights more than 50lbs.

[Bskey]

It's not the seats that are the problem, it's my fat a$$ in them thats killing me. :lol:

[Dookie]

^^ Liposuction??

[havanisda]

we don't all live in Cali, I like my heated leather seats, they're not the most supportive seats but they also have active head restraints 4 whiplash protection if u didn't already know and theres a lot of idiots that can't drive here, I was hit while stopped @ a red-light twice!

[Dookie]

I was only giving you another option of weight saving ideas. Full racing seats are superior to stock seats in regards to whiplash, since the head rest is fixed and won't cause your neck to snap back further than it should. In corporating a 3,4,5 point harness will provide way more protection as well. Matter of fact, I had a 4 point harness in my Swift GT that I used every day when not racing.

As for seat warmers, just get a few handwarmers and place them between your bum and seat.:lol:

[havanisda]

obviously my headrests aren't fixed but they tilt forward in the event of a rearward collision to prevent whiplash. As far as handwarmers? all I gotta say is thats the most ghetto luxury upgrqade I ever heard of in my life:lol:

[Dookie]

You obviously don't know me, I am the king of ghetto DIY.

[Bskey]

you can buy an aux heat warming kit these days....

[havanisda]

I appreci8 the info but I'm not gonna change my seats, I'm happy w/the seats I have, everything works. This post was supposed 2b about lightweight trunks and it went in a completely diff dir.

[Dookie]

OK, no I don't know of any CF trunk lids out there.

[TSi+WRX]

This post was supposed 2b about lightweight trunks and it went in a completely diff dir.

:lol:

Welcome to the way of .org - where threads take on their own life. :D:tup:

[john]

Just wondering - are you looking for weight savings or simply something different?

[havanisda]

Both. My car has a completely stock exterior, (boring) and if they can save 30 lbs. replacing an STi trunk/spoiler, it should be more weight savings w/the LGT trunk/spoiler. It doesn't have to be CF but it needs to be lighter(lightweight aluminum, CF, Kevlar, fiberglass, etc.) I know theres lots of other ways 2 cut weight but if its this hard to find a lighter trunk then all the more exclusive my ride is.

[Dookie]

So, DR. Dookie did some HOMEWORK for you. Do you even know how much the LGT trunk weighs in the first place? Are you sure you can save 30 lbs?









VVVVV











Have you guessed yet????











vvvvv












This weight includes my spoiler & brake light.


http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b7ce29b3127ccebe4f9b4e7f1a00000025130AZtHDZo1bt2 KA

Now from my experience, you might still save 30lbs as long as you don't do a spoiler, add a license plate, no trunk light/license plate light, no wiring, and NO TRUNK RELEASE. Which means you would have to use hood pins to keep it closed.

Good luck



Enough said, it sounds like you just want to have more flare on your car.....

completely stock exterior, (boring)

[havanisda]

I actually I do wanna save weight too, I weighed my car on a truck scale where I work and its 3460 lbs(don't remember how much fuel was in the tank though). I don't know if I can I can give up my spoiler though. No license plate light? I'm not trying to get pulled over, my car is a daily driver and I work nights. I got pulled over in the past for having 1 of 2 license plate lights out. You want 'em both off? You been gettin into grandpas medicine again?

[TSi+WRX]

I suppose that LED lighting could be used for the license-plate lighting, and with the right setup, he should be able to save at least some weight there. Will it matter much? I don't know - it would depend on how much the factory units weighed, but my guess is that it would only shave a few ounces, not even a pound.

I'd imagine that the latch as well as the struts/supports (as well as their associated mounting hardware) would be the biggest weight factors other than the trunk itself (discounting, say, the plate or a rear wing of some sort).

Save maybe 15 lbs., when all's said and done? That's still not bad......

A CF trunk on a LGT, for me, at least, would look kinda funky, though ( and here, keep in mind that I'm a total CF freak, not only do I have a CF hood and a custom "thumbnail" CF wing on my 2Ga Talon, I also have custom-made CF knives :) ). Heck, I don't even particularly like the looks of a CF hood on the LGT.

Maybe if they're both painted to-match body-color, and only somehow hinted at their CF nature (i.e. "ghosted" along the body lines)........

havanisda - I understand where you're going - you'd like a bit more eye-candy, but also for the components to serve a true function.

