how i get as much weight out of the original shell & suspension as possible
Turbo Mini Forums

I'm fitting grp bonnet & boot both single skin, but need to be secure as its adaily drive, HOW TO! whats the best route to take, cheers guys, i also have grp door skins, whats the best way to fit these also, much appreciated guys

Edited by clubminiflip on 23rd Sep, 2006.

SKYLINES ARE LIKE CLITS, EVERY FLANGE SEEMS TO HAVE ONE: see this sticker on my silvia

the Search-section on this forum is blummin superb & simple to use, unlike some other forums, without the search-section & the help of this bunch of chaps on here i'll never be able to !!!Start the day with a 998cc turbo!!! :) i'm getting closer though!

Tom Fenton says: I have it all, make me an offer

This must be the longest topicname ever :)

www.shag.no

yes .. think it is ..lol..

Everyone knows that instructions only have to be read if the thing doesn't work....

I've no idea how you would make it secure. Have a flick through the demon tweeks catalogue, there might be something in there.

The normal boot and bonnet on a mini are hardly secure anyway.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

So you specialise in man-traps too!

Blimey. Thought it be all quiet and peaceful down in that neck of the woods.

Here's me living in the sprawling metropolis, never once had a problem like that.

Andy

sorry to bring this subject up again, i was hoping you guys would check a pic of a shell on the link below, you'll have to scroll down the page a little:

http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/index...pic=7743&st=210

its a shell that the guy at custom minis in brum has,

my question is can i drill my shell in a simular fashion to reduce weight

i have grp bonnet & boot, no interiour at all, just 2 seats, 6 point bolt in cage, central section of the rear valance removed (valance closing panals left for MOT purposes) the central section of flappy tin between the teardrop mounts on the front panal is being removed too! no rear bins due to cage & harness's, all sound deadening removed, polycarbonate rear screen & rear side windows,

where else can i reduce weight in the car, i presume its down to drilling holes in non structual panals but need some advice,

also can some standard sbframe/suspension parts be lightened if so how?

i have no budget for alloy/titanium/carbon components, so want to remove as much weight as possible out of the standard parts without loss in strength, i dont want to flipfront my car at the moment due to the front end being in good condition

cheers guys, mini is on a diet!!!!!!

Edited by clubminiflip on 23rd Sep, 2006.

SKYLINES ARE LIKE CLITS, EVERY FLANGE SEEMS TO HAVE ONE: see this sticker on my silvia

the Search-section on this forum is blummin superb & simple to use, unlike some other forums, without the search-section & the help of this bunch of chaps on here i'll never be able to !!!Start the day with a 998cc turbo!!! :) i'm getting closer though!

Tom Fenton says: I have it all, make me an offer

Out of curiosity.....a Mini bonnet isnt exactly heavy anyway.
What sort of weight saving is there with a GRP bonnet ???

I ask, as I had a kevlar single skin made for my Granada, and it ended up around 11kgs, where as the steel one was a whopping 23 kgs.
The saving wasnt worth it though IMO.

As for securing it.
At the front I have to flush bonnet pins. At the rear, I reused the original hinges via a piece of angle iron bonded onto the Kevlar skin, with what looks like fibreglass resin.
The people who made it did this.

Now, I was a little sceptical about how strong this would be, and at speeds, my bonnet does some serious flapping about.
This pic was taken probably at around 130mph. You can see what shape its in !!



Over the standing mile, I hit 187.8mph and the bonnet stayed secure.
The angle iron bonded on is only about 6" long at each side. On the top speed run, the aluminium bonnet pins even bent, the bonnet was under that much "lift" at the middle, it pulled the pins inwards.

So I'd guess bonding fixings in a similar fashion should be fine for a Mini.

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

pics of fixings

Just links, as pics have deliberately been left full size.

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/460/img0478tu6.jpg

http://img54.imageshack.us/img54/1800/img0479tr9.jpg

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

having seen your bonnet (!) its incredibly thin and much more bendy than my mini one

plus the mini is much shorter so it wont flex as much, and we dont see 187mph

although i dont think its wise to be removing any of the front panel though

Its about 6-7mm think I thin....havent actually measured it.

But it was made from Kevlar for that reason. GRP would have required an inner skin for strength, and that added extra cost for moulds etc, so I opted for a single Kevlar skin.

It is wobbling about a lot, but it is actually very very strong stuff !!!

9.85 @ 145mph
202mph standing mile
speed didn't kill me, but taxation probably will

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

i know the miglia race cars have lots of carbon & carbon rear parcel shelves are available, can i cut the shelf out & leave say a 2" wide lip & put a carbon replacement in its place & i thought if i brace the rear arches i could take a holesaw to the rear firewall @ measured intavals, the rear c post uper seatbelt mounts are going when i fit my poly windows, is there any other metal in the shell i can remove, i think ive done most other than a flip-front to be honest, cheers again

SKYLINES ARE LIKE CLITS, EVERY FLANGE SEEMS TO HAVE ONE: see this sticker on my silvia

the Search-section on this forum is blummin superb & simple to use, unlike some other forums, without the search-section & the help of this bunch of chaps on here i'll never be able to !!!Start the day with a 998cc turbo!!! :) i'm getting closer though!

