The weight saving thread

[Phil West]

incidentally the lightest starter motor I could find was the Brise Electrical porsche 911 based one, 2,577 grams.  It's a great starter too.  Significantly lighter than the Hi-Torque and more reliable.

Also I saved 8 grams by hollowing out the 3 pinch bolts on the transmission plus I cut and dished the heads on them.  Coudn't find them in Titanium as they were a weird fit.

ERCO race weight wheels are 2 pounds lighter each than original BRMs.  And I shaved a few grams on the tyre valve using ally bolt in valves.  M&H slicks were miles lighter than Phoenix.

Varley Red Top 15 is the lightest battery I could find but still weighs in at a hefty 10 pounds.  AVO ally shocks are each over a pound lighter than Konis.

Still need to single skin my glovebox lid and rear valence.  Then replace the braided fuel line with solid.

Other tips use light weight oil like a 5W, much lighter over 6 litres.  Anyone know the relative weight saving of Nitrogen in the tyres over normal air?

[Jim Ratto]

Saving weight has been a priority in my car too. I have only the bare necessities. It dose not looked cut up though. I left all original glass too. I did weight it all and came up with 130-140lbs I took out of it. Should be good for 2 tenths or so. We always talk about the "car" weight, well look at the beer drinkin' drivers!!! The car doesn’t go down the track by itself. I have been trying to lean down myself. Lost 20lb over a year or so. If you want your fast time slip, I vote John Rayburn as your driver!! Sorry John I couldn't resist. Casey

 

[benssp]

incidentally the lightest starter motor I could find was the Brise Electrical porsche 911 based one, 2,577 grams.  It's a great starter too.  Significantly lighter than the Hi-Torque and more reliable.

Also I saved 8 grams by hollowing out the 3 pinch bolts on the transmission plus I cut and dished the heads on them.  Coudn't find them in Titanium as they were a weird fit.

ERCO race weight wheels are 2 pounds lighter each than original BRMs.  And I shaved a few grams on the tyre valve using ally bolt in valves.  M&H slicks were miles lighter than Phoenix.

Varley Red Top 15 is the lightest battery I could find but still weighs in at a hefty 10 pounds.  AVO ally shocks are each over a pound lighter than Konis.

Still need to single skin my glovebox lid and rear valence.  Then replace the braided fuel line with solid.

Other tips use light weight oil like a 5W, much lighter over 6 litres.  Anyone know the relative weight saving of Nitrogen in the tyres over normal air?

You're a sick man Phil

[Adele AW]

This is good stuff! I'm lightening mine but on the less extreme side of things and going with a bit more glass fibre body parts! I have a bonnet, wings, carbon running boards, should be ordering doors this week and I'm having a decklid made also based on my 59 year decklid!

I've got lightweight strange brakes all round with rear Erco's and Weld fronts with M&H slicks/front runners and I'm having the seats built into the cage.

Also the hosing I have is the lightweight cloth braid from Jegs, it has all the same 'properties' as the stainless steel braided hose but much lighter!!

Steve

[Rocket Ron]

Start off with a late base model  European 1200 circa 1970-73
No body trim, single horn grill, No padding on the dash or steering, Minimal carpet and sound deadening just rubber mats,  Minimal instruments ie no fuel gauge or dash grill, minimal  headlining no window trim, thinner steel  construction to the body shell. I think its several kg lighter ( i think i’ve read 50kg) than an early 60’s late 50’s car and short panels ie less weight

Not too bad a start. 

then you guys can get all anal about weight saving form there 

[Fasterbrit]

Hey Phil/Pete if you ever go for a Chevy journal crank on a future engine, let me know as I have a set of Jet titanium conrods stashed away for a rainy day. They weigh in less than 2/3 of the weight of H-beams!

[colin jardine]

Interesting read!!  I've not really looked too far into weight saving with my car yet....there are some good tips here

Anyone know the relative weight saving of Nitrogen in the tyres over normal air?

Nice idea!  Nitrogen is slightly lighter than air, but not by much.....something like an 8% saving.....i've read somewhere pro cyclists use nitrogen in their tyres as being an inert gas it's not affected by temperature change like air is.  I wonder if drag racers anywhere do this too to ensure consistency?!?

Something like Helium would give good weight savings, problem is it's so light it would probably escape through the sidewalls!!

[Zach Gomulka]

Nitrogen is (somewhat) widely used for tires. It helps the rubber last longer, and doesnt fluctuate like normal compressed air does.

[Bruce]

....  Nitrogen is slightly lighter than air, but not by much.....something like an 8% saving.....i've read somewhere pro cyclists use nitrogen in their tyres as being an inert gas it's not affected by temperature change like air is.  I wonder if drag racers anywhere do this too to ensure consistency?!?

That is a myth.  Nitrogen behaves according to the Ideal Gas Law, just the same as air, which, by the way is 78% Nitrogen.  There is no weight savings by replacing the 21% Oxygen with Nitrogen.

[ESH]

...There is no weight savings by replacing the 21% Oxygen with Nitrogen...

The only advantage I can think of is that filling from a bottle rules out impurities/contaminants. I think old lower mileage tyres sometimes suffer from rotting from the inside out which is probably due to moisture in the 'air'. It might go some way to preserving older rarer tyres.

 

[Phil West]

nice pics of tranny stuff......I just drilled my clutch cable conduit which is also well over engineered.  It's amazing how so many of the original VW parts were overengineered for strength.  May try to get some pics on here if I get the time

[BeetleBug]

May try to get some pics on here if I get the time

Please do.

