Projekt alpinweiss II part I - weight reduction

[Rusty]

Right then, the OCD got going this evening as I got bored so I spent the last 2 hours removing and weighing bits from the ar$end of the coupe to give a feeler of how much weight can be removed almost entirely at the expense of quietness

Easy to remove bits, can be done for any occasion:-

Air Compressor - 1.0Kg
First Aid Kit - 1.0Kg
Windscreen wash & WD40 - 1.4Kg
Spare Oil - 3.2Kg
Tool kit, Jack & tyre wrench - 4.0Kg
Parcel Shelf - 4.2Kg
Rear Bench - 7.3Kg
Spare wheel - 23.3Kg (the B'stone Potenza S-03 weighs 1Kg more than an Eagle F1 Asym!)

So that's 45.4Kg if my maths is working right...

Not quite so easy to remove bits:-

Rear parcel shelf supports + speakers - 1.0Kg
Random carpet - 2Kg
Boot carpet - 2.2Kg
Rear seat side bolsters - 2.4Kg
Random brackets etc. - 4kg
'40' rear seat - 5.6Kg
'60' rear seat - 8.8Kg

So that's a further 25Kg

So in total for all my hard work I've removed 70Kg and I haven't started on the front seats, rear door cards or carpet and I'm not going to start on the dash, headlining or plastic trim... It's worth noting that of that 70Kg, 10Kg was just crap in the boot and there is a lot there that can just be removed the night before.

Need to weigh the Recaro Speed compared to the front arm chairs and see how much the rear door cards weigh.

More to follow, here's a pic or two

[Error404]

Thats quite a bit already Andy. With the Recaro in and front seats removed it'll be over 100kg I recon.
i've got some door cards here mate, i'll weight them for you in a bit

[Rusty]

Cheers. Problem is that you need the front door cards in to seal the doors as I found out a few years ago. Rea door cards won't weigh much though.

I think that this investigation has highlighted that removing most of the boot and rear bench but leave in all the fiddly bits like carpets. With lighter seats I should be able to remove the equivalent of a passenger.

What the pictures and figures don't tell you is the noise increase that you get. The howl of the exhaust when the wastegate opens is immense and the rear brakes sound like huge turbines. It's quite an experience

[s2driveruk]

get rid of the rear seatbelts - at least another 2kgs
The foam toppers for the rear struts - 20g each
Rear wash bottle must be worth a couple of kgs too if full

Those rear strut towers look ripe for a strut brace too

Certainly taking it seriously....good luck removing some more weight, would be good to see the impact on handling and unleashing some extra horses too on the rolling road.

Cheers
David

[Rusty]

Yeah, got to be a few more grams there, perhaps a good vacuum to get all the bits of fluff, sand and gravel out would be the way forwards! Rear belts have got to be about 5Kg in total, rear door cards the same, main carpet, sound deadening and other bits a further 10Kg and seats about 10Kg each difference. So that's a further 40Kg, 110Kg in total. Omitting the passenger seat completely would be about 125Kg. To be worthwhile I think i've got to save the weight of a passenger and a cage so about 150Kg. Any less and the reduced practicality isn't worth it. It's damned good fun finding out and a welcome distraction from my daily grind of recovery at the mo.

Got to replace the sound deadening under the main carpet as it's gone rotten so this is actually all part of some large DIY job... honest it is! And yes, that means that the carpet is coming out too!

[Error404]

little tip - cut the carpet down the middle where it goes under the centre of the dash under of the centre console - makes it soooo much easier to get back in

[madwolf_Uk]

Error, will bare that in mind for when i eventually get mine fitted back!

Andy, nice work there, would you want/is there a cheap/light alternative to OEM sound deadening, to keep things a little civalised for road use do you think?

[Error404]

Rear door cards - 2.7kg each
Front door cards are 4.5kg each for reference.

carpet must weight a good 20kg i'd say, maybe more

[dest]

IIRC you cant get the carpet out without cutting it anyway (unless you remove the dash)

[WabTheKing]

stripped!!!

[WabTheKing]

nasty sound deadin weighs **** loads

[Error404]

IIRC you cant get the carpet out without cutting it anyway (unless you remove the dash)

you can get it out, just not back in

[dubmeister]

So in total for all my hard work I've removed 70Kg and I haven't started on the front seats, rear door cards or carpet and I'm not going to start on the dash, headlining or plastic trim... It's worth noting that of that 70Kg, 10Kg was just crap in the boot and there is a lot there that can just be removed the night before.

So you have removed 70 kg from the rear of an already nose heavy car............................................... .....................................
You really need to start working on the front.... dontcha think??

[dubmeister]

Recaro speed seat weights- pg.5

http://www.recaro.com/fileadmin/exte...ning_Flyer.pdf

[madwolf_Uk]

So you have removed 70 kg from the rear of an already nose heavy car............................................... .....................................
You really need to start working on the front.... dontcha think??

I suspect the front will be a little more difficult, as most of the stuff (ie engine) ya really need