Standard Lightened Bonnet And Bootlid

[McCann 0]

hi all,

its diet time for the 205

has anyone any pictures of a standard lightened bonnet and bootlid? just looking for something to go on before i go mad with the grinder lol

i already have poly windows and the inners cut out of the doors but want to lighten the bootlid and bonnet aswell as moneywise GRP or carbon ones are out of the question,

also if anyone has any advice on where more weight can be lost please dont be shy

 

cheers

[omega 82]

also if anyone has any advice on where more weight can be lost please dont be shy

 

cheers

 

go on a diet!

stop drinking the black stuff!!!!

[McCann 0]

haha no way ya have to live!

loosing weight round the waist is the cheapest but also the hardest way

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

Bin off any unused brackets from the interior, individually might not weigh a lot, but combined it all adds up.

Strip out any unused wire loom

Remove any remaining interior

Get crazy with a hole saw

Do you want/need your dash?

Have a sunroof? - remove it and plate over it

(above is all sprung weight) For unsprung, try lighter wheels, lighter brakes (wilwood etc), hollow 306 hubs + 309 shafts wishbones to offset the +ve camber

Edited September 19, 2011 by Liquid_106

[dcc 855]

lose a kilo from drive chain is like 10 kilos of car weight. lighter flywheel etc...

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

lose a kilo from drive chain is like 10 kilos of car weight. lighter flywheel etc...

As in 'feel' wise, rather then actual?

[dcc 855]

ehm to explain is really not as easy as I hoped. If the engine can turn easier then so do the wheels? so if losing 10kg from the shell weight lets engien turn 9001 times rather than 9000 in a minutes (yes, i know, thats over 9000), and also losing 1kg of transmission weight does the same 9001 turns per minute, kinda a 1:10 ratio. best person to ask is spikey really, he spent alot of time (well documented in his project thread) reducing shell weight. I would rather spend 80-100 on a lighter wheels (c5 wheels maybe) than 8-10 hours of trying to find the most rediculous metal/plastic to remove from the car...

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

ehm to explain is really not as easy as I hoped. If the engine can turn easier then so do the wheels? so if losing 10kg from the shell weight lets engien turn 9001 times rather than 9000 in a minutes (yes, i know, thats over 9000), and also losing 1kg of transmission weight does the same 9001 turns per minute, kinda a 1:10 ratio. best person to ask is spikey really, he spent alot of time (well documented in his project thread) reducing shell weight. I would rather spend 80-100 on a lighter wheels (c5 wheels maybe) than 8-10 hours of trying to find the most rediculous metal/plastic to remove from the car...

I know what you're saying, but I think that relates to the ability of the engine to rev more freely and the associated improvement in acceleration as the engine has less inertia in the drive train to overcome. However, loosing 1kg off the fly is still only 1kg less weight. and so you miss the additional benefits of weight loss, like shorter breaking distances, higher cornering speeds and increased acceleration.

A combination of the two would be the best approach imo, but cutting bits off is the cost of a few grinder discs as opposed to the cost of a lightened or even billet fly - if money is no problem, then go for it - for me it is the first consideration

[allanallen 528 2 Cars]

Dont go mad lightening the front of the bonnet as it'll flap round like a queer in a strip club.

[swordfish210 20]

Dont go mad lightening the front of the bonnet as it'll flap round like a queer in a strip club.

 

I had that problem when i gutted the standard bonnet, go over 70 and it was flapping like a humming bird on speed. Anyway, heres what i did with a few panels, FYI the boot is now so light i can hold it up with one strut :

 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2011 by swordfish210

[Cameron 16]

Worth noting that the doors get very wobbly when you do that to them!

 

Ditch the slam panel and bonnet release catch and replace with a bit of aluminium box / bar, fit Aerocatch bonnet pins, remove the heater and the dash if you're serious about saving weight. I'd remove as much weight from the front end as possible before chopping bits out the rear.

[swordfish210 20]

Yeah the door do feel like they're about to fall off when you close them I'll be replacing them with fibreglass ones when i can afford it

[BusEngineer 7]

 

Ditch the slam panel and bonnet release catch and replace with a bit of aluminium box / bar, fit Aerocatch bonnet pins, remove the heater and the dash if you're serious about saving weight. I'd remove as much weight from the front end as possible before chopping bits out the rear.

 

Have you got any pictures of this Cam?

[Cameron 16]

The slam panel thing? I haven't done it, but it's on my list.

Edited September 20, 2011 by Cameron

[Liquid_106 97 1 Cars]

Swap your wing mirrors for bike/single seat style - like Shiny's white one. Not loads saved, but just like the Mazda advert, if you can save 1gram off loads of single components, it all adds up

[Cameron 16]

Swap your wing mirrors for bike/single seat style - like Shiny's white one. Not loads saved, but just like the Mazda advert, if you can save 1gram off loads of single components, it all adds up

 

This is a good idea, and another thing I've been meaning to do for a while.

 

The mirrors weigh quite a bit, it's got to be around a 2kg saving to swap them over. It may not seem like a lot but as above if you look to save a little bit on a lot of components the total savings can be surprising.

[McCann 0]

iv already done that to my doors and it saves a good bit of weight, going to do the same to my bootlid now, looks good i have no miirrors but i have to keep the dash to keep it legal for the rallying i do, the bonnet catch idea is good too, all these wee things will soon add up

[Batfink 201]

Worth noting that the doors get very wobbly when you do that to them!

 

Ditch the slam panel and bonnet release catch and replace with a bit of aluminium box / bar, fit Aerocatch bonnet pins, remove the heater and the dash if you're serious about saving weight. I'd remove as much weight from the front end as possible before chopping bits out the rear.

 

Its not how much you lose but where you lose it from. Its easy to remove weight from the rear and middle of the car. Maybe too much and therefore increasing the front to rear weight ratio. Getting weight out the front is more tricky and is where you have to be clever. Sadly I'm an ideas man without the financial backing to be able to experiment lol

Edited September 20, 2011 by Batfink

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

Its not how much you lose but where you lose it from. Its easy to remove weight from the rear and middle of the car. Maybe too much and therefore increasing the front to rear weight ratio. Getting weight out the front is more tricky and is where you have to be clever. Sadly I'm an ideas man without the financial backing to be able to experiment lol

 

If you put the financial backing in, id happily build it for you.

[Cameron 16]

..Sadly I'm an ideas man without the financial backing to be able to experiment lol

 

[EdCherry 34 1 Cars]

Balls! I read that wrong... back to sleep I go.

[swordfish210 20]

Mirrors, don't forget to build some nice Carbon Fibre plates to mount them to:

 

 

 

 

[Cameron 16]

Nice.

[Jrod 7]

Have you got any pictures of this Cam?

 

[Batfink 201]

Mirrors, don't forget to build some nice Carbon Fibre plates to mount them to:

 

 

 

nice!

 

but think outside the box. mount the mirrors on the door and cut that corner out completely. Then use a slightly larger polycarb sheet and save a bit of weight lol