Part Weights

944 man · Apr 9, 2009

ORIGINAL: Peter Empson
For my car I'm hoping to cover the top section in alcantara to stop reflections and if I do the full dash with the section below (including glove box) then ideally it will be in exposed carbon for a bit of bling (assuming I'm able to make a good enough mould, which is highly unlikely).

Perhaps itd be better to have the dash flocked? I can recommend a firm in the North West who will flock a series two dashboard and centre console for about £125. You deliver it and they return it.

Simon

Hilux · Apr 9, 2009

Oooooohhhhhhhh Matron...................

I dream of having my dash flocked [8|][8|]

Neil Haughey · Apr 19, 2009

Ok guys time for an update, I will edit the first post soon but first a few pictures of where we are at the moment.

First of the front of the car is looking a bit naked

Next up the dash area, the wiring loom will be taken out after the engine is out.

Doors doors doors, was a bit of a surprise in weight terms compared to some other components. Note the cable that runs up behind the dash with relevance to one of the other current threads.

Lastly this is what I mean by a stripped down dash, we weighed some of the other trim bits and pieces to get a rough total weight but even the raw shell is surprisingly heavy.

Thanks
Neil

Neil Haughey · Apr 19, 2009

Just a quick heads up guys, added all the big stuff like doors hatch wings and bonnet onto the first post.

944 man · Apr 20, 2009

The doors get considerably lighter when you remove the regulators, door cars and drop glass. I sat and looked at the inners the other day, Dremel in hand, but I cant decide whether itll make any difference trimming their centres. The sound deadening will certainly come out more easily if you do and Id probably remove the side impact bar on the near side too, in a track car. Whether Id remove it on the drivers side really depends on the cage that was fitted.

A good deal of the weight in the original wings is in the underseal: a bare wing doesnt weight much at all. Wiring will make a massive difference. I realise that you arent convinced, but Ive listed 20 boxed full series two looms up onot Dexion shelving and I can assure that theres a lot of copper there. Ive had a search and I cant find my guesstimated weight of the stock hatch.....

944 man · Apr 20, 2009

Found it. I guesstimated that youd save 30 kilogrammes between the bonnet and the hatch; which I think was pretty close, perhaps a shade on the conservative side...

Hilux · Apr 20, 2009

Perhaps itd be better to have the dash flocked? I can recommend a firm in the North West who will flock a series two dashboard and centre console for about £125. You deliver it and they return it.

You can hire an elctrostatic flocking machine I have discovered on another forum (see track day golf picture below) Apparently you paint on a glue in situ that is charged, blow out the fibres from a special fan gun thingy and the fibres stick in vertical alignment to the positively charged and all areas glued are perfectly flocked.

Neil Haughey · Apr 20, 2009

Oh I do like a good bit of flocking..

Simon, we will be getting rid of a fair amount of the loom but without stripping it apart, basically things like the door wiring comes out as on plugs, the seat wiring we will cut off where it goes into the loom. Some of the wiring to the back of the car is now redundant as well so that will go. Doing it the easy way basically. The good thing is that with the car all bare it is easy to see that there is an awful lot of stuff not going back on the car. I also have a fair mount of cabling still in there for the stereo despite already getting rid of a few Kg of stereo system cable a few years back.

The picture above of the wiring on the passenger side of the dash is not as knightmarish as it looks. One strand is for the electric seat, another is a big bunch for all the switches in the centre console, both now redundant.

944 man · Apr 20, 2009

I was aware of how it worked Paul; but I didnt know that you could hire the machines, in fact, Id always assumed that they were large. How much: where from: is it relatively easy to succeed: what do the consumable cost etc?

Neil, at the risk of sounding like a 'how to save weight' letter sent in to Viz: save 5kgs by only filling your washer bottle with one litre of water; if its full itll add 6kgs.... [

] In a similar vein: save 50 kilos and a small fortune by never putting more than £10 worth of petrol in your tank.....[

]

Neil Haughey · Apr 20, 2009

[

] What washer bottle

Peter Empson · Apr 21, 2009

I have the dinky washer bottle from a 964 in mine, it's perfect and fits a treat [

]

Hilux · Apr 21, 2009

I found this when looking it up myself

944 man · Apr 21, 2009

Thats a start: but its a slimmer start than I was hoping for.....[

] Which magazine was the article in?

Neil Haughey · May 9, 2009

Just a quick update today guys, I weighed myself holding the sprawling mess that is the wiring loom and determined that it weighs 22.4 Kg. So yes pretty heavy, and that doesn't include the engine loom.

Peter Empson · May 9, 2009

ORIGINAL: Neil Haughey

Just a quick update today guys, I weighed myself holding the sprawling mess that is the wiring loom and determined that it weighs 22.4 Kg. So yes pretty heavy, and that doesn't include the engine loom.

Blimey, I'm not sure what I expected but I guess that is more than I had thought. Did you include the battery cable in with that? If not I suspect that's a good few kilos on its own too.

Neil Haughey · May 10, 2009

Hi Peter, pretty sure it includes the battery cable but it doesn't include the wiring for the doors as they are in the doors, and it doesn't include the engine wiring loom which is separate. This isn't obvious until you have to take the car apart, the ECU cable goes through the bulkhead via a mahoosive bung which I am told is a bit of PITA. So far the wiring loom is about the 3rd heaviest component after the rear hatch, complete door and a seat, if we exclude stuff like engine gearbox and suspension which we can't do anything about.

tref · May 10, 2009

The engine loom connector is easy when you know how[

]. Get the connector close to the hole in the bulkhead, the it has to be horizontal - connector to the left or right, but not to the top or bottom - reason is the brake pedal to master cylinder shaft gets in the way other wise. The get the "heel" of the connect through the hole, and the rest will follow no problem. Refitting is in the best Haynes book of lies tradditional manner.

Neil Haughey · Jun 6, 2009

Just a quick update guys as Barry has sent me a couple of weight last night after stripping the doors. The door itself with absolutely nothing on it weighs 16.4 Kg. That is a lot of metal as its about the same as a bonnet. Note that this means the total for the glass, regulator, lock, central locking, wiring, card and seals is almost exactly 11 Kg per side. The regulator and motor weighs 2.4 Kg so not that much really. After much deliberation we have decided to retain electric windows for now as the weight saving going to manual on the drivers side with a fixed passenger side is only maybe 3 and a bit Kg's. Plus it has to be remembered that with the cage in the way a manual winder can only actually crack the window down a little. As only a couple of wires are needed for the windows Barry is stripping down and out all the other door wiring and components back to the plug to keep the door wiring to an absolute minimum. I may procure a manual winder for the drivers side at a latter date.

Hilux · Jun 6, 2009

After much deliberation we have decided to retain electric windows for now as the weight saving going to manual on the drivers side with a fixed passenger side is only maybe 3 and a bit Kg's. Plus it has to be remembered that with the cage in the way a manual winder can only actually crack the window down a little

Polycarbonate with a slider?

Neil Haughey · Jun 7, 2009

Not for PCGB championship, not sure about Future Classic's, I am sure the one 944 FC race car I have seen had plexi windows and ISTR had a vented rear quarter window.