What have you done to reduce the weight of your car???

[Ringo]

Question - What have you done to reduce the weight of your car???

Performance is all about the cars power to weight ratio, right?

Fords over the years have gotten heavier and heavier which has taken the edge off the performance gains.

There is a lot of quality knowledge in this forum about how to get more power out of the engines but what has anyone done to their Ford to save weight?

X Series E Series B Series......bring it on

Do the later fuel injected windsors weight less than older windsors?
Do the new I6's weight less than the old cross flows?
Are their engine swaps which are a saving in weight as well as performance ?
Are BA electric seats heavier and swapping them for racing seats save any kgs?
Does anybody do fiberglass panels anymore?
Is there stuff you can remove without compromising the car praticality?

PS I'm not looking for comments about leaving brother / wife / GF / mother-in-law at home to save on weight - thats a given....i'm looking for technical discussion

[Van D]

Well, IMO if your not going to go the whole hog, most of it isn't worth it.

Generally people do the whole:
Remove spare tire
Remove sound deadening
Take out anything not needed in the interior/race seats etc.

Then things like perspex instead of glass etc etc.

Sure, if your on the dragstrip, go ahead and make a light car.. But for a daily driver i'd rather have comfort than a few points of a second off a 1/4 time.

Things like alloy heads on the windsors (and clevo's now too) seem to help a bit.

[LTDHO]

I've done nothing to the LTD but when ever I make a braket or something i make it from aluminium because it;s lighter. But I have added a stereo which has made it heavier again.

The Vitara has had the rear seats removed. When you have 48rwkw you need all the help you can get!!

[BlueRaven]

Oh yeah, there are all kinds of things you can do.

- Starve yourself
- Shave all your hair off and refuse to wear clothing
- Remove useless things like dashboards, seats, interiors, glass...

[YELLAUTE]

Did my wife put you up to this? She asked why I was makeing the sub woofer removable and laughed when I told her its so when I do motorkhana's in the ute I could leave it out to save weight. I think she thinks its funny I don't try harder to loose some of my 110 kilo's.

[brenx]

This is what I have done so far :

a) dumped the standard fuel tank for a fuel cell. I figured it'd be lighter but in reality it weighs about the same (both empty).
b) removed the factory front seats for lighter late model seats.
c) changed from cast iron -> alloy cylinder heads
d) removed extra leaf springs 7->4

My next things on the hit list are upper arms. XF weigh less than XB ones. I'm also changing the cast iron brake calipers to XF alloy ones. I'm in the middle of changing back to a standard tank thats been modified form my application. The extra fuel capicity will be nice. Not looking forward to relocating the fuel lines, fuel pump and tailpipes though.

Haven't bothered with removing sound deadening etc. I like to hear the CD player every now and again.

[merlin]

I think the one of the best ways is with aftermarket light weight wheels (like those fitted to the DTS Clubby). This reduces the unsprung mass of moving parts and improves handling as well as acceleration.

[Lukeyson]

i could prob loose some kg's myself :

[kooky]

removed rear wing
lighter (significantly lighter) rims 18"
carbon fibre scoop! well OK it was just for looks!!
oh, and no passengers

[Melz]

I'm sure if i took all the chrome work off the XF it would be a hell of a lot lighter.... but that isn't going to happen.

[Ringo]

Yeah the weight difference in allow wheels can be amazing.

Brenx has got the idea going to alloy XF brake calipers over cast jobies and the alloy cylinder heads.

There must be a list of stuff that can be swapped, removed, modified that will remove weight and not cost much money of time.

Think about a bunch of these sort of changes made to you ride. As a total it could save the weight of......well......yourself in the car.

Some stereo gear weighs heaps. Big speakers = big magnets.

So no-one does Fiberglass panel anymore ?

What about bumpers? Some of those weight heaps.

I remember when I used to fit towbars the tow bar unit took the place of the orginal bumper mounts which must have been 8kgs each! Fabricating a bumper mount out of aluminium would have been a breeze and saved 10-12 kgs right there.

Has anyone removed A/C system?

[347Stroker]

I just leave the wife at home.....make a HUGE difference.....ask Ignition about it in his EL

[GreenMachine]

I cut the roof off an XD wagon once - Lightened it considerably, but after a year of hard bush use, the right hand rear sat about a foot too low and the left hand front about a foot too high...

[Redrum]

Originally Posted by XR8fella

i could prob loose some kg's myself :

I second this motion, get Stephen JOHNSON to give us some pointers.......

[brodfloyd]

This reminds me of my aim in life, to make the best typhoon ever.

first start with BF 6 spd auto typhoon, like the ones that got stolen. then, win 10 million dollars and ...

strip interior, put 4 bucket seats in, maybe the dash, no radio, lightwieght door trim, no boot lining, no sound deadener, no spare, no aircon, or fan, or starter button or centre console

re-manufacture every single component i can get off the car ine either alloy, magnesium, titanium or aluminium or any other lightweight material this includes suspension components, tail shaft, diff and axles, brakes, new lightweight wheels, floorpan.

Replace glass with perspex or thiner glass like porshe GT3.

Custom carbon fibre panels all panels on the car Roof, doors, bonnet, quarters, boot, body kit. But dont paint it, cos paints weighs more, one of our sponsers of the forum could do these for us.

get someone like COME racing to recast the block of the six in alloy, and make a few performance mod's to make it go faster/stronger while im at it.