With the LGT, as the market stands now, it's a little hard. I know that the CF hood project here stateside, on .com, did "go," but I honestly don't know how many were ever made, nor if any more are going to be made. It truly wasn't very popular, so I don't know if the Vendor is still making that component (and honestly, I also can't remember which vendor made/imported the component - I want to say it was RavSpec, but I can't be 100%). While that's available and is a big visual change, I am not certain on the weight savings when compared to our factory aluminum hood (and as an aftermarket component, safety of the CF hood should be factored-in, too; although I've got a name-brand CF hood on my DSM, I still use hood-pins).

Another addition to the front would be a revised hood-scoop. Here, I just honestly don't know if you'd want to screw with this at all...... The Subaru engineers spent a lot of time and money to make sure that our scoop is a functional piece, and actually provided critical cooling to our TMIC. Various engineers - including someone who actually TEACHES at the US Air-Force Academy - on .com have examined this area of the car and determined (and even documented via videos) that it actually does work as-advertised, and is likely quite optimized already. While changing the innards of this area with, say, the ZeroSports baffle would likely allow better airflow management to cool the turbo, it is highly debated as to what any front-end aerodynamic alterations would offer as impact to our front hood scoop. Not only does this apply to revised scoops, but there has even been speculation that our aero/splash undertray, covering the forward half of our engine compartment, may even create a necessary component of aerodynamics, particularly at-speed, to cause efficient utilization of our hood scoop.

With the trunk, I think that the best way to go would be to look for a distinctive rear lip spoiler. It's definitely something that will change the whole attitude of the vehicle, no matter if you currently have a naked trunklid or are equipped with a factory spoiler. The Mugen painted/CF spoiler for the Acura RL, for example, is one piece that I keep wishing would be available for our LGTs. Although I like my LGT's factory rear spoiler, if a piece like the Mugen were to become available for the LGT, I would be down to the body-shop to get my wing ripped off and trunk filled, in the blink of an eye. ;) This remains my favorite RL to-date: http://rl.acurazine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2663&page=1&pp=25 - as I understand it, it's currently on the block, waiting for a new owner.

[ Interesting side-note, at one point, I had my GReddy Informeter up near the headliner, also - instead of where Togue positioned his Blitz R-Vit I-Color on the RL, I had mine positioned just over and above my interior rear-view mirror. I eventually took it down from there as it was just too hard to adjust up so high. ]

Aside from these accessories, I guess the best thing you can do to add flair to your LGT would be to go the way of either a JDM front and rear skins retrofit (for a subtle look) or look to JDM body-kits to more drastically revise the look of your vehicle.

[havanisda]

As far as CF hoods are concerned they're not hard 2 find, I've seen several companies advertising them online, 4 example http://importprecision.com/carbon_fiber_hoods/carbon_fiber_hood_04_up_subaru_legacy.htm
this is 1 of the cheaper 1's I've seen, some are over $1K shipped! But I don't really like the look or the safety risk even w/hood pins and then cuttin holes in it 4 windshield washers or putting the washers on the wipers. If I went to a smaller spoiler(I have the factory 1) my understanding is most places will want to repaint the whole trunk to make it look right where the stock holes would be filled. I'm definitely not gettin a body kit thats gonna add weight and I don't wanna lose ground clearance as I will be driving it in inclement weather. But I don't want any1 here to think I don't appreci8 their responses researched or not even if I don't agree w/it or don't wanna go that route I still appreci8 the response. I posted .com weeks ago and never received any responses.

[TSi+WRX]

As far as CF hoods are concerned they're not hard 2 find, I've seen several companies advertising them online, 4 example http://importprecision.com/carbon_fiber_hoods/carbon_fiber_hood_04_up_subaru_legacy.htm
this is 1 of the cheaper 1's I've seen, some are over $1K shipped!

:eek::tup:

Wow! I didn't know that the market for replacement BL/BP hoods had exploded as such!

Man how things can change in just a year!

Thanks for giving me a little education on this front - things certainly have changed since I've last been truly "active." :)



But I don't really like the look or the safety risk even w/hood pins and then cuttin holes in it 4 windshield washers or putting the washers on the wipers......But I don't want any1 here to think I don't appreci8 their responses researched or not even if I don't agree w/it or don't wanna go that route I still appreci8 the response. I posted .com weeks ago and never received any responses.

