Beaky's Diet

[John Sims]

Beaky's diet to another step forward today and he lost 2 3/4 stone (or 17 Kg in foreign).

I have ditched the spare wheel which I have been carrying around for ages - a completely pointless exercise as, if I got a front puncture, it wouldn't fit over the brakes any way. [8|]

You can get a spectacular amount of stuff in the empty spare wheel well. []

Also gone is the rear wiper, jack and spare wheel retaining bolt (which was loose) within the total above.

While I had the scales at hand I also found I could loose another 15 Kg if I took out my tool bag []. Perhaps I will consider rationalising my tools a little.

My original drivers seat is still cluttering the garage so I periodically try to move it just to confirm how heavy it is. []

Hopefully this will all help to off set the weight of the roll hoop which should be in my grubby hands by Tuesday. []

 

[Big Dave]

Good stuff John.
For those that might like to know.
I recently removed the A/C from my 968.. In total it weighed in at 21kg...
The small rad in the dash is still in place, as that wouldve needed the full dash to come out,[8|][8|] but its not that heavy anyway..
The car now REALY feels alive, + seemingly more balanced as i had previously removed around 40kg from the back..[][][].

 

[pal944]

Hi John what are you doing with your old seat is it a sport seat? regards Paul

 

[Suffolk944]

As my aircon is currently non functioning have wondered about taking it out to save some weight. Is it a straightforward job ?

 

[ocallen]

Having put my car up for sale I realise that there are few, if any, people who have the same ideas as me so I am of a mind it's mine for ever !

My rear wiper and motor has come off, driver's seat has gone to the tip, rear seat taken out, backing to boot carpet peeled off, spare wheel gone (keeping the jack just in case), have a price for new doormirrors from Germany (924 GTS), getting a quote for an alloy bonnet to be made. Spend too much time thinking of how to lighten it more before I try to increase the power.

 

[Neil Haughey]

2 Things have surprised me about track prep work on these cars;
1) No matter how many times ppl tell you it is an enormous amount of work and takes a very long time, you tend not to believe them. Then you go out to the car like I did yesterday and spend 3 hrs stripping out the rear quarters of the car, and this is just to remove carpet, trim and sound deadining. The qaurter panels are still in place until I can remove the seat belts. All the little bits of tacky sound deadening left on the car take a very long time to remove basically because there is so much of it.
2) It all adds up to a surprising amount of weight. I weighed the carpet trim, sound deadening and rear seat base just for the seat base and wheel arch covers and it weighed 7 Kg. Once of the car it looks like a lot of stuff but its surprising how this adds up to so much given that we are talking about a very small part of the cars trim. There is still all the carpet and sound deadening on the trans tunnel, foot wells and floor to come.

P.S. I am glad I am doing this on a 44 and not a 68, I pulled part of the carpet on the 68 and man they must have used some sort of super glue on that car. There seams to be about 3 times as much glue and stuff underneath everything and it is stuck down unbelievably hard. On the 44 the carpets pull up fairly easily and the left over sound deadening also comes off fairly easily it just comes apart into hundreds of little left over bits.

 

[Big Dave]

Neil.
They certainly used some SUPER sticky glue on the 968,s.....Thats one heck of a job to do....[][]

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: pal944

Hi John what are you doing with your old seat is it a sport seat? regards Paul

Hi Paul,

It is a sports seat. I will swap the seat backs over to the passenger seat but after that I haven't decided.

Had I the room I would store it on the assumption that, one day, I might sell the car and the prospective new owner might want the seat.

On the other hand - If you want to make me a modest offer I would be happy to let you have it.

 

[John Sims]

ORIGINAL: ocallen

.....getting a quote for an alloy bonnet to be made.....

[8D] That sounds like serious money. Let us know how you get on.

 

[Peter Empson]

I like your thinking John []

Glue removal is without doubt one of the most boring things ever, the bitumen pads are much easier however and a lot more fun []

 

[pal944]

John yes interest what sort of condition are they and i can not remember what colour they are?

