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My new ugly betty, '84 Maxima, not diesel.


HRH

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  • 3 months later...

Freakin' sweet!  I didn't even see this post, glad someone good got the turbo Maxima.  It really pissed me off talking to that douchebag who was selling it.  I'm about to head off into the garage to start the lightening on Ugly Betty.  So far the front bumper weighs 35 pounds, but I'm debating if I can truly get rid of it.  Thinking I may attach a small piece of tube and then just delicately mount the bumper cover on it.  I'm worried about aerodynamics with removing the bumper entirely.

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I've made my bodyman neurotic with all my hair-brained ideas, lol. Interesting a hardbody front bumper is very close to fitting, as is the hardbody grill.  Alas, the three angles of the grill make it very hard to line up appropriately with the headlight buckets and grill.  I photoshopped on a 620 grille, which usually looks badass.  On the maxima, it looked terrible.  Like a Peugeot.  

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So far

 

Front bumper 35 lbs

Rear bumper 30 lbs

Rear seat bottom 8 lbs

Rear seat top (surprisingly) with fold down arm rest 20 lbs

Rear upper and lower foam padding 6 lbs (3 each)

Next will be the doors, I know there is a TON of weight in door panel material and glass.

 

That's 99 pounds removed so far.  Granted, something will happen on the front for a grill/bumper something, but I'll keep it to a minimum.

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Okay, have a whole bunch of pictures, and the weight is flying off!  Front doors were about 23 pounds of weight savings including the glass, regulators, door lock actuators, glass channel guides and rubber weatherstripping in the channels and the reinforcement bar in the inside top edge.  Pretty bitching really, they have the outside girder and the inside, if you get whacked in the side in the Maxima I'm thinking you'll have a pretty decent chance of not getting squished.  Rear were about the same, so figure 23 pounds time 4, that's 92 pounds out of the doors.

 

The carpet was a bitch to pull up, it's very well glued down on the edges and pretty thick.  Carpet weighed 20 pounds.  Not quite sure what amount the asphalt coating will be, but it should be a decent amount.  I think the rubber removed from the doors weighed in at 8 pounds, which I added after the 23 pounds, so that's 25 pounds per door.  I've lost track of what all is coming out, but short of it is, I think I may get down to 2300 pounds pretty easily.

 

Oh yeah, the seats weigh 36 pounds a piece.  I have an aluminum seat downstairs that weighs about 5 pounds.  I may end up getting some poly seats from Summit, but if I can make the other seat work then great.  Debating if I want to put a passenger seat in or not.  Every pound counts since I'm chasing a more powerful car.

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lightening1_zps1c4a695b.jpg

 

So here is ugly Betty as she sat before the cold snap.  Ended up using the ugly stock wheels off the new wagon so I could stick the race tires in the basement for the winter.

 

lightening2_zpse46dd9ea.jpg

 

No bumper!  Removed that and a headlight bucket to take down to Regy's farm to put the best set of buckets and bumper on the new wagon.

 

lightening3_zps2dcfb72a.jpg

 

For the rear bumper, you have to remove the upper trim piece first, then the bumper cover, THEN you can get the remaining bumper mounting bolts hidden behind the cover.

 

lightening4_zps4217ea0c.jpg

 

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Unlike the front, it doesn't look too bad minus the bumper in the rear.

 

lightening7_zpscdff5020.jpg

 

Next, out came the rear seats.  With that done, we turned our attention on the doors.

 

lightening8_zpsd7b79811.jpg

 

lightening9_zpsfb5bf9bc.jpg

 

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This is about the most interesting way of keeping the belt molding on.  They're little plastic clips in rectangles.  You give them a half twist and they just come right out.  They're almost like the headlight bucket and grille clips that turn 90 degrees to release.  Note the arrow points up when the molding is installed on the door.

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lightening12_zps8ab275bb.jpg

 

lightening13_zps39e45408.jpg

 

lightening14_zps8eab63fc.jpg

 

lightening15_zps21ff0c29.jpg

 

lightening16_zpsa324ee73.jpg

 

It seems they use some sealant for the quarter glass molding.  It's mentioned in the FSM.  I'm sure being 1984 original doesn't help either.  I had to destroy both quarter glass moldings to get them out without breaking them.  Rather annoying.  Not like they were in good condition anyway, but something to remember should you need to replace them.

 

lightening17_zpsa71d5b0d.jpg

 

Glue, bah.

 

lightening18_zpsa7bb0776.jpg

 

Almost bare door.

 

lightening19_zps1ca4fd04.jpg

 

The inner skin door bar reinforcement.  The other is mid-door on the outside skin.  Double channel steel girder type.

 

lightening20_zps55dbf391.jpg

 

Starting on the front door.

 

lightening21_zps6f9197ba.jpg

 

Those pull handles are about 2.5-3 pounds by themselves.

 

lightening22_zpsa76e3865.jpg

 

Stopped short of scraping asphalt tonight, but she's bare!

 

lightening23_zps8bbe9651.jpg

 

lightening24_zps98b85e79.jpg

 

And with that, I'm done for the night!  She's sitting noticeably higher now.  And yes, I'm even removing the stereo.  Bummer.

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Yeah, but I only have the piece that butts up against the window channel.  The back edge I cut with a razor trying to get it out.  Have you checked a glass shop to see if they can still get that molding from ppg?  I can still get glass for it, but I didn't check for moldings.

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Well this is interesting.  I just started looking up the information for the coil springs on the wagon.  The front isn't a problem, I know I can use the front springs from the 280zx kit I put on the sedan.  Hopefully I can just buy two fronts.

 

The rear coil spring for the wagon according to the 1983 FSM is .531 diameter wire, 4.59 coil diameter, and a free length of 12.28 inches.  The rate is a wussy 196 pounds/inch.

 

However, that may be plenty considering the front springs are 126.6 lbs/inch.  Odd, considering even the diesel is supposed to have the same spring rate in the front.  However, the spring is longer.  Actually, there appear to be three options.

 

GL is .531 diameter wire, 5.91 coil diameter, and 13.37 free length.

 

The Deluxe is is .512 diameter wire, 5.91 coil diameter, and 12.78 free length

 

The diesel is .531 diameter wire, 5.91 coil diameter, and 14.02 free length.

 

So it seems they must have just accounted for weigh by making sure the coil compresses to the point where it deadens some links, thus increasing the spring rate.  The IRS sedans all go the same spring rate of 112 lbs/inch.

 

The main annoyance here is the non-standard size of the springs.  However, given the rate in the rear, I may well be able to increase the front spring rate and have it not be so squishy, and I'll just cut a little off the rear springs to lower it and slightly increase the spring rate.  Think that should work.  Or, I can have custom springs made, which is probably more money than I want to spend.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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