Where to remove weight from a track only car?
#226
I'll weigh it tmrw, but its a few pounds - maybe 4-5? Its the jack hole I'll replace with a flat piece of tiny gauge sheet metal and chop off that little bracket still there. Just a little weigh loss thought for those on the "quest". I am thinking about cutting the trunk "scoop" pan out too and doing some very thin gauge stuff there too. Keep the frame rails and build a small piece for the wing mount.
#227
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Nice Mr. Wob. I'm considering doing that once I find out if it's allowed in my class. Update when you have the weight of the removed section. Are you going to weld or rivet the new sheet in?
#232
This is dang long thread, and I surely haven't read all eleventy hunderd pages, so ya'll forgive me if this has been mentioned already.
My buddy FourEagles is a Colin Chapman disciple. He has "added lightness" to his 90 Miata in the most unusual ways. He drilled holes in his ignition switch key. Drilled holes in his bell housing. Dang, he's got holes in his hood and trunk braces. Course he also took out heavy stuff like his convertible top. His, street driven stock engine car could run with my stock weight, m45 powered 91 just due to his lower curb weight.
Another buddy, an ex motorcycle racer, worked on my track car years ago for a full Saturday. Nothing he took out was huge, but at the end of the day he had 18 pounds worth of crap in a box that was ends of long bolts, excess wires, scrapped off undercoating, unused brackets, light bulbs etc etc. Real silly stuff, I thought, until I saw the total weight he had accumulated.
Made me a believer in the back packer philosophy of ounces makes pounds.
My buddy FourEagles is a Colin Chapman disciple. He has "added lightness" to his 90 Miata in the most unusual ways. He drilled holes in his ignition switch key. Drilled holes in his bell housing. Dang, he's got holes in his hood and trunk braces. Course he also took out heavy stuff like his convertible top. His, street driven stock engine car could run with my stock weight, m45 powered 91 just due to his lower curb weight.
Another buddy, an ex motorcycle racer, worked on my track car years ago for a full Saturday. Nothing he took out was huge, but at the end of the day he had 18 pounds worth of crap in a box that was ends of long bolts, excess wires, scrapped off undercoating, unused brackets, light bulbs etc etc. Real silly stuff, I thought, until I saw the total weight he had accumulated.
Made me a believer in the back packer philosophy of ounces makes pounds.
#236
We've cut out the rear quarters and put a fiberglass overlay panel on. Primary purpose of this was to get the wider track (+4"), and cover the slicks, but with the thin race fiberglass vs the steel we removed it has to weigh less - I just didn't thnk to do this while we were modding the car.
#237
To go totally nuts, strip the tub, and dip it to remove all caulk and sound deadener that Mazda put on the thing. While it is naked, you can seam weld it too! I did it for my Prod car, but kick myself for not doing a before and after weight to see what we did.
Last edited by Team DNR; 12-03-2013 at 10:23 AM. Reason: Editing by Forum
#240
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Problem is, there's some areas that I want silicone, undercoating, etc. so if you strip it all off, you'll be adding it back to certain areas later. Nice thing about it though is having a bare tub to weld to without having to prep for hours first..
-Ryan
-Ryan