No problem at all. I don't think anyone here thinks that way about you - heck, we're all fellow LGT brothers and sisters, and it should be right that we help each other out as much as possible! :)



If I went to a smaller spoiler(I have the factory 1) my understanding is most places will want to repaint the whole trunk to make it look right where the stock holes would be filled.

That's my understanding as well, that the better shops will insist on re-doing the whole trunklid.


I'm definitely not gettin a body kit thats gonna add weight

I'm not 100% convinced of this - mainly because in order to use the JDM kits, you'd likely need to revise your front and/or rear bumper setup, and that itself may subtract a little weight. Overall, though, I think that you're right, at best, you'd come out even-Steven, but more than likely, you're going to add a few from the kit.


and I don't wanna lose ground clearance as I will be driving it in inclement weather.

That's certainly a big concern for us. I just remembered that your profile reads "PA." :o

[GripDis]

a true racer ounce said do not look for one palce to loose 30 lbs look for 30,000 places to loose an ounce
You think a trunk is going to make a differnece in weight
ya 10-15 lbs maybe go on a diet and if anyone asks why say I am saving weight for my car lol
Oh wait you should look for lighter sneakers too so you could hit the gas pedal quicker.....

[TSi+WRX]

a true racer ounce said do not look for one palce to loose 30 lbs look for 30,000 places to loose an ounce.

Exactly. :tup:


You think a trunk is going to make a differnece in weight
ya 10-15 lbs maybe go on a diet and if anyone asks why say I am saving weight for my car lol
Oh wait you should look for lighter sneakers too so you could hit the gas pedal quicker.....

^ And "exactly" on this one as well.

I think that the issue for us here, in terms of weight-savings, is that we're looking for the easy-to-hit areas. We're not looking at hollow-core carpeting, tearing the leather off our seats and using thin Alcantera, removing most of the cosmetic dashboard, etc. It's something I think that the OP is thinking about, but is perhaps a side-benefit of also throwing on some more aesthetic improvements at the same time.

[Dookie]

.

I think that the issue for us here, in terms of weight-savings, is that we're looking for the easy-to-hit areas. We're not looking at hollow-core carpeting, tearing the leather off our seats and using thin Alcantera, removing most of the cosmetic dashboard, etc.

AND that's why I mention changing the seats, because that's one area I'm sure you can save at least 50lbs. You can also swap your battery for a jet ski battery and save another 15lbs (I used to run one for yrs).

[havanisda]

Speaking of lightweight batteries heres an article if any1s interested in a lil reading http://reviews.hspn.com/articles/109/1/Finding-a-Battery-Solution/Page1.html "The Braille Battery claimed to only weigh 11.5 lbs., compared to the factory battery of 32 lbs." Again this is the STi.

[TSi+WRX]

AND that's why I mention changing the seats, because that's one area I'm sure you can save at least 50lbs.

Definitely.

Although I am still somewhat hesitant on the entire "safety" issue - the front seats do offer airbag protection (which is in-part why they're so friggin' heavy), and I still can see that two people (any two people) can argue 'till they're blue about the relative safety of a good race seat, with the mounting done right and with use of good harnesses (mounted properly and used in conjunction with a full cage, etc.) versus factory-engineered mounting points and Supplemental Restraint.

But if one's out for sheer speed, it's a no brainer. Ditch the factory seats! :tup:

[GripDis]

Definitely.

Although I am still somewhat hesitant on the entire "safety" issue - the front seats do offer airbag protection (which is in-part why they're so friggin' heavy), and I still can see that two people (any two people) can argue 'till they're blue about the relative safety of a good race seat, with the mounting done right and with use of good harnesses (mounted properly and used in conjunction with a full cage, etc.) versus factory-engineered mounting points and Supplemental Restraint.

But if one's out for sheer speed, it's a no brainer. Ditch the factory seats! :tup: i agree a 100% ditch the seats but I do not know how a Lgt would look with some racing seats in it...I mean I bought my car because it looks great and it has alot of potential!
lol take the struts out you save some weight there get rid of the front seats and put the rear seat in the front that thing weighs what 8 lbs w/o the back brace lol.....get some milk crates and pray!!! lol
but on a serious note anything that would make a major impact on weight changes the car's apperance!! i mean this is coming from someone that has an 87 monte with nothing in the car but a dash shifter and a front seat oh and ya a steering wheel lol but the differnce is it is a full blown race car!
You have to draw the line somwhere as to how far you go with things IMHO!