weight reduction

[JSE]

ive taken out all the carpet and linings in the boot and cabin. tomorrow night im going to hit up a few minor parts of the dash and centre console.

anybody know of any other creature comfort parts on the mx5 that can be gutted?

joel

[Steampunk]

send Slammer a PM

[wun911]

Are you going to nat meet?

What are your estimates on the weight of carpet? Have you sourced replacment carpet from aircraft?

I have some ideas for you just things that can be removed and put back easily and no coin spent semi practical.

Speakers
Radio
Antenna
Passanger seats and passanger seat belt
Windshield washer bottle/wipers
Tow hooks
Bits of metal that help you to hoist the engin out of the car
Bonnet strap/prop
Plastic such as centre console, fuse box cover and plastic under the stearing rack, glove box lid, wind blocker, door covers.
Remove foot rest
Sun visors
Remove the windows in the door, and remove power window motors
Remove fog lights.
Of course only use 1 key leave the remote and house keys at home.

(Remove air con)

Sky is the limit when you have deep pockets:

Light weight seat
Light weight fly wheel
Replace glass windows with Lexan
Smaller battery
16\" Volk racing wheels
CF hard top and ditch the soft top

[AB7]

You forgot one...remove softtop!!!

[JSE]

still going to be a street car for a bit while i rebuild a bp motor. so most of those things will need to stay wun. i cant make it to natmeet. the carpet weighs nothing, i actually thought it would way a lot more...maybe 6kg in total if even that for the carpet and insulation, not to good on estimating weights but!

still need all the daily running bits like washer bottle and softtop and stereo, sub and amp are for sale but.

few things like tow hooks i have forgotten about.

cheers for the ideas wun. other ideas?

will be taking out the air con as well when its not used as daily.

[kula]

heres the list with weights in pounds

44.00 replaced 16\" chrome rims and tires with factory alloys
38.00 A/C
37.00 soft top
33.00 Passenger seat
27.00 Spare tire and jack
20.00 door windows, mechs, etc
10.75 Door and deck speakers
10.50 replaced headlights with midtenn fixed lights
10.00 replaced P/S with manual steering
8.00 Misc airbag stuff
6.00 replaced flywheel with shaved flywheel
6.00 replaced exhaust manifold with JR headers
6.00 deck lid
6.00 replaced '92 7-spoke alloys with '94 hollow spoke/pad
6.00 replaced catalytic converter with test pipe
5.50 wiper motor, arms, blades, bolts
5.00 replaced steering wheel with Grant GT wheel
5.00 deck/behind seats insulation
4.50 trunk hinges, springs, catches
4.25 bolts and rails for top
4.00 CD player, remote, harness
4.00 Front baby teeth
4.00 insulation under carpet
3.75 pax seat belt
3.75 AFM and square air cleaner
3.50 Speaker wires, +/- wires for amp, antenna
3.25 rear baby teeth
3.00 front air bag sensors, wires, bolts, covers
3.00 trunk ribs
2.50 replaced power windows with manual windows
2.50 plastic engine pan
2.25 Washer bottle, pump, hoses
2.25 dynamat under back shelf
2.00 Fuel line cover, battery cover
1.75 Charcoal canister, solenoid, hoses, harness
1.75 intake brace
1.50 Metal plate under steering wheel
1.50 AFPR
1.50 replaced radiator fans with low profile fans
1.50 replaced hood latch and cable with hood pins
1.25 front fender well liners
1.25 sill plates
1.25 behind seats carpet
1.25 Spare change (under the carpet)
1.00 cut front of cam cover and removed plastic
1.00 sunvisors (both sides)
1.00 rear fender well liners
1.00 soft top latches (car side)
1.00 fuel line cover (on tank)
0.75 Passenger side mirror
0.75 dual exhaust hanger
0.75 pax armrest
0.75 2x speaker covers
0.75 radio surround
0.75 drain tubes and collectors
0.75 Pax sunvisor
0.75 jute under seats
0.75 MSD
0.50 gas lid cable and switch
0.50 hardtop bolts and bracket
0.25 fuel filter cover
0.25 eyeballs and switch
0.25 antenna cable (radio to trunk)
0.25 throttle body brace
0.25 diagnostic connector/airbag bracket
0.25 gas canister bracket
0.25 l-pipe, hose, cover for gas canister
0.25 pillow block for alternator
0.25 radio antenna stalk
0.00 Cruise Control (not sure of weight)
0.00 Trunk carpet (not sure of weight)
0.00 Trunk \"back\" (not sure of weight)
0.00 rear exhaust heat shield (not sure of weight)
0.00 replaced hood prop with wooden dowl (due to fixed lights)