 

[John Sims]

"They" are only the drivers seat (at the moment []) and it is Linen Logo.

Need a good clean as the fabric attracts water marks which can only be removed by shampooing the whole seat. There are now finishes that you can apply to stop it happening again but I never leave the car long enough for the seat to dry to consider a full shampoo.

Come and have a look if you are interested.

 

[Big Dave]

ORIGINAL: Suffolk944

As my aircon is currently non functioning have wondered about taking it out to save some weight. Is it a straightforward job ?

Jon.
In my case it was relatively easy. In that ALL the pipes were flexible. I think the norm are hard pipes...So you might have to cut some of them, ruining them in the process.
The removal of all the radiators compressor ,etc was straightforward, It would have taken me around a day to strip + rebuild...But as i replaced the engine rad + a number of other bits whilst i was in there i ended up taking a FULL week doing it.[ thats 7 days 9am - 5 pm ]... Yes i did quite a lot more work , "whilst i was in there"..PS youl need to have the AC gas removed profesionally buy a refrigeration person..See yellow pages...

 

[John Sims]

Beaky's diet took a bit of a backward step this week with the installation of his roll hoop - though I saved a bit more by taking out the rear seat backs. []

I didn't weigh the roll hoop but can confirm it was heavy enough to put my back out. [] -not much of an indication as I did the same thing a month ago lifting a carton of orange juice out of the fridge. [][&o]

As you can appreciate roll hoop fitting has progressed at a slow rate but is, fortunately, less uncomfortable than sitting down. Photos will follow once I have tidied up my tools etc.

 

[bennyboy]

It's great fun John isn't it[:-]! Just make sure you put the 2 shorter bolts in the c-pillar mounts! Have had mine in for a couple of weeks now, along with Corbeau seat and harness - transformed the driving experience - the car certainly feels stiffer and, unsurprisingly I guess, it would 'appear' to roll less. But of course that is only because my body is held tightly in place by the harness and is not 'rolling' around corners! Next project - KW's!

 

[John Sims]

I am still fighting with one of my C pillar bolts.

The whole thing has been something of an adventure. Hampered by not being able to lift I have employed all manner of tricks. The most effective was ratchet straps to pull the hoop into position. Regrettably I eventually pulled off one of my boot lashing points. It takes a "lot" of encouragement to get it in exactly the right place. A rubber mallet is also a good tool - it may not do much but it does make you feel better after you have deployed it a bit.

It is also better to do a bit and leave it to allow it to settle seemingly. You can fight with a fixing for ages and get nowhere, go away, come back and it seems to work straight away.

I had said I would open up the holes to make the job easier - I didn't (aside the C post holes which were too small) and am now slowly elongating the final C pillar hole. [] The bolts are frustrating as they absolutely must go in at exactly the right angle - not easy when fighting with a big piece of metal.

I have said previously I wouldn't relish removing the drivers seat - I would be less enthusiastic about getting the hoop out.

 

[bennyboy]

You're absolutely right John, my car will end its days with that cage in place, one way or another I guess!

 

[peanut]

you should set up a weight weenies page like on the cycling forum. Everyone could post the weight of everything removed and suggestions for shaving a little more weight.[] Most towns have a weighbridge to check the results periodically

How much could be saved by changing the alloys ? and lightening the flywheel. Pity you couldn't lose the starter ring and starter as well and put a starter boss on the crankshaft pulley.

Do you have to remove all the glass on trackday cars ? or is that too expensive to replace.

 

[944 man]

I can contribute to that, as I have anally weighed most of the parts removed from my car..... The time ciomes when its easier and cheaper to lose weight yourself! []

 

[PJS917]

Gents,

It takes about 20 mins to get the roll hoop out, I had to so they could make yours[][][] I must admit it is much easier to put back in place if there are two of you. I think it took abot 30 mins to put mine back it with 2 of us, mind I have fitted a couple of times now.