BB

[John Rayburn]

Saving weight has been a priority in my car too. I have only the bare necessities. It dose not looked cut up though. I left all original glass too. I did weight it all and came up with 130-140lbs I took out of it. Should be good for 2 tenths or so. We always talk about the "car" weight, well look at the beer drinkin' drivers!!! The car doesn’t go down the track by itself. I have been trying to lean down myself. Lost 20lb over a year or so. If you want your fast time slip, I vote John Rayburn as your driver!! Sorry John I couldn't resist. Casey

                                                 I'll drive!!

[Fastbrit]

Saving weight has been a priority in my car too. I have only the bare necessities. It dose not looked cut up though. I left all original glass too. I did weight it all and came up with 130-140lbs I took out of it. Should be good for 2 tenths or so. We always talk about the "car" weight, well look at the beer drinkin' drivers!!! The car doesn’t go down the track by itself. I have been trying to lean down myself. Lost 20lb over a year or so. If you want your fast time slip, I vote John Rayburn as your driver!! Sorry John I couldn't resist. Casey

                                                 I'll drive!!

I'm lighter than you! 

[danny gabbard]

any hardware could be changed to AN washer's and jet nuts  and if there's no budget get them in titanium

[Bruce]

nice pics of tranny stuff......I just drilled my clutch cable conduit which is also well over engineered. 

What is that part?

I also drilled a 9/16" dia hole through the center of the clutch cross shaft in the gearbox.  It is the late 20mm one.  That, plus the holes in 1st gear idler above was good for ¼kg.

Here is the mid mount I made out of aluminium.  Almost 2kg less than the iron one Berg makes.  I could drill it for even more weight reduction.

[Phil West]

What is that part?

[/quote]

It's the metal bracket that sits on the side of the gearbox that the clutch cable passes through before it reaches the clutch release arm.

[Phil West]

[Here is the mid mount I made out of aluminium.  Almost 2kg less than the iron one Berg makes.  I could drill it for even more weight reduction.
[/quote]

That is very cool!!!!  I spent a full day drilling my Berg mid mount - around 100 holes.  Took the weight down from 2.3kg to 1.9kg.  But it's still MEGA heavy - that's like carrying nearly another starter motor.  I use the Berg solid ally buffers, again I drilled vertically through them to take out some of the metal.  That ally mid mount is a work of art - do you know the weight?  The only concern I would have is that I thought this part would be subject to pretty big forces on launch so was concerned about ally.  I have an ally front mount which was a pound lighter than the grey rubber VW one and an ally rear mount but no ally mid mount!  Have you launched yet with this mount?

I'll try to get photos this weekend.

Phil

[Steve D.]

Here is the mid mount I made out of aluminium.  Almost 2kg less than the iron one Berg makes.  I could drill it for even more weight reduction.

Careful Bruce, I made a snubber bar (Mohr midmount style) out of aluminum.  I had to remove it a few months ago and revert back to good 'ol steel because the aluminum one was starting to look like a boomerang.  This was with 170hp and radial tires in a daily driver.

P.S. shame on you people for even talking about Berg products in a thread about lightweight parts.  The only lightweight stuff Berg ever made was made a long, long time ago.

[Bruce]

Steve, got a pic of the mount you made?

The one I posted a pic of is not the one in my car.  That one is for a 4 gear.  I also made a version of the same mount for a 5 gear.  Since I have a 5 in my car, that is the mount I used.

That brings up the heftyweight Berg 5 parts.  Weilding the grinder, I took out almost 1/3 of a kilo off the 5 speed gear carrier and the 5 speed nose cone.

Phil, the solid aluminium spacers Berg sells are really dumb.  There's no need to make them from 2" dia Al.  1" bar stock drilled to clear the M10 bolt will work fine.

[Bewitched666]

i drilled holes in my pan of my first dragbeetle

[nicolas]

this is sooo cool. i have a type3 and that car is sooo heavy, but i plan on saving some weight as well. clean all arches and drill holes and finish it properly. amausing what crap and excess weight a car gathers over the years. it is not a racecar though so it will still be heavy. but it is a winwin situation as long as safety is not conserned.

and i started jogging. that should get me 8 kilos lighter, if i can keep it up...

[Pas]

My homage to Mark Herbert and the SSB was to get a pair of those cheap plastic Rossi headlights, shocking quality but very light

[benssp]

My homage to Mark and the SSB was to get a pair of those cheap,plastic,Rossi headlights,shocking quality but very light

Welcome to the lounge Uncle Mark

[benssp]

some ideas here

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/9XUKOUbp_PA" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/9XUKOUbp_PA</a>

[Pas]

My homage to Mark and the SSB was to get a pair of those cheap,plastic,Rossi headlights,shocking quality but very light

Welcome to the lounge Uncle Mark

Aloha

[Phil West]

May try to get some pics on here if I get the time

Please do.

BB

[Phil West]

[Here is the mid mount I made out of aluminium.  Almost 2kg less than the iron one Berg makes.  I could drill it for even more weight reduction.

That is very cool!!!!  I spent a full day drilling my Berg mid mount - around 100 holes.  Took the weight down from 2.3kg to 1.9kg.  But it's still MEGA heavy - that's like carrying nearly another starter motor.  I use the Berg solid ally buffers, again I drilled vertically through them to take out some of the metal.  That ally mid mount is a work of art - do you know the weight?  The only concern I would have is that I thought this part would be subject to pretty big forces on launch so was concerned about ally.  I have an ally front mount which was a pound lighter than the grey rubber VW one and an ally rear mount but no ally mid mount!  Have you launched yet with this mount?

I'll try to get photos this weekend.

Phil
[/quote]

[Phil West]

nice pics of tranny stuff......I just drilled my clutch cable conduit which is also well over engineered.  It's amazing how so many of the original VW parts were overengineered for strength.  May try to get some pics on here if I get the time

[Phil West]

all the above are some shots of my car as promised.  I'm rubbish with a camera sorry!

Phil