Tom Fenton says: I have it all, make me an offer

i wouldnt touch the bulkhead, if in a few years you want to carry out some proper motorsport you will have to go round sealing up the holes again

on a 1.5" hole i saved 5 grammes so your not looking at loads of weight saving for 10 or so holes

leave it as it is

as for the parcel shelf, i think thats what jim has done, have a look on his site and hunt down some pics

Edited by Nic on 27th Sep, 2006.

What is the point in going so mad with weight saving on a road car?

If you are that intent on saving weight then a single lightweight bucket seat will save you kg's as opposed to a few grams here and there, gained by cutting a good shell to bits.........

toms right, on a road car you may as well as just take a crap before driving, rather than spend ages cleaning up the shell.

if your a flash git though, a carbon fibre shelf does look the biz....



youll only need to leave a small gap around the edge, say 20mm to bond it too, and id also advise leaving a central rib for a bit more rigidity.

to be honest though its only a minor weightsaving.

jo

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

do ya know somat, you guys are a good bunch really aint ya's, i do bug ya's with my questions i admit!

i am a bit banana's with the weight reduction but in the non-spending of money manner!

just trying to get as much of the shell weight down as i possibly can, cheap acceleration, better handling, less fuel & less wear n tear on my car overall is my thinkin behind it & maybe some decent times at avon nxt yr!!!!

i'm removing all the interiour metal tags at the weekend that normally hold the sound proofing in place, & any un-needed tags/tabs from the floor outside, any other areas plz plz say

Tom you have my plan there i reckon with the single lightweight seat, that'll just go in for trackdays etc, day to day it'll have 2 comfy chairs P

i think i'll do the parcel shelf idea but leave the rear bulkhead be as NIC & JOEYBABY are saying! not sure aboutthe flash carbon uless i get one frm santa )

any other cheap weight reduction ideas plz let me know!!! cheers

SKYLINES ARE LIKE CLITS, EVERY FLANGE SEEMS TO HAVE ONE: see this sticker on my silvia

the Search-section on this forum is blummin superb & simple to use, unlike some other forums, without the search-section & the help of this bunch of chaps on here i'll never be able to !!!Start the day with a 998cc turbo!!! :) i'm getting closer though!

Tom Fenton says: I have it all, make me an offer

minis don't have the tar sound proofing like metro's do they??

If it were present chipping all of it out will save a fair few kilos, i got nearly a bucket full out of a metro, must have been getting on fo 5 kg,

apart from that a pir of minifins on the back will hardly break the bank aand kill a couple of kilos of unsprung weight.

erm, perspex window's? that'll make a difference.

maybe, cut out the spare wheel well and fibreglass it over?

just stick/rivit on a aluminium plate

just look at everything that you take off the car and look how it can be safely made lighter

after a few years of using it you will have more ideas and notice more things that dont get used, then you can trim these off and take some more weight out of it

nic cheers again, nxt is the boot floor i think, the spare wheel well must weigh quite a bit really, can i remove a large portion of the boot floor, including the battery box & put the spare wheel & battery in the car, & use a relativly flat grp panal to cover the hole, then it would make access to my hilo's superb! & surely the battery & spare wheel in the car would improve weight distributuion

SKYLINES ARE LIKE CLITS, EVERY FLANGE SEEMS TO HAVE ONE: see this sticker on my silvia

the Search-section on this forum is blummin superb & simple to use, unlike some other forums, without the search-section & the help of this bunch of chaps on here i'll never be able to !!!Start the day with a 998cc turbo!!! :) i'm getting closer though!

Tom Fenton says: I have it all, make me an offer

the best one-off weight saving is probably ditching glass and going for placcy windows, this saves a shit load of weight and its got the double whammy of lowering the centre of gravity (that heavy glass is quite high up)

but its prob not the best idea for a road car.

If your getting ultra anal about it, go for unsprung weight like wheels, hubs, brakes, tie bars, driveshafts and shockers, in theory its these parts that really improve handling and acceleration.

if your running a std flywheel, lighten that, theres a formula somewhere that determines the equiv weight saving (something like every 1lb off the flywheel = 11lb off the car...?)

as for the boot floor, do a search, i did this mod and weighed both the carbon floor and the metal id cut out, the saving wasnt that great, but on a race car every little helps, and it also looks trick so...:)

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

Also you need to realise making the car lighter is all well and good but driver technique and experiance as well as outright tallent will make it a lot quicker on the drag strip than saving 100gs choping bit out of the rear bulkhead etc.

I would take the lightening of the car so far get it down the drag strip, make the most of what you have, then make some further modifications. That way you will know what works and what does not.

however, as a supermarket would say:
"every little helps"

Nic I would not argue that every little helps, but what is good is to find out how little makes a difference

Edited by Stig on 28th Sep, 2006.