Quest for lightness.

[ocallen]

Peter, what are the heavy bits ? I want a 1/2 roll cage but I think thats 30 kgs.

 

[berg944]

That's a really good figure Mike, in fact I'm really quite surprised at that!

Re-shelled with Mk1 shell about 1990 when it was a track car......probably lighter shell but don't know the figures.

Mike[:'(]

 

[Neil Haughey]

ORIGINAL: sawood12

Also it often amazes my why people with track dedicated cars still retain the dashboard and stock fan and heater system.  Surely a few aftermarket gauges bolted onto the bulkhead and an aftermarket racing fan unit will save a hell of alot of weight.  The amout of wiring and gubbins behind the dash must weight a good few KG's.

I guess it is pointless chasing a few KG's and alot of money on carbon fibre body panels until you've been as drastic as this.  Reading on Rennlist I get the impression that there isn't as much as you'd expect to be saved with a Carbon Fibre bonnet, and less to be saved with carbon fibre wings.  Spending a grand to save 20kg's out of a 1300kg car doesn't make much sense and isn't going to transform the cars performance at all.  It's icing on the cake stuff.

Well that pretty much sums up the whole modding scene really, which is why I have come round to the conclusion you either have a race car/semi race car or just keep it more or less stock.

For a PCGB spec S2 it looks like one needs to get the car under 1100 Kg since the cage etc. etc. is going to add back in loads, that is a pretty big drop but looking at all the info I could find is doable. ISTR Andrew S mentioned before similar weight loss with his race cars. Dropping 200 Kg is going to make a massive difference to the on track performance with welded in cage and race suspension is going to be on a different level to what most of us are used to.

Stock dashboard will be required by the regs or it won't be which is what decides if you keep it. Heater ISTR you require to be road legal but again if the regs don't say you need it it comes out of a race car and will save a nice little amount of weight for sure.

I remember figures for fibreglass bonnet and wings that show a very big weight saving over the steel, something like 20 Kg in the bonnet and 6Kg a piece in the wings (ISTR its the underseal etc on the wings that makes em so heavy). But of course this for race spec parts that are designed to be "crashed" as 944 man puts it rather then look trick []

Stripping out excess wiring is a defo for me, in fact I have been naughty and already started it when I removed the stereo and speakers a few years back. I had a poke around thinking about normalising the car and selling it but couldn't find the speaker cables. It is amazing how much wiring there is a 944, its very messy because of that goo they put everywhere but pretty easy job IMHO if one is good with electrics. Not going to save a massive amount of weight but if anything less wiring that may or may not have power means better safety IMHO.

 

[944 man]

Removing the fan and blower would be a massive folly. Even where you have to seal the bulkhead (on a competition car) you need to retain the blower on a UK car! On a track car the auxillary cooling is invaluable and the increased coolant capacity worthwhile. Further to that: the dash on an early car weighs very little. A series two dash is heavier, but a light GRP replacement is readily available if youre desperate to save every last kilo. Its not necessary for most competition cars because a racer built from a dipped body will easily weigh less than the minimum.

 

[Neil Haughey]

Cheers, this is what I have heard but I have not seen hard figures. Perhaps a call to EMC is all that is required for the serious, if anyone knows they will.

944man would you recommend dipping a shell over say stripping the old fashioned way? My local guy referred to it as an option that has become popular but I didn't get the impression that its a necessity.

 

[944 man]

If you can do the work yourself and youre happy doing it, then you can achieve most of what dipping achieves: but its along hard task. Id guess that it saves money if youre paying someone else to prepare the car for you. I think that Kev Eacock told me that the costs start at about £900 for a dip, with the cost rising (considerably) if you want the bare metal coating afterwards.

Itll help you when you come to do all of the seam welding thats prohibited in the rules, too.....

Simon

 

[Peter Empson]

ORIGINAL: ocallen

Peter, what are the heavy bits ? I want a 1/2 roll cage but I think thats 30 kgs.

My half cage weighed 16kg on bathroom scales before the harness bar was added (I now can't recall if this was with the diagonal fitted or not), the car also has heavier wheels, brakes and the SC and associated paraphernalia add a lot. There are lots of other little things that add up to like the abr's and rear springs etc.

 

[Neil Haughey]

ORIGINAL: 944 man

Itll help you when you come to do all of the seam welding thats prohibited in the rules, too.....

Simon

[] You have a very dry sense of humour Simon. I have read all sorts of stuff about quick/easy ways to get underseal and sound deadening off. I will have to do it on my car at some point and yes I expect it will be a lot of work but its money saved, a learning experience etc. etc. + of course I want to keep my car in a running state or near to a running state for as long as possible. My brother has done all sorts of stuff like this and gives me advice usually along the lines of it takes for ever and is a nightmare, amazingly he has offered to help out in this case.