Project "Marginal gains..."
Turbo Mini Forums

I had seen some people have also turned the fins off their drums, so they look much like a standard drum, but light light!
I have also seen people who have then drilled around the drum face... but i'd be a little dubious about weakening it so far.

David.

Yes mate the plan is to do the same, the previous set I did I painted black but they got tatty really quickly as the rattle can paint doesn't want to stick to ally or whatever alloy they use.

I had toyed with trying black anodising but depending on alloy content they might end up looking kak and not sure what the effect the acid they use might have on the inner drum liner but it would probably clean up with scotch brite on the lathe again

Should have access to a lathe next week and get the turning done then, I much prefer them looking like std drums rather than some 50's Sci Fi spaceship jelly mould

Cheers

The 'shape' of the sump is essentially done and tig'dup



Details like the dipstick hole, drain plug etc will be done when the engine is more fully 'dressed' If we do it now I know we will end up changing it. I might use an 'AN' type fitting for the drain plug as I can't think of a reason not to and it will be lightweight?



I need to weigh my standard sump as this has hopefully saved a bit as well

Cheers

Edited by Aubrey_Boy on 11th Jul, 2017.

boofull.

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

good saveing on those drums didnt reliys they saved so much

is it possible to spin the 1" spacer down id not need that much spacer only need 8-9mm more than std non stepped drums
what im getting at is it solid behind there lol

No I don't think the spacer section is solid

I run a supercharger and I don't care the TB is on the wrong side.
VEMS + 12 PSI + Liquid Intercooler = Small Bore FUN!

ohh k thanks kinder sux

Turbo this,

As already stated it isn't solid but it isn't just fresh air either.

I have seen them turned down to reduce width, but you cannot face it off to the width of a non spacer-ed drum but it is possible to narrow it part way.

Instead of having the solid mounting face you see on the std Superfin you have a sort of pocketed looking mounting face, you would have to keep your eye on it to make sure nothing untoward was happening, I may have to do the same thing myself.

I'll try and take a photo to show better than my description

Cheers

But then you rarely have a flat mounting face on the back of the wheels either.

Mondo Sport take a lot of material off the drums they use on their Miglias. I think Swiftune do the same drilling on iron drums the run on their App K cars.

Turbo This,

I knew I had a picture somewhere, can't remember which car it's from, however...



This shows what you will have in terms of contact area if you did choose to turn the mounting face down.

Obviously this contact area needs to be consistent with the contact area in your wheel mounting face - I think that's what RobH meant?

There are various things you can do to establish if the wheel fixing is safe, (monitoring wheel nut torque / look for signs of chatter / pick up)

But I would have to say if its just for a road car or you have any doubts - DON'T DO IT :) Risk vs reward

Tupers,

Yes there are a few weight saving mods shown in that photo that I have already done (Not the holes!) which I haven't seen on that many other cars

Cheers

Edited by Aubrey_Boy on 11th Jul, 2017.

In my efforts to keep to my sub 600kg 'target' I know I will have to revisit a few areas,

The first of which is;

Knuckles again



I had previously liberated 250g but I tried for a little more



I managed to loose a further 100g, so now 350g total per knuckle



The bare knuckle is about 3.0kg as std, it is now 2.65kg so about 12% saved, the R100 Metro has 20%ish heavier front axle at kerb weight than my intended weight.



A fair amount came from 'knife edging' the lower caliper mount leg

However as a comparison, even with this saving and the drive flange pocketing etc the total weight of the knuckle, bearing, CV, caliper and disc is still 300g more than completely std Mini knuckle with Metro 4 pots and vented discs.

So still heavier than a pretty heavyweight thing - FAIL

Next...

Anyone out there with a sub 600 kg Mini with std front suspension?

Cheers

Edited by Aubrey_Boy on 11th Jul, 2017.

Mine is around 560kgs with Std ish suspension. Ally shocks and ti tie bars, the rest is all steel

Team Racing

Ally tie bars?

In the 13's at last!.. Just

TI tie bars

I run a supercharger and I don't care the TB is on the wrong side.
VEMS + 12 PSI + Liquid Intercooler = Small Bore FUN!

Oh yes. Missed the Ti lol

In the 13's at last!.. Just

Cheers Tupers,

Yeah my front axle target weight is based on a MK1 1275 'S', I figure if I can get near that then getting it to handle will be a bit easier. They are typically quoted as being circa 650kg from all the road test data from back in the day and the MK1 1275 'S' a friend had a few years ago was also at this weight. But yes I think the basic drum equipped MK1 850 was 600kg or less.

