3000gt VR4 ...too heavy?

[N15M0]

Yea too heavy.. the engine is good. twin turbo ... and the AWD was as good too... but thats a lot of weight reduction..to make it keep up with other cars.. ...but thats just straight line.. but cornering and braking... i dont know... its still a cool looking car for its time... (90's)

[mehrshadvr4]

wow .old thread.any way as i say it dosn't take much to make it lighter.putting catback on saves about 50lbs.driver seat is 80lbs and the passenger is 40lbs.hood about 50lbs or more.door over 100lbs, and there is a resone.it has 5 stars crash rated on front and side.i'v seen people on 3si that crasht really hard and still come out of car with no scratch.as i know skylines have really weak roof .that's one of the resone they are lighter than vr4.thay don't have power seat, active muffler, active spoiler ,and all those thing.the na 3000gt is 3200lbs which is light.you can make the vr4 close to 3300lbs and still car looks like oem car.and braking is 60mph to 0 in 110 foot.it's 14foot shorter than r34 gt-r.corrnering is not better than r34 gt-r because gt-r is like rwd car in cornerring which gives you over steer.

[beckerb]

Although it is somewhat costly the VR4 can be built to produce near 1000hp. I own a 92 RT TT which is full stage three (About 600hp at 30 pounds of boost) and I also own a Viper. In the quarter the Stealth will eat the Viper alive.
The RT TT is very enjoyable to drive where as the Viper is cool but a pain unless you are going over 80mph. Certainly I dont rate the Stealth as a super car but for a street machine it is really a killer compared to just about anything out there....

[beckerb]

Those of you that think the VR4 cant do the quarter well need to go to Untitled Page and take a look at 3SX's VR4. It does the quarter in 9.2 seconds at 154mph.

I have a stage III built by these guys and it runs in the mid 10s. To start with a good deal of the weight is the AWD. This coupled with items like the power seats (80lbs), three spection drive staff with bearings 48lbs - and the like bring it in at about 3750lbs. It is pretty easy to get it down to about 3400 lbs...

You will also see that the 2006 Z06 with a procharger on it runs the quarter in 10.8. By the way the Z06 weights in at about 3200lbs which is not all the light.

Even though I have nearly 35K invested in the engine, to total cost is far more reasonable then my Z06 or Viper and the plus with the AWD and AW Steering which makes it handle like a cat.....

[LandQuail]

i own a STi with KNfilter and pwn all u paraquats 4$

Jesus. Are we reduced to this again?

The 3000GT has always been the red-headed stepchild of the mid-90s Japanese sportscar boom. From what I've read they're more grip than handling, and it takes a very careful browse through the tuner catalogs to make them handle as well as their competition.

I could give a dog's balls for every 1/4 mile figure in the world. I could put $10,000 into a secondhand confessional booth and get it to run 12s all day long.

They're not m cup of tea, a 3,000 GT is vastly better than the vast majority of the cars out there. If someone's got their reasons for liking them, more power to them. They're respectable cars.

As for the 3000 being heavy, well, it'd be kind of like going racing in a Supra with two old, fat Elvises riding shotgun, wouldn't it?

I'd take a Miata any day.

[Sledgehammer]

When I first got into cars, the VR-4 was a favorite. For years it was the car I wanted to get. Then reality set in.

To heavy
To small

Other than that, I think the cars styling is fantastic, the options are luxurious (for a sports car), the ride is communicative, and the power is great. However, for a 10 year old car, it'l still make you break your piggy jar. Reliability can be problematic and insurence to raise your eyebrows.

For a long time I tried figuring out what made the car so heavy... Im still stumped.

[kingofthering]

For a long time I tried figuring out what made the car so heavy... Im still stumped.

AWD system and the usual crap.

[Ferrer]

AWD system and the usual crap.

And an unusual array (for the 90's) of electronic and active devices.

[Sledgehammer]

Its hard to imagine how an AWD system, active aero dynamics (up through 96/7 IIRC) and electronic bits put an extra 400/500 pounds. If the active aero weighs so much, why isnt the 99 car lighter?

[Ferrer]

Its hard to imagine how an AWD system, active aero dynamics (up through 96/7 IIRC) and electronic bits put an extra 400/500 pounds. If the active aero weighs so much, why isnt the 99 car lighter?

Didn't it have 4 wheel steering as well? And I suspose it also had other gadgets.

[megotmea7]

If the 3000GTVR4 is too heavy, then why does it run similar 1/4 mile times as the rest of the super-cars?

1/4 mile times aren't everything, if you've ever driven one, you can feel the excess weight of the car, it plow's through turns like a Cadillac when pushed hard.

