z06vette.no

Back in July 2020, I relocated the battery to the trunk and inspired by Colin Chapman's philosphy of adding lightness, I also removed the rear carpets. Then in spring of 2024, I also removed the headliner as it was damaged by a water leak. Combined, this made the interior so noisy that driving the car was terrible. I could hear all kinds of noises that are normally filtered out, so I would constantly worry that something was broken. The torque tube, differential, driveshafts and engine all play a mechanical orchestra that you are not supposed to tune in to, but the interior with no sound deadening materials works as an amplifier and makes it impossible to ignore. The whole drievtrain was also noticeably more noisy with a lightweight aluminium flywheel. The end result was that that I didn't enjoy driving the car. Time to reverse the changes, and oh my was it nice to take the drive for a spin after the carpets were back in!  https://www.z06vette.no/2020/07/battery-relocation.html

I noticed that the edges of the headliner had dropped further and had become visible through the windscreen. I had purchased a second hand headliner in good condition a few years earlier, which made the process of removing the headliner an easy one: I cut the headliner in sections using a scissor and pulled it out! This way I did not have to remove any interior plastic at all, which is a big bonus as most plastics in this car disintegrates during removal. I didn't even have to remove the sun shades, as the headliner material could simply be pulled out from underneath the plastic tabs. The headliner is made up for several layers. One layer is actally cardboard, guess what happens when it gets humid! It had made a stinky slimy mess, no wonder that the cabin smelled strange. Stinky stuff removed. The plastic and polystyrene is additional head protection added to later C5 model cars, which contributes to less headroom in the cabin. The spare headliner I have doesn't have these part

I put the car on a weighing cell, measurement 1380 kg / 3042 lbs. The specified curb weight is 1440 kg / 3175 lbs. Ideally I should have weighed the car before I started to "add lightness". The weighing cell is calibrated annually, as it is used by the road authorities to verify compliance to regulations (e.g. total weight with a trailer).

“Adding power makes you faster on the straights; subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere" - Design philosphy of Colin Chapman, Lotus Cars. Why not apply it to the Z06? Adding power is expensive, removing weight is free. The air pump is not needed, the stock stereo is a disaster and the rear trunk looks almost as nice without the carpet. Trunk carpet removed Stock seats removed, the driver's side is replaced with a Sparco seat I put all the small parts in a bag to get the total weight Stock head unit, CD changer and speakers Secondary air injection pump and piping Power steering pump Fuel rail covers Air filter cover Rear trunk plastic covers Rear trunk lamps Tire puncture kit Weight of parts in bag 20 kg / 48 lbs Rear trunk carpet 6 kg / 13.2 lbs Rear trunk lid 2 kg / 4.4 lbs Floor mats 2 kg / 4.4 lbs Hood liner 1 kg / 2.2 lbs Passenger seat 14 kg / 31 lbs Driver seat 16 kg - Sparco Evo 12 kg = 4 kg / 8.8 lbs Total weight saving: 20 + 29 kg = 49 kg / 108 lbs  😎

Analog audio broadcast is history in Norway and replaced by DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting), and with a CD changer trying to play Johnny Cash and Mark Knopfler simultaneously, I was left with a useless head unit. No radio, no CDs. I didn't want to spend too much money on an expensive and heavy 2 DIN unit and speakers, so the head unit is now replaced by an old Windows tablet and a single board 2x50W amplifier with bluetooth. The Bose door speaker units are replaced by two 6.5" speakers and new speaker cable wiring (the existing speaker wires can't be reused, as they are wired for a differential configuration). Total cost less than $150, with a "head unit" with much more capabilities than a traditional 2 DIN unit. I can install my own software and configure it completely to my liking, and even use it with HP Tuners to display engine management data. As the head unit was replaced by a single board amplifier, I blocked off the location using plexiglass. When you pa