decreasing 914 weight Options

[ModPR3]

tried running some searches on this but didnt find what i needed. how can i trim some weight off the 914. all i can come up with is:

fiberglass hood, trunk, 916 front and rear bumber and fender flares. how much do you think these changes will make and does anyone any other ideas for taking weight off.

[Andyrew]

Probably about 100 total... depending on car..

Doors you can loose some weight to.. Interior is minimal, lighting is minimal, heater system a few...

Best thing to do is strip the car, and put back everything you want on it...

And substitute things for f/g..

[SirAndy]

QUOTE (ModPR3 @ Feb 28 2006, 12:31 AM)

any other ideas for taking weight off

lay off the beer??? exercise? (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif)

what's your goal? what's your plan with the car? why take weight off?
racing? if so, what do your class rules say about weight?

fiberglass lids and bumpers are a start. leightweight wheels & tires can do wonders.
anything interior that's not needed. early, lighter doors. remove carpet and sounddeading tar. headlights and buckets. replace floors with alu sheets.
take fan housing and tin off your motor. cut off windshield. cut off targa bar.
drill big holes in anything not absolutely needed for strength, like hinges etc.
remove starter. remove blinkers. remove pass. seat. replace all glass with lexan. remove radio. remove fresh air blower and controls. remove wipers and motor. remove heat exchangers and run headers. replace muffler with straight pipes.

i'm sure there's more ...

do a search here for URY's car, you won't get a 914 much lighter than that ...
(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/rolleyes.gif) Andy

[ModPR3]

QUOTE (SirAndy @ Feb 28 2006, 12:46 AM)

QUOTE (ModPR3 @ Feb 28 2006, 12:31 AM) any other ideas for taking weight off lay off the beer??? exercise? (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif) what's your goal? what's your plan with the car? why take weight off? racing? if so, what do your class rules say about weight? fiberglass lids and bumpers are a start. leightweight wheels & tires can do wonders. anything interior that's not needed. early, lighter doors. remove carpet and sounddeading tar. headlights and buckets. replace floors with alu sheets. take fan housing and tin off your motor. cut off windshield. cut off targa bar. drill big holes in anything not absolutely needed for strength, like hinges etc. remove starter. remove blinkers. remove pass. seat. replace all glass with lexan. remove radio. remove fresh air blower and controls. remove wipers and motor. remove heat exchangers and run headers. replace muffler with straight pipes. i'm sure there's more ... do a search here for URY's car, you won't get a 914 much lighter than that ... (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/rolleyes.gif) Andy

lol i do need to loose some weight.... but yeah the car was suppose to be my daily driver but now im getting a truck and keeping the 914 as my toy and weekend warrior. youve probably seen alot of my post regarding engines but earlier today i saw and heard a porsche replica spyder running the track. absoulutly beautiful in both sound and looks it restored the porsche fanatic in me. so i want to keep my engine porsche and i dont think my budget will allow for a properly built 911 engine so im thinking of getting one of Jakes type 4 kits, which are great engines too. but yeah back to the reason i want to loose weight is a power to weight ratio and handling characteristics. so i have my start of fiberglass and i going to go with your idea of taking out the heater system, heater controls, and run headers. this car is just for play so like the spyder would be it would only be driven in good weather so most if not all of the time the targa top will be off too. what would you recomend for light wheels and tire combo. thanks for the help.

[Joe Ricard]

Panasport wheels are lite and cool.
Tar on floor boards, Stock seats are lite but the sliders are not.
Bumpers deck lids and doors are all heavy especially late doors.

The advice about determine your class before you modify is VERY good.
Wish I woulda done that (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/rolleyes.gif)

[turboman808]

be nice to have a sticky post on the subject.

[johannes]

QUOTE

doors are all heavy especially late doors

What's the difference with late doors. What makes them heavier ?

[Brett W]

Put lexan in the stock early doors and it will weigh less than 30lbs.