[redshoes]

Someone (not naming names...) recently made what sounded to me like a really good suggestion as to a good way to get rid of some of the weight in the car in prep for a race day -- rather than stripping off every bit of carpet and trim,etc, etc what about taking up jogging and a low carb diet a couple weeks before and you could easily shed the car of at least a couple kilos of weight...

Seriously guys, not being sarcastic here: I really don't get it. Wouldn't losing weight work well? Or do they count your weight differently to the weight of the car when you are racing? Please could someone enlighten me?! Thanks!

[Okibi]

http://www.lightweightmiata.com/

[wun911]

wow there are others who think like me!

Any pics of thier cars that have been striped out before a race?

Anyone removed an air con then put it back? Did you have to re gas it to make it work again?

[Fatty]

Anyone removed an air con then put it back? Did you have to re gas it to make it work again?

yep you'd have to take it to a shop to get the gas removed , then take it back to get re-gassed.

[Samselectrics]

Someone (not naming names...) recently made what sounded to me like a really good suggestion as to a good way to get rid of some of the weight in the car in prep for a race day -- rather than stripping off every bit of carpet and trim,etc, etc what about taking up jogging and a low carb diet a couple weeks before and you could easily shed the car of at least a couple kilos of weight...

Seriously guys, not being sarcastic here: I really don't get it. Wouldn't losing weight work well? Or do they count your weight differently to the weight of the car when you are racing? Please could someone enlighten me?! Thanks!

If I may make some suggestions.

The new guys will be 10 seconds off the pace by the end of the day. By reducing the weight with all of the things on Wuns list, you maaaayyyyyyyy pick up 0.3 of a second. It really is going to make no difference to your overall times. What it will do is because you now no longer have a roadworthy, registerable car, push you up into open class where you get to race against large, fast cars with experienced drivers that will be 15 seconds faster.

The classing rules are designed that anybody can drive their car as is without changing anything. Results are rewarded to driver ability, as it should be. In the Victoria championship, with our range of different circuits, should come with about 6-10 track days under your belt.

My suggestion is to keep the car as standard as possible and race in Standard or Clubman until you get the hang of it. Then decide how much you want to spend and where you want to race in the next season. Of course the faster you want to go, the more bucks you'll need. This is clearly spelt out in the rules under classing.

http://www.mx5vic.org.au/natmeet/pdf_nm ... 7-2008.pdf

[bensale]

Amazing list Kula, if I was going down that path that would be invaluable.

We really should have a section that has that kind of info (and similar threads like the recent track day for newbies guide)

[Alex]

Someone (not naming names...) recently made what sounded to me like a really good suggestion as to a good way to get rid of some of the weight in the car in prep for a race day -- rather than stripping off every bit of carpet and trim,etc, etc what about taking up jogging and a low carb diet a couple weeks before and you could easily shed the car of at least a couple kilos of weight...

Seriously guys, not being sarcastic here: I really don't get it. Wouldn't losing weight work well? Or do they count your weight differently to the weight of the car when you are racing? Please could someone enlighten me?! Thanks!

might not work for me, 63kg and 180cm (roughly)

[Okibi]

If kula makes a new post with all his data/images i'll put it in the tech archive.

Otherwise he might just tell you to subscribe to Autosalon magazine.

[Grumpy]

I'm in trouble SM. 1.83cm and 96 kg, although I was only 0.03 sec behind my 50kg (wet) nephew at Winton last weekend.