losing weight...

[tom'72]

Anyone have any tips on how to shave of more weigt from my '72 standard bug?
These are the current and future mods I have:
cf front and rear hood
cf running boards
cf dash + cf doors
cf mirrors
cf fenders all round
cf rear apron
plexi side windows
completely stripped interior with only gauges and 2 racing buckets
will be getting lightweight wheels (propably BBS Le Mans)
also will be relocating the battery to the front

any others things I'm missing here?

[Troy_Audio]

what do you think it is right now?
I have a fiberglass front clip on my 65'
Just wondering what you think the weigh my be..

Peace Troy

[libila]

With all that is listed I think that car will be sub 1,600 pounds. That's pretty damn light! How light do you want to make it?

[tom'72]

How light do you want to make it?

as light as possible without wanting to go airborn
May be installing a cf kamai front splitter for better downforce + a rear spoiler for high speed stability.

The engine I'm putting in is a 2.0 sequential turbo Subaru boxer with 280HP@ the flywheel stock and will be upping the boost to +/- 340HP.

[libila]

You do realize that this car will absolutely rip up the asphalt if it's that light with that much power right?

I would stop where you are as far as weight saving goes and start worrying about stiffening up the chassis to handle all that power. I'm assuming you already have a roll cage installed or in the cards.

[Kafer_Mike]

What is your intent and purpose? You wouldn't catch me on the track without a full cage with door bars with CF doors. And never on the street...

[Uber Affe]

Yeah...Where will you use this thing?
Firstly, I whole heartedly agree w/ the comment on the roll-cage.
Losing more weight isn't worth a damn if your car (or you) twists in half on the first hard corner or (worse) hard crash. With that said...

Assuming you are going to just use it on the track:

Lose the bloody hood hinges. They aren't worth a damn and weigh a ton.
Replace them w/ aluminum hood pins front and back.

Of course...use carbon, aluminum alternatives where ever possible.

I wouldn't even bother w/ a c/f/ dash on a '72. What do you really need it for?
Wiring cover?

I assume you've considered losing the spare? If it lays flat in the car it could save your life in a crash. It weighs heavy, but you need more weight in front anyway. If you HAVE to lose it, consider the porsche "mini-spare" as an alternative.

Lightened struts would help a great deal.

A professional racing style tank w/ as little fuel as possible.

Lose the front turn signals and incorporate them into the headlights.

Ditch the passenger seat.

lose the door glass. You mentioned the rear. Were you losing the door glass as well already?

Strip all the paint off and go with just enough to protect the metal or possibly a clear coat? Paint weighs too.

Lose weight yourself. in all seriousness.

Lastly, take a good long look at that engine. Is there ANYTHING you could lighten there?

All in all...there is probably a vast number of other things I'm leaving out...
Well, maybe not.

Weight loss just isn't THAT crucial with the engine you're talkin about.

I'd keep some just to stay on the ground on corners.

...Wear a helmet. Good luck!

[tom'72]

Thanks for the input guys.
I have a 6 point roll cage ready to be installed and a Käfer cup brace also.
I might be dragracing the car a few times a year (not many events here in Belgium) but mostly as a fun car on my days of of work on a nice day (I imagine it will have lots of wheelspin in the wet)
cf dash is for esthetics and to house the dakota digital gauges to monitor the engine.
As for the spare tire, I had to put a radiator in the spare tire well.
Maybe I'll be getting the wishbone suspension front axle (see "suspension" on this board) if it is ever sold.

[southysuper]

how about cf wheels? they may shed a few pounds. I'm not sure if the offset would be correct, but it's just an idea
http://www.carbonmadness.com/products.html

[1303mark]

remove bumpers, maybe you already done that.

remove all sound proofing

get a hole saw and start drillin 1-2" holes in the body where there is a double skin,

assume you have a cage.

small alloy petrol tank

no spare tyre.

remove all paint then just laquer it up (extreme demends how far you wnat to go). (i think the first racing merc had to do this in order to qualify for its racing category, it was an alloy body, then became known as the silver arrow - look it up.)

you may be able to do something with the headlights / tail lights

erco racin wheels