Lightening Body Panels.

[Jackman 0]

Is this worth doing?

 

When i was up Colins i seen the door skins and bits removed in a car up there, now I've got Polycarb windows i see now need for the skins and wana lose some more KG's!

 

I'm sure I read somewhere about lightening a standard boot aswell rather than buy a fibreglass one, is this possible or am i better off buy a fibreglass boot and putting my polycarb into that?

 

Thanks!

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

To build a light car no component no matter what it is can go un modified. There is weight to be saved from practically everything.

 

The motto of Carl who I drag race the Minis with, "never knowingly use standard parts".

[brumster 135 1 Cars]

The boot is pretty easy to do. I chop out the majority of the inner panel, although I do leave a small strip in the middle just to brace it a little from top to bottom, where the striker/lock is. If you replace the glass for poly, coupled with chopping it all out, you can then use just one of the gas rams to hold it up, so further weight saving.

 

Doors - again, the bulk of the inner panel can be removed but I like to keep a few inches of the edge to keep some strength in the door and not turn it into a flimsy piece of tin.

 

There's probably a bit to be had from the inner quarter panels at the rear by "holing" them, but otherwise I don't bother trimming much else off the inner panels of mine. Boot lid is an easy one worth doing though, IMHO.

[swordfish210 20]

Here are my doors:

 

 

 

And here's my bootlid:

 

 

The doors are really flimsy but they're pretty light, the bootlid is also light enough to be held up by a single boot strut.

[Jackman 0]

Cheers guys!

 

Thanks for the pictures, thats what i had in mind !

 

I will get on it!

[backroadpug 12]

Bit anal but I also lightened the rear bumper and tie wrapped it on rather than bolted. Probably made up the weight of the reg plate.lol

http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy289/b...5/rallye234.jpg

Edited October 2, 2010 by backroadpug

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

Bit anal but I also lightened the rear bumper and tie wrapped it on rather than bolted. Probably made up the weight of the reg plate.lol

http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy289/b...5/rallye234.jpg

Nice, but not anal enough

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Cameron 16]

Here are my doors:

 

Been meaning to do that to mine for ages.. any idea how much they weigh?

[swordfish210 20]

Been meaning to do that to mine for ages.. any idea how much they weigh?

 

Didn't weight them but i would guess at less than feck all, they are seriously light. I just need to get some black glass and make some door cards for them.

[Jackman 0]

Is it literally just a case of attacking them with a angle grinder and tidying up sharp edges accordingly?

[Cameron 16]

Yep!

[Jackman 0]

Sounds like fun!

[tri_longer 25]

Definitely worth the effort, i bought a pair of doors of Baz that had teh internals removed and poly windows and the difference is very noticeable.

 

Worth looking at swapping the wing mirrors as they weigh in quite heavy as well.

[skinner2k3 3]

I did what Swordfish has done to my passenger door and wished I had left just a inch or so more metal in as cutting there took out the spot welds and resulted in a seriously flimsy door, which I didnt like. I have since replaced the door and when I do it again will not get quite so carried away.

 

Another thing I learnt is that it isnt easy to make a tidy job of the corners with an angle grinder so might be worth drilling them first and cutting to them.

Edited October 4, 2010 by skinner2k3

[Cameron 16]

Depends how good you are with an angle grinder.

[skinner2k3 3]

Fair point

[swordfish210 20]

Worth looking at swapping the wing mirrors as they weigh in quite heavy as well.

 

Second that, here is my long term mirror solution:

 

 

[tri_longer 25]

Second that, here is my long term mirror solution:

Exactly what i'll be doing, thanks for the pics.

[Dj_mini 7]

The real weight in the door is where the hinges bolt to but if you do this the doors do tend to flap about at 100mph+

[swordfish210 20]

Exactly what i'll be doing, thanks for the pics.

 

If i still had the moulds i could have made you some of the carbon plates i used but i think they got binned when i moved garages

[Jackman 0]

Is there a trick to getting the bonded parts off the inside of the boot?

[swordfish210 20]

Heatgun

[Jackman 0]

Cheers mate! I'll pinch one from work!

 

I'm left with this atm!