Originally Posted by jetboy

I suppose "performance" is a subjective term.

I guess what seems odd is the idea of building a 4runner to street race. Do you go compete with pathfinders and xterra's? Did this start by looking at a 2wd 4runner and thinking "that would be a sweet race car", or driving one and thinking, "man this thing is fast, but it needs to be 100lbs lighter; who needs a spare anyway?".

Originally Posted by QSVeilside

Mastacox,

I will be going with IForged racing series forged aluminum wheels. Their 20 x 10" application weighs the same as the stock 16" wheel, exactly 22.5 lbs, which is nice... I'll have to decide whether to go with their 16"s, which will be around 16 lbs each or go for the "bling bling," haha. I have heard that each pound of unsprung weight equates to the effect of 8 lbs of sprung weight. In other words, going with the 16" application that saves 6.5 lbs per wheel, will have the effect of removing an additional 208 lbs of non-rotational material off of the truck. Awesome suggestion as well.

Originally Posted by RustBucket

Take off one of the front wheels. You really only need one.

Originally Posted by QSVeilside

Thanks for the comments guys. ROFLMAO! Primarily because I knew this would initiate flames from SPECIFICALLY those of you who don't know how to read.

Let me get some thing straight before proceeding. I mentioned how weight reduction improves all aspects of performance in the first post. Those of you that posted without reading should maybe go back, spend a minute, and read. I think the goals speak for themselves. I would like to retain comfort as well as cosmetics while reducing weight.

Furthermore, I understand that yes it is indeed an SUV. Buy a sports car? Check. Prior car was a 97 Supra tt bpu+++ ran consistent low 12's at 125 mph at our track while it was still open, dyno'd 400 rwhp. Bought an IS350 riding on Eibachs and IForged wheels for the wife. C&D, R&T whatever got a best time of 5.3 seconds 0-60. Another source got 4.9 seconds. This truck is my daily driver. I knew the mpg, performance wasn't great going into it. Don't need folks to re-emphasize the lack therein. Is it possible to improve? Yes. Are there folks interested in improving performance? I guess that's why TRD and URD are still in business. Common interest right fellas? What makes weight reduction ANY different than slapping on a supercharger that puts out 300 hp at the crank, (see sig).

Stock these trucks do 0-60 in 9 to 10 seconds with a 17.5 quarter mile ET. The reason I bought the supercharger was so I could get on the freeway. If you've been to Hawaii you would realize how short our onramps are. 190 hp in a 4000 lb vehicle gets you nowhere quick. Now, the truck runs and handles as a normal 14 second car would, with gas mileage that's reasonable. I don't find anything funny or hilarious about that.

Read the first post? Great. Once again, what exactly is unclear?

Originally Posted by Midnight Runner

The diameter of the wheels and tires is always a huge deal. If you really want to get the truck faster, you can go down on the diameter. This reduces the moment of inertia.

Think about this for a sec. Is it easier to sling a weight on a string that is 4 ft long, or the same weight on the end of a string that is 1ft long.

Also you can switch out your stock seats for some light weight sparco or recaro seats. You can probably shave off about 60-80 lbs with those. Of course comfort will be sacrificed, but hey you're going to be able to stay planted in your seat very well.

Originally Posted by d0ubledown

believe it or not..those front skid plates actually help airflow under the car as well...not just adding protection. without those, you'll create more turbulent air under the motor, thus causing the truck to use more fuel to push through the air. minimal effect, but significant none the less, especially if youre wanting to increase fuel mileage. and the runner already has a drag coefficient of a brick.

but i do like your thinking especially for 1320 times of 'if you want more power, add less weight' but then again...runners arent made for the quarter mile, nor are they speed demons. however, toyota has taken the 'more power add less weight' train of thought into the last model supra. they shaved every ounce of weight possible. things like single exhaust, and hollow carpet fibres & bolts all reduced the weight of that beast significantly...

Originally Posted by Ric

I did.
geuss what Im unclear with is, if you "knew"
what you was buying, and did it anyway, and now your trying to make it lighter, faster, etc. trying to make it something its not. what was the point in buying it in the first place
Theres better choices out there for what it seems your trying to do.

Originally Posted by Ric

I did.
geuss what Im unclear with is, if you "knew"
what you was buying, and did it anyway, and now your trying to make it lighter, faster, etc. trying to make it something its not. what was the point in buying it in the first place
Theres better choices out there for what it seems your trying to do.

Originally Posted by QSVeilside

I agree. However, isn't inertia dependent on two factors? Overall diameter of the wheel AND tire, and the weight of the combination? Thus if you find 18 x 8"s that go with lower profile tires to maintain the same height as stock, you will reduce inertia if you can find them in a lighter than stock weight. Not sure if that was clear.

Will keep the stock seats for now. But thank you for the suggestion.

Originally Posted by alexe

thats not right. although the overall weight may be less than stock, with a larger wheel your placing more of that weight further from the center of the hub, which will increase rotational inertia.