Am considering putting the car on a diet....

[samcat]

Feel it weighs way too much.....
I am thinking of selling the seats:



Full leather year 2000 Jaguar XKR seats.
Electric back adjust,
Electric seat raise/lower front,
Electric seat raise/lower rear,
Electric lumbar support adjustment,
Electric Headrest adjustment.
Also, when the seat is tipped forwards the headrests automatically retract, and when put back into the normal position the headrest goes back to where it was!
Also heated, I havent hooked that part up though.

Does ANYONE have an idea of what these are worth, a pair of complete and fully working, with the wiring up all done (Three wires to connect per seat!). Almost totally perfect condition... I have cleaned/treated the leather every 3 months with Auto-glym leather care bits.

They would be replaced with a pair of lightweight racing seats.

Also, May get shot of most of the stereo... Large subbox (Almost totally fills the space behind rear seat), 2 large amps and amp board that fits above fueltank in a 1303....


Any other suggestions of weight savings that would be worth making (other than myself ? The eberspacer is staying (Hmmm, heat ), the battery is already up the front, not getting rid of the sounddeadening.

Has anyone done this then regretted it? Or very happy they did it? (I am still unsure)

Cya,
Sam C

PS. I would consider just downsizing the stereo... The seats are very special (I have NEVER seen another pair in a vw!)

[boygenius]

Leave the sound deadening as it doesn't really weigh that much.

Just downsize the stereo as you don't need that much of a system in a bug.

Check out the PUT YOUR CAR ON A DIET thread for some good weight saving ideas.

Nice seats by the way.

[3MCRacing]

Just remember that is eaiser to loose 50lbs in in 50 different places than it is to loose 50lbs in one place. i have no sound damping material in the entire car and i scraped off all the undercoating Everywhere i trimmed all excess material from the inner doors i only left enough material to hold the latch in place. the windows can be replaced with lexan. true the sound dampening material doesnt wiegh alot but it ads weight and if your serious about loosing wieght than the sound dampening material is excess weight at the expense of road noise.

[samcat]

I am not that serious about loosing weight... the thing is the seats alone take 2 people to carry (they weigh ****E loads!) PER SEAT! I can just about lift one seat, wouldnt want to carry it anywhere!

The sub box takes 2 people to put it in the car. Again, its very heavy.

Amp board, 2 large amps and some good thick wood.... Very heavy (can carry one half of it myself... Both halves at the same time is a no no!)

So I reacon I can easily loose 50lbs in one place.... probably 50lbs PER SEAT!

Cya,
Sam C

[njv]

hi
those are real real nice seats it would be a shame.

personally i would do all the other stuff you can do strip out your stereo to basics replace variuos bolt on body parts with glassfibre or carbon mmmm a la bonnet decklid wings lexan windows fiberglass bumpers aluminium bumper brackets strip out the carpet remove sound deadening carry a can of tyre weld rather than a spare.

get rid of the heavy back seat make your own minimalistic just in case you have to have somebody in the back seat. door panels strip them out get some ally sheet 1mm thick and go for it i have done my sqr throughout and while the weight saving is not massive its there and when i get around to polishing it all properly before spring mmm. the savings you can make elsewhere are quite a lot !!! but i would keep those seats.

ive got some porsch seats to go in there not that light at 28kg for the drivers with the motors but they just look up to the task!

i really should get rid of my big old bn2 and get a more modern eberspacher as well!!!

but its your call

[samcat]

I think I am on the same wavelength with the seats.... They are too special and really look the part.... Think they stay (for now).
Wings are already fibreglass items.

I will start with removing and selling the stereo... Stereo I can sell for good money, which I can spend on making the engine better, or on rear disks, or 17's....

CYa,
Sam C

[vujade]

Remember, that 100lbs only equals to a 1/10th second quicker in the quarter. So I wouldnt be too obsessed with weight savings unless you plan on drag racing your car & in that case I would probably keep the super the way it is as a nice daily driver & build a nice swingaxel standard beetle for drag racing.

[miller]

Weight saving may not help in the 1/4 but it does TONS of other things. Easier on the breaks, Transmission, Bearings, coil springs, suspension linkages, Bushings you get the picture. Your car will handle better, stop better, go quicker, and feel more responsive the lighter it gets. Also MPG will go up aswell.

[samcat]

Right, all the stereo is out except for the headunit and the front speakers.

Subbox is now sat in my bedroom, same as the amps & board.
Can just lift the subbox by myself! The amps when mounted to the boards weigh quite a lot too.....