Custom twin turbo jobbie on the engine while im at it, just cos i want to. and work the bastard off its breasts. Boost it, huge intercooler, alloy piping. 2 goodsized turbos that spool at about 1000 revs, really good light and strong components. and the way i figure it, the more i port or shave or grind things the lighter they get. Aluminium ceramic coated exhaust.

Then, maybe, and only maybe if i still have change, rig up a highly modified version of the territory's 4WD driveline to the car, of course it would all be remade out of expensive lightweight materials. Then the car would be like a GTR.... but actually good.

the car would also have a full roll cage, and i'd put a heap more spot welds in it like they do with evo lancers to make it even stiffer. Every bolt or screw or anything that i can get to come off the car will be replaced in a lighter and stronger material, eg titanium screws.

now some of these things would make it heavier, but all of them will make it go faster.

I'd name the car the Ford TyИИИИИing fast. IT would hopefully have about 1000 horsepower, and weigh about 1200 kilos, or lighter, i dont know. Either way it would pretty much kill anything

Does anyone like my dream.....or wish to bankroll it???

If anyone from ford reads it, please build it, even as a prototype, i'll do anything, i'll even build it myself if they provide the money.

[merlin]

Originally Posted by brodfloyd

strip interior, put 4 bucket seats in, maybe the dash, no radio, lightwieght door trim, no boot lining, no sound deadener, no spare, no aircon, or fan, or starter button or centre console

Does anyone like my dream.....or wish to bankroll it???

I'll buy one off you if you promise to have ИИИИing air-conditioning! I dont care how much power it has, I ain't sweating!

[buickman]

Originally Posted by Redrum

I second this motion, get Stephen JOHNSON to give us some pointers.......

LOL But its easier taking weight of the car than diet & excisise.
Watching Rides on foxtel I noticed Boyed Coddington a well known car modifier is half the man he was .

[brodfloyd]

Originally Posted by merlin

I'll buy one off you if you promise to have ИИИИing air-conditioning! I dont care how much power it has, I ain't sweating!

ok, air con is an option, but its special aircon, that weighs less, cos its all made of carbon fibre and titanium

[Falcon Freak]

Got the driver to shed some excess weight!

FF

[Mrs Coyote]

My husband has a Capri Convertable and he has taken everything out that is not necessary or so he says. No spare wheel, no soft top roof, no roof at all. He has gone as far as taking the windscreen wipers off! Bit of bugger when it rains and yes it has happened to me.

[Blue Oval Mopar Man]

Victor Bray told me that he went to Murry Anderson a few years ago and asked him how they could make the door slammer lighter because he wanted to go faster (a fair few years back mind you ) . Murry told him there are 2 ways to go about it !

The easy way would be to build a new chassis using a few new ideas Murry had been thinking about for a while, making the Body parts out of Carbon fiber instead of fiber glass....blah.....blah..... Thats the expensive way !

A cheaper way but Ulimately harder way would be for Victor to go onto a strict diet and exercise program which would involve a huge cutback on the amount of Bundy and Coke he drinks .

Victor said straight away , " So HOW much is this new chassis and body going to cost me ????"

This is a true story straight from the horses mouth over dinner at a restaurant.

This conversation tells me that the competition in the doorslammers must be very tuff these day and Victor is being more seriuos about winning the title back than ever before . Victor in the last few months HAS been losing weight and getting fitter mainly because there a are vey few gains to be made with lighter cars or more horsepower . This makes for some very interesting racing and its no wonder door slammers are the top drag racing category in the country !

[Danny]

Sold the 1600 kilo EF and bought a 1000 Kilo Fiesta

[Nevermind]

employ jockeys to run at the drags, or models...

[Rev28K]

For sprints you have to strip your car of all the unnecessary things (floor mats, spare wheel, all the junk in the back seat & boot). Psychologically it seems to make a bit of a difference. I still feel a bit of a dill on the dummy grid sometimes listening to a CD and with the a/c on when I am surrounded by race-only cars.

The problem is that some of the heavy duty stuff adds weight (which is part of the reason my road car is a bit pudgy). Stronger diffs, bracing, heavy Recaro seats, body kit, etc put back on the weight that the lack of sound deadining, thinner windscreen, etc take out.

P.S. Roll cages are very heavy these days - CAMS says that I had to use chromo (steel) instead of aluminium.

Would I get rid of a roll cage (race car) - nup!
Would I get rid of my Recaros (road car) - nup!


Q. What is a quick way to lose 70kg of unsightly fat?
A. get a divorce.

told the wife to catch the bus :gren:

[HOON69]

carry no hitch hikers
thats my weight reduction.

[Hardtopxb]

A mate of mine shed 122kgs from his xd in one fell swoop, he broke up with his missus....

[EBFalcs]

Originally Posted by Danny

Sold the 1600 kilo EF and bought a 1000 Kilo Fiesta

so you sold 150 odd kw and bought 70 kw or whatever they are

[Lukeyson]

Originally Posted by EBFalcs

so you sold 150 odd kw and bought 70 kw or whatever they are

Come on give him credit, its 74kw !! :

[apolloxbgt]

Originally Posted by Hardtopxb

A mate of mine shed 122kgs from his xd in one fell swoop, he broke up with his missus....

Wow thats a whole lot of Rosie.