The early doors have no door beam. If you are putting a cage on the car use the early doors. If not leave the stock door beams in for street use. they can save your bacon and keep the SUVs out.

[michel richard]

The late doors have side-impact beams and a different window wind-up mechanism.

[lapuwali]

'73 and later doors have side-impact beams in them. The '75/'76 cars also have gigantic and very heavy bumpers. There's roughly a 100lb difference between a '71 1.7 and a '73 1.7, and another 100-150lbs for the '75. You can lose about 175lbs off a '75 by just fitting early doors and bumpers.

It's fairly easy (bolt on parts) to get an early ('70-'72) car down about 1850lbs with no gas in it, which makes it lighter than a US spec Elise. Going any farther starts to cost a lot more, and you start removing things that make it streetable.

[johannes]

QUOTE

It's fairly easy (bolt on parts)

... You forget the cash and the paint (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wink.gif)

[Joe Ricard]

Ya mean I can't keep using rattle cans on my race car??? crap! (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/headbang.gif)

[grantsfo]

As stated above fiberglass or carbonfiber hood and trunk, fiberglass bumpers, use a heat gun and scrape out all the floor tar, remove the sound deadening blanket behind the rear seats, remove the pad in the engine compartment, Remove rear valance, cut out the muffler heat shield, headers, remove all the heater equipment, you can remove lower portion of the dash and save 5-6 lbs, go with early model doors, plexiglass rear window, remove the door pockets/shleves, replace with simple RS like pulls, remove back pad and then install lightweight carpet. Get rid of the washer fluid reservoir if its still in the car. Get a lightweigh battery.

If you want to get more radical you can pull out the radio, front trunk springs, rear trunk springs, remove the headlight motors and fabricate something to manually lift lights.

Also dont forget to focus on rotating weight, wheels and tires, lightened flywheel.

[Joe Ricard]

So Grant, what do you figure you got your car down to now?

[Brett W]

In my opinion until you get really radical, you can feel a more substaintial improvement in acceleration and braking by putting super light wheels on the car. Any 15in wheel in the 10lbs range will make a huge diffence in the capabilities of the car. I just dropped 10lbs per corner on my street car and I can tell you it has made a substantial difference in ride, acceleration, and braking. AS well as handling. It is worth it to got to a 15x7in wheel that ways 10lbs.

[brant]

read your intended club rules closely before touching anything...

example PCA puts anything with a fiberglass panel on it straight into GT and out of the production classes.

my vintage club won't even allow cars with fiberglass panels to get liscensed!

we tried to find ways to drop weight and keep metal panels.

I am pretty sure that I added 200lbs over a stock weight in oil coolers, oil capacity and the aluminum block -6 when we did our car.

Still we got our weight to 1850 wet
so the way I calculate it:
the car is 2139 - 489lbs = 1650 + 200

I think we stripped 489lbs and kept it an all metal car.
not a street car by any means but I guess the point is that there are somethings you can do.

brant

[Brett W]

Acid dip the chassis and all associated body parts.

[ModPR3]

QUOTE (Brett W @ Feb 28 2006, 08:12 AM)

Put lexan in the stock early doors and it will weigh less than 30lbs. The early doors have no door beam. If you are putting a cage on the car use the early doors. If not leave the stock door beams in for street use. they can save your bacon and keep the SUVs out.

lol thanks for that info becuase i definitely want to keep the suvs out.

[brant]

QUOTE (johannes @ Feb 28 2006, 09:26 AM)

QUOTE It's fairly easy (bolt on parts) ... You forget the cash and the paint (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wink.gif)

yeah...
not really cheap.. and not even that easy by common standards. You will have to work at it to get 1850, but its doable. $

brant

[ModPR3]

thanks for all the help you all really answered my question. you guys also came up with some good stuff.

brant, quick question for you. this is mainly going to be a street car but i would like to do some track days. will they still let me out on the track without a full roll cage with all the fiberglass or will they say i cant for safty issues. your opinion on scca auto x too. thanks.