Practical weight saving

[Tomsk]

First thing I thought of when I saw this topic was an infamous thread floating around the net a few months back (probably posted on here) about someone posting that placing the rear seats flat down would reduce weight lol

Not quite as daft as it sounds.

When the rear seats are folded down, the centre of mavity of the car is lowered. Also if the seats fold forward, the CofG will be moved nearer the centre of the car. The front passenger seat could also be full reclined for added effect.

 

[Firestar_3x]

Not quite as daft as it sounds.

When the rear seats are folded down, the centre of mavity of the car is lowered. Also if the seats fold forward, the CofG will be moved nearer the centre of the car. The front passenger seat could also be full reclined for added effect.

ROFL, just make sure for full effect the drivers headrest is fully down, also if possible adjust your drivers seat lower to the floor, this with the folded down rear seat will mean your car will hug the road like never before!

 

[volospian]

I read once about a guy who races Scimitars grinding the fibreglass bodywork thinner with an angle grinder. Maybe a tad extreme for the road

 

[shimy182]

replace wife/girlfriend with your right hand.

 

[commodore16]

replace wife/girlfriend with your right hand.

Why?

I find that women don't like to get in the car with me when i'm driving quick anyway

 

[Zuban]

Battery in the boot is nice if you have a front engined car

I've often wondered, that in the case of a fwd car, that there may be benefits to leaving the battery in the front, and keeping the weight over the driven wheels?

 

[Jonny69]

Rip all the interior out and lose all the sound deadening, there is loads in modern cars and it weighs a ton. Lose the headlining. Lose the dash except the clocks.

Swap the side and rear windows with lexan, this saves loads as glass is really heavy. You can't run a plastic windscreen on the road as it'll fail the MOT.

Take the bumpers off and scoop out all the foam impact absorbing crap out of them.

Change the wheel hubs for aluminium ones if they are steel, will save about 5kg per side, likewise aluminium calipers can save up to 5kg per corner.

Strip out all the electronic stuff like leccy window motors, heater etc

Then take a hole saw to the inside skins of the doors, rear side panels and anything that looks like it's there for show.

Lose the power steering pump and put a proper rack and pinion on there, lose the aircon, fit a smaller battery, smaller alternator, junk the radio and speakers.

Tubular steel manifold instead of the iron one ought to save a few kilos, ally rad if you've got some $$$

Fibreglass bonnet and bootlid

One fibreglass or carbon fibre seat.

That ought to shave off a few pounds

 

[Jonnycoupe]

i was under the impression that 16 inch rims were the ideal balance and larger rims simply sapped more power but gave very little in return.
your thoughts?

13" would be ideal, but your ride height and brakes will be compromised.

TOTALLY depends on what car it is, a nice size to get better tyres at sensible prices will make all the difference.

 

[The_Dark_Side]

13" would be ideal, but your ride height and brakes will be compromised.

TOTALLY depends on what car it is, a nice size to get better tyres at sensible prices will make all the difference.

true but on the bulk of performance road cars i read that 16 inch gives the best balance.
on one hand you have the rolling mass to overcome but you also need a large enough diameter to allow a decent top speed without having to resort to silly gear/axle ratios.

 

[silversurfer]

13" would be ideal, but your ride height and brakes will be compromised.

TOTALLY depends on what car it is, a nice size to get better tyres at sensible prices will make all the difference.

I have a list of rims and their weights somewhere, you dont need to go down to 13" to get a light rim and its not a guarantee that you will even if you do.

Quality and method of casting is most important I believe

 

[Jonnycoupe]

Of course you can go down to a 13" if your budegt allows. Smaller = lighter We had 13" split rims with a custom CNC machined ally centre on our uni race car, even went down to 3 studs to reduce unsprung mass. If were talking about uber wheels casting wouldn't even come into the sentences.

Bulk of performance cars on road are 1000-1400 so i'd agreed 16" is a reasonable size to select as a good choice, i wouldn't go as far as saying ideal though. 15" running a 195/50/15 gives a huge range of tyres at excellent prices, so improving the compound and tyre will have a larger effect on the full circle of car performance than upping by an inch. Wide tyres only really make a significant difference in grip in acceleration, lateral grip is pretty much the same as the footprint on the ground remains the same (assuming good camber control via the suspension)

Im yet to find a road where the stretching the drivetrain to get max top speed makes the car actually faster.