The car feels totally different, I can spin the wheels into second gear again, I can make the tyres chirp on every gearshift (other than into 5th )... Handling feels about a squillion times better too

and the 0-60 is down, havent a clue by how much but the car feels much quicker... Stretches of road where I could only just get upto 60 before having to slow for a corner I can now get to 70

I have a few other plans... And will keep everyone posted.

How much does a reinforced bug box weigh in comparison to a 911/01 5 speed?

Cheers for now,
Sam C

[samcat]

Originally Posted by vujade

Remember, that 100lbs only equals to a 1/10th second quicker in the quarter. So I wouldnt be too obsessed with weight savings unless you plan on drag racing your car & in that case I would probably keep the super the way it is as a nice daily driver & build a nice swingaxel standard beetle for drag racing.

Its a GERMAN LOOK bug, not a drag race monster.... The handling benefits are more important to me than anything.

Cya,
Sam C

[samcat]

Oh, I have decided that the seats are staying! They weigh loads buy the weight is fairly central, and they are too nice to sell...

Cya,
Sam C

[njv]

hi
i agree as ive slowly reduced the weight of my car it has become more manoverable .

things ive done so far fiberglass rear bumper and light mounting iron all door panels replaced with 1mm ally panelling back seats gone battery moved up front one ! fiberglass front wing (well the other one was still perfect!) spare wheel empty ashtray!

future plans empty ashtry again ! removal of heavy spirit of the fifties carpet fitment of super leightweight custom made one lexan windows need to find real good quality lexan before i do this fiberglass front bumper if i can ever find another for typ3

im sure i will think of a few more little bits along the way like theres not really any need for 8 speakers 4 of the stereo 4 from my power amp but the jvc ive just got has 2 pairs of 4v cinch outputs and a subwoofer out as well!

good luck with your diet sam

[SuperRSi]

Your rear end will thank you for keeping the seats. Yes, you might be a tiny bit faster, but your butt will enjoy long trips in nice comfy seats. I sold my Porsche Twin Turbo seats and installed Recaro SRD's and I wish I had not. The new seats are not that much lighter and make long trips uncomfortable. The question is how much faster on a long trip are you when you need to get out and "stretch" your legs two times.

And those seats are awesome looking.

Like they said if you want minimal, build a minimal car. And drive short distances to the trailer and back.

Just my opinion,

Randy

[Eurolook71]

I would keep the seats too, they look great!!

As for stereo options now, you could get a 4-channel amp, and wire it tri-way, and just have some 6 inch mids, with some 1 inch tweeters up front in kick panels. For bass, get some partical board and shape/cut it to where it woud fit under the rear bench seat, setting it lower than the support rail that holds the bench some how. Now where your battery used to be, buy a hi-quality 8" (maybe 10"???) inch subwoofer, that is know as a "free-air" sub. These dont have to be in a box, and still create some good low notes. You could also seal the area wear the board contacts the body with some silicone, or some sort of sealent, and spray the metal with the rubberized bed-liner stuff you can get at auto parts shops. Next add some poly-fill, (cottony vibration stuff) and mount the sub!

You may even be able to fit 2 8" subs on either side, but then you would need a greater output amp running all channels. I have a 4-channel alpine and it puts out around 60watts to the front end each channel, and when mono on the sub, has about 125watts...plenty for me!! This would really save on weight, without an actual speaker box, but would still give you a great stereo. I plan to do this with a single 10inch sub just on one side, but personally havent taken any measurements, so I'm not sure a 10in will work!

Just my 2 cents!

[samcat]

Hehe, What you dont realise is that I REALLY know my In car stereo

My steg amp is possibly going to stay... Its a damn good amp, 105watts rms x 4 channels, 2 ohm stable, bridgeable (105x2 & 210x1 or 210x2) and looks really funky.

Problem with what you describe is that I plan on keeping the rear seat itself, I do carry passengers from time to time.... And mounting a sub beneath the seat pointing up will not work as the sound waves cannot get through the material the rear seat is made of without being greatly distorted (makes the bass sound muffled). I have tried this before.

What I have found is a set of 6 inch subs that have 3 inch excursion! Massive magnets and can handle around 175 watts max... They are designed for a 0.1 cubic foot box! Thats TINY. The speaker would fit under the rear seat pointing towards the front of the vehicle (so no seat to get the sound through!) and the box is small enough that I will be able to chuck together a fibreglass enclosure easily (and it keeps the weight down too). I will put together an article on creating a fibreglass sub box for the site sometime too Its EASY when you know how

Once I have sold my existing stereo I will have a more in depth look into small subs/enclosures that weigh naff all.

I dont like infinite baffel subs (freeair) they never sound quite right...

Cheers for now,
Sam C