Why do people overlook the 3000 so quickly?

If you mean as a base for a performance project, there are a few reasons. Firstly, it's LESS of a sports car than its competitors of the time. The car was more a technical showcase than a high performance car, it was full of 'unnecessary' technical doodads and 'performance enhancers' such as an active front splitter, active suspension, and all the interior nonsense that just adds to weight.

That just means you needs more horsepower...

The 3000gt/dodge stealth's motor was decent, but doesn't respond all that well to performance modifications, its bottom end was weak compared to its competition, and its engine bay was extreamly cramped, limiting the size of turbo's and intake/exhaust plumbing. Simply "making more power" isn't as easy as you might think, and its also easier and more effective to reduce weight than to simply pump out more power to compensate.

why doesnt someone make a RWD 3000gt and ditch that heavy ass AWD system?

a complete drivetrain redesign is easier than simply picking a better car to start with?

Are there any fast 3000gt's out there?

Of coarse.

the 3000gt can run a 1/4 as fast as the supraTT, nsx, rx-7, 300zTT... why would you get smoked with similar HP after mods?

As i said, its not as easy to make power, and its heavier, two factors that all but kill its potential for an efficient 'performance per dollar' project car.

[mehrshadvr4]

1/4 mile times aren't everything, if you've ever driven one, you can feel the excess weight of the car, it plow's through turns like a Cadillac when pushed hard.

wrong
Road & Track: Track Test: The Best-Handling Sports Cars in America (March 1992)
check out the lap time. that's for first gen vr4 with less HP and smaller brakes than 94+ vr4s. it also has longer gear ration that 94 wihich is not good for road racing and it still got 3rd after rx7 which is 1000lbs lighter and 911 turbo wich make more power and it's 600lbs lighter.(i wonder if rx7 can even move if you put 1000lbs weight on it. it even beat the nsx in that magazine. the vr4 has soft suspention for it's weight, but it has tons of grip in cornering. i'v seen people modifaing their vr4 with just coil over and small power upgrade and they beat most evos and porsches.

The 3000gt/dodge stealth's motor was decent, but doesn't respond all that well to performance modifications, its bottom end was weak compared to its competition, and its engine bay was extreamly cramped, limiting the size of turbo's and intake/exhaust plumbing. Simply "making more power" isn't as easy as you might think, and its also easier and more effective to reduce weight than to simply pump out more power to compensate.

wrong again. there was no performance part for thsoe car till late 2004. no one had ever made turbo kit to be able to push over 500whp till dynamic racing started making big turbo kit for those cars
.DR-900 Dyno with cams, 714 AWHP & 607 AWTQ - 3000GT/Stealth International Message Center
that's almost 950 crank HP stock bottom end. he's pushing it but the engine can take it. compare to other cars they had been doing well . now we have stroker after 14 years of car production. now all we need is someone with alot of money to push that stroker. dynamic racing has one 3.7L stroker but the turbos he's using are small.

As i said, its not as easy to make power, and its heavier, two factors that all but kill its potential for an efficient 'performance per dollar' project car.

ther are heavier, but what i found out is couple hundred lbs heavier dose not makes big difference(althose you can make vr4 3400lbs with out gutting the interior. look at the 1/4 mile time. vr4 has the most weight and least whp than other cars in it's class but still it's quicker than some of the cars in it's class or pretty close to it.

[Tomodachi]

the Dodge Stealth is considerbly lighter then the 3000GT with the same motor and trany, its usually overlooked but it can out run the 3000GT.

[mehrshadvr4]

hmm nlot sure what you mean by over run,but they are pretty much same in performance.

[Rotary.freak]

I just bought a VR4 and yeah it's like 200 lbs heavier than a 300zx but it isn't really that big of a difference. The car is still very quick at 5.4 0-60 and really what more do u want unless ur taking it to the track?

Even if you're taking it to the track, after some weight reduction and some power increasing mods u'll still be extremely quick and a competition for Supras, 300zx, and rx7. I like the rx7 too but it has little torque and there seems like a lot of shit could go wrong with that car. There's a lot of stuff that could go wrong with the vr4 as well but i think the engine is much more reliable on the VR4. I actually think the handling is great on it and it hardly understeers and oversteer is extremely manageable as opposed to the Supra which feels like it's about to kick out right away and other times it just refuses to turn. Trust me ur gonna enjoy the stability and grip that the VR4 offers and ur gonna feel a lot braver at the wheel of a vr4 than at the wheel of an rx7 or the supra.

Stock tho, the Supra is the best car out of all of them. Would i get one tho? Probably not... doesn't look nearly as good as the 3000GT and I don't race so I'm happy with it. That and they're ridiculously expensive.