Project "Marginal gains..."
Turbo Mini Forums

I was mainly thinking of drilling the drum and back plate for a cheap weight loss but you have obviously avoided that. Im guessing to keep dirt out or such like?

Im tempted to try a drum setup but ditch the back plate and replace it with an alloy plate to give radial location to the cylinder and adjuster mech but not a whole 'backplate' as such. Ive got an alloy adjuster that just bolts to the backplate and wouldn't be too hard to make alloy slave cylinders either. Obviously cost of mass producing that sort of thing would put you pretty close to the KAD setup tho!

I meant people suggesting KAD's don't work. They do. I know quite a few people who have ran them, and not just on minis. I guess the main advantage of the KAD's over your set up now is the rotating mass is much smaller, and in a better place (when you look at the cross section? Whether that is worth the money I don't know?

I did have some, in a box, then sold them with everything else. I didn't weigh them no. Pretty though, anodised in gun metal.

Edited by alexcrosse on 28th Nov, 2014.

I think if the KAD discs were / are actually 2.7 kg in comparable state to mine at 3.8 kg I'd still be tempted as reducing the rear unsprung is still a priority. Maybe a January sale :)

As you suggest I don't want to drill holes in the drum or backplate as it's all to easy to end with crap getting in a scoring the liners and I don't want to be turning another set down any time soon. My worry with an ally backplate is being a stiff enough base to support the shoes and not losing shape when the brakes are used. My backplates are 300g lighter than std which is as far as I felt I could go.

The front knuckle / hubs are assembled and I can weigh them instead of the estimated assembly weights I have been using.



Thankfully the silver passivate is getting duller as it was tending to look like poor mans chrome.



So all up it's 10.16kg including brake pads, ball joint etc...

I am still considering getting some Ti studs for the steering arms and a Ti through bolt for the lower ball joint fixing.

And depending which discs I use;

Std gives a total of 14 kg per corner



Lightened gives 12.8 kg per corner



Assembled the corners feel stupidly heavy but the heavy option is still 250g lighter than A Series stuff I replaced

Cheers

Edited by Aubrey_Boy on 9th Jul, 2017.

Isn't there alloy caliper options for these? MGF?

They look lovely by the way.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

Cheers,

The MGTF or MGF Trophy (not sure which / or both?) has ally calipers but they require 16" wheels and quite a specific shape as well to clear the caliper.

AP do an ally caliper for the MGF but again 16" wheels

HiSpec do a conversion (with an adaptor) that fits under certain 14" wheels. I think Watsons Rally offered this with their engine conversions.

I know of an XE powered Mini that had HiSpec brakes with 14" wheels and now runs 13" split rims but I am not sure what offset the wheels are and if he was able to still run the HiSpecs.

So I think the it would have to be bespoke with an adaptor assuming that one could be made to fit with my insistence on ET44 as a minimum, I had to modify the brakes and the wheels to even get these to fit.

Cheers

Seriously impressed with the obsessive compulsive lightening going on here.

Ah of course.

In the 13's at last!.. Just

I think that drilling some holes in the backplate and then using rubber plugs to keep the dirt out should still save you some weight. But I have no clue whether it would remain stiff enough.

BTW I'm very immpressed by what you and others here do to get the weight down. If I only had time and tools to follow good examples...

Edited by SadamPl on 29th Nov, 2014.

Made in Poland build thread:
http://www.turbominis.co.uk/forums/index.p...tid=570363&fr=0

Thanks for the comments,

I have taken about 35% weight out of the backplate so I am going to go with it as it is and see if if still works OK, I agree more weight can be taken out but as always it's balancing safety (brakes) versus the amount that can be saved.

Each 30mm hole cut would save about 9 grammes.

Cheers

Edited by Aubrey_Boy on 29th Nov, 2014.

KAD have confirmed that the quoted 2.7kg for the rear disc conversion doesn't include wheel bearings or brake pads.

Getting a few jobs out of the way which don't involve getting too cold

Rear camber brackets are done just need the serrated parts TIG'd to the bracket



Rear drums are satin black now:



Front dampers have been dynoed and put together ready for mocking all the front end up again:



And a few clearance checks with a high positive ET wheel to be done to see if will package and still have steering lock left



Most of the front suspension / brakes are sub assembled now and the rear is progressing slowly, but all just delaying the fact that I need to get in the garage and finish the front bulkhead & engine bay.

Cheers

Edited by Aubrey_Boy on 9th Jul, 2017.

where did you source the serrated plates?

Joe I'm afraid I'm not going to be much help, I acquired them years ago for a test rig I was working on, pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get any more.

I have to say I don't like serrated adjusters, but everything else was going to be heavier. I like the height adjustable hoops even less though, hence the serrations.

Cheers

what spring rate was that, i cannot remember if you said ? looks like a 375/425 sort of range .

Edited by robert on 18th Oct, 2017.

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

Robert,

They are 115 N/mm so slightly over 650 lbs/in

The motion ratio is quite different to standard coilovers but it should be about 20% stiffer than a standard cone would be with a ride frequency just over 1.9 Hz

Cheers

ooof i was way off , the colour threw me !

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

Edited by Aubrey_Boy on 9th Jul, 2017.

oh good grief!

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

silly silly man :) surely theres a more modern, lighter engine could be used? I love the k but it is showing its age somewhat :)

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

weirdly , i think the 2.3 duratec my friend in the caterham is installing (in his desperate need to beat me down the 1/4) weighed in at 3kg lighter than the 1.6 k series ...we found this hard to believe.

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

Easy Tiger

No plans to change from the XE

It came up at a good price and I am probably going to get the Midget finished off by a friend - still undecided what to put in the Midget as I don't want to use the XE in the Midget as much for a change as anything.

I have stripped it weighed / measured and it's quite interesting- not as light as I thought it was going to be, but as I say it's so difficult to get reliable data so I bought it and it got the better of me - I had to see how it packaged compared to the XE.

Strangely, for how I have done things it looks harder to package in a std length than the XE - most of this is the inlet though. Also the XE inlet manifold face is angled up and the K is horizontal so would require some serious bulkhead mods if you try to stand it up or have some nasty swan neck affair.

The inlet ports are 20mm lower relative to the top of the cam cover than the XE which would make it really tricky to get more upright.

The head is really quite heavy, heavier than the XE like for like.

The block however... 17kg, The XE was originally 40kg (according to my notes from a few years ago) It's 38.5 Kg now but it's an enormous difference.

Then silly things like the alternator mtg bracket and the cam cover side engine mount casting are quite heavy, the sump is also pretty heavy but it is used to mount the lower engine steady so I guess it has to have some structural content.

Cheers

EDIT:

Robert,

Any idea what weight the Duratec was? And what was included in that weight?

Cheers

Edited by Aubrey_Boy on 17th Dec, 2014.

i think it was 90 kg, with all ancilliaries off ,eg no exhaust ,or inlet. also , it is a dry sumped cosworth version .so i suppose with the sump design ,that may make it a bit heavier?

shame gm don't make a ally bock ,for the xe head .

Edited by robert on 18th Oct, 2017.

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

Cheers Robert,

I can't remember, I think it's QED, or at least they are a sales outlet, they do an XE ally block and state that it's half the weight of the std but last time I looked it was about £2000! I have considered the Duratec for the Midget due to it's weight but it's quite wide in the same area where the XE is wide (the block / starter motor area) where it mates to the bell housing and I was struggling to get the XE as far back in the Midget chassis as I wanted for weight distribution.

Cheers

what was the k weight? was it more than the duratec?

Edited by robert on 18th Oct, 2017.

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