[-Dan-]

Other Changes: Stripping/Suspension Setup * Some Information here taken from JDMEngineSamurai

Lighter is better…right? Yes and no. Yes, meaning if weight is removed properly from the vehicle then you’ll gain bonuses in speed, handling and acceleration, not to mention saving on petrol and part wear.
However, randomly removing parts for the sake of reducing weight can cost you in the handling and speed departments, which is something to keep in mind if you’re serious about using the car for competition. The key is to remember why you’re making the modifications and to keep track of the weight that you remove so if you discover your car is suddenly handling improperly or has lost horsepower, you can evaluate what you’ve done.

Keep Your Car Balanced

One thing to keep in mind is that your car is a balanced vehicle. Weight is transferred from front to back when accelerating, and removing the wrong weight from the wrong area can cause a variety of hazards. For example, if you remove weight from the wrong part of the car, you can upset the balance of the car, making it handle improperly. You must remove weight from front and back equally to maintain good balance. For example, if you remove 300 lbs. from the back of the car and don’t remove an equal weight off the front of the car, you’ll have increased the front weight percentage of the car drastically and you’ll have handling problems.

Use Scales to Track Your Weight Loss

To avoid balance issues, obtain a set of wheel scales and weigh the car with the driver in the seat. Wheel scales are available at a good motorfactors or online and will give you an idea of how much weight is distributed over each wheel. For example, if your vehicle carries a bigger percentage of weight in the back, you’ll want to try to keep that same percentage in mind when removing weight. Re-weighing the vehicle will help to track what the percentages are to keep everything balanced and avoid upsetting the overall weight distribution of the vehicle by removing too much from one area.

Improve Handling By Relocating Weight

Removing weight and relocating weight are two ways to help balance a vehicle. Removing weight as high as possible will give you the best cornering performance. For example, you can remove weight from the bonnet or boot lid by replacing it with a lighter carbon fiber model.

Remove Rotating Weight to Improve Handling and Pick Up Speed

There are two types of weight to remove in a car: static and moving. Static weight refers to things that don’t move, such as the bonnet, bootlid, spare tire, seats and battery. Moving weight refers to anything that moves or rotates, such as wheels, drive shafts and flywheels. Moving weight is more important to reduce because the car will accelerate faster without it. Removing a pound of rotating mass is like removing two pounds of static mass because rotating mass needs to be accelerated both in rotation and in linear motion. In short, the car must first move the part then move itself when dealing with rotating weight.

Please Note: Full Credit is listed wherever the work above is not mine, and in no way, shape or form am I trying to take credit for any work that isn't my own, I'm simply condensing it all into one big place for people to read at their leisure.