The work on the knuckles is really easy it's just having the patience to do it, it was almost theraputic, conventional angle grinder to remove the bulk into the shape you want and then I use a couple of Roloc grades to get a half sensible finish. But I admit I went a bit overboard on the "remove all possible stress raisers" philosophy. I did these a few weeks ago, work is currently halted as I feel a bit under the weather the last week or so.

Thanks Jim,

So you have standard Mini knuckles and drive flanges not ally? What disc diameter (vented?) and I guess you have ally calipers?

From my weight totting up spreadsheet (Some weights rely on t'internet data)

My car before these mods (A series Metro hubs, Metro Turbo drive flanges, vented discs, cast iron 4 pot Turbo calipers, Metro steering arms, dust shield, BJ's, pads) = 14.85 Kg

Std 7.5" Mini (Including all the items listed above) = 13.1 Kg (relies on some internet data)

Mini setup with ally calipers (1.2kg), Ally knuckle (1.3kg), Ally drive flange (0.75kg) otherwise std = 9.4 kg

My current stuff, lightened knuckles, steering arms, pocketed drive flanges (Solid disc) = 15.13kg!

So its giving away 6kg a side to an ally setup, 12kg in total and that assumes no weight is found from lightening discs etc on the A series setup so 9.0kg is possible I reckon.

I assumed that most of the sub 600kg Turbo / K head Minis all had ally front (hubs/knuckles/calipers) setups? Any sub 600 cars with std stuff?

Graham / Mr Lizard,

I don't have Tie bars, just one piece fabbed T45 wishbones.

Cheers

Edited by Aubrey_Boy on 3rd Dec, 2014.

yes I've got steel drive flanges as I don't like the thought of ally ones with 9" wide slicks.

I'm running 260mm vented disks on ally bells with 4 pot Midilite wildwood calipers.

I want to run some of carls ti driveshafts next year, and I think I'm going to have a go at making some ally top arms.

Team Racing

ahh thanks guys im sure when i get my car finished and weighted it will be an easy 750 as its a full trim cluby with a lot of bits added

just gathering info for now till its time to fix the body up then ill look at shedding grams as it goes back together but thats after i get it going and i have time

thats some neat work

Cheers Turbo This,

Jim,

Yeah I know they broke at least one EN24 hub / drive flange on the App K cars so ally might be a concern for proper circuit cars

So for the final instalment of where I saved 2g today...

There were a couple of areas I wasn't sure about going any further so I needed evidence there was enough material. So I took a couple of sections to be sure (from what was going to be a spare - but they are 10 a penny)

The first being the area below the upper ball joint



And the other being on the back of the knuckle near the back bearing face, both are shown in yellow



Red is an area already modified.

So it's now 400g per knuckle (50g more this episode) saved and on to the next bits

Cheers

Edited by Aubrey_Boy on 11th Jul, 2017.

I cannot remember, is your new subframe and spiffy arms shocks etc ,going to come in at less than stock weight ?so wont that offset your hubs etc ?

Edited by robert on 18th Oct, 2017.

Medusa + injection = too much torque for the dyno ..https://youtu.be/qg5o0_tJxYM

Hi Robert,

With recent additions the basic subframe is 11.5kg, (more with the shear panel if when I test it makes a difference). Not sure what people get an A series frame down to, at a guess it is say 3 kg lighter than a partially lightened A series frame?

The wishbones are similar to std Mini mainly because the front top wishbone turned into a climbing frame with the inboard suspension so nothing really saved there.

The coilovers are Protech so similar weight to what most use.

So if a std 7.5" hub/brake set up is 2kg per side lighter than my lightened R100 stuff then yes the subframe puts me back to the combined subframe / brake / suspension weight of a std Mini.

Lest assume the weight I have added (+15kg) to add a Turbo is the same as a boosted A series adds when doing the same.

So if there are boosted A series cars out there which are sub 600kg with std front subframe / brake / suspension (As I can't really save much more weight from these front end parts) then maybe its possible?

If the sub 600kg cars all have ally hubs, ally knuckles, ally calipers then that's 12kg I cannot find easily.

The XE / Gearbox adds 35 - 40kg?

I've got to run 13" wheels with the R100 stuff

Which quickly looks like a 60kg deficit

I have done the lightweight doors / poly side / poly rear windows the same as most of the lighter weight cars.

Rear end wise I have the same options as everyone else (13" wheels aside)

But still chipping away

Cheers