Drop in carbon fiber hood vents
I'm very happy to hear that. Sorry I haven't updated this thread, but I've been working out of the country for the past year+ so the car is in storage and hasn't been touched since. As soon as I'm back later this year I'll get back to it and make more custom parts. I have a lot of ideas on what else can be done particularly with focus on functional pieces. I'm still subbed to this thread and have no intention of ever selling this car so I'll def continue developing it and making custom carbon bits and pieces.
Sorry for lack of updates. Unfortunately I've been working out of the country for the last year+ so no updates until I'm back later this year. I'm def going to continue...no intention on ever selling this car, it's an excellent platform for messing about with fun engineering ideas.
Last thing I've done before I put the car in storage was update and re-clear my front splitter...
re-stack and install a Tomei LSD
and go to Lime Rock Park....where I promptly killed my headgasket
still....it was a fun time
so when I'm back in the country I have a lot of work to do.
Last edited by Row2k; Feb 13, 2024 at 09:03 AM.
I am building my car to compete in SCCA T3 and GRIDLIFE street class which have very restrictive rules and I am very interested in the effects of moving stuff to the rear.
I had been thinking about replacing the crash bar with a tubular "bash bar" to shave a few pounds, but the carbon one is way cooler.
I am wondering if its almost more beneficial to keep a heavy, stock sized battery and move it to the rear to further balance out the front-heavy nature of the stock car. I have been able to get over 100 pounds out of the rear, and can probably go much further by taking things like the rear seatbelt retractors out (Seats have to stay though as per the rules, unless I get a cage).
However its basically impossible to get any weight out of the front. So far done a wire tuck, removed all the harness brackets, lighter radiator and fans, plastic kintex upper plenum. I haven't gotten the car on scales yet but I would guess its probably now 57/43 weight distro.
Moving a ~30lb battery to the back would help a little, as well as the windshield washer fluid like you have done here. Coolant overflow in the battery compartment was an excellent idea. These cars have the luxury of being able to fit HUGE tires in comparison to the other cars in class so I am not super concerned with the overall weight. More so the distribution of weight.
I am moving to bucket seats soon, I am thinking about sitting myself literally on the floor, getting a really deep dish steering wheel and sitting super far back in the car.
I'd love to hear everyone else's ideas. If this isn't the right place for this discussion ill happily make a new thread.
I had been thinking about replacing the crash bar with a tubular "bash bar" to shave a few pounds, but the carbon one is way cooler.
I am wondering if its almost more beneficial to keep a heavy, stock sized battery and move it to the rear to further balance out the front-heavy nature of the stock car. I have been able to get over 100 pounds out of the rear, and can probably go much further by taking things like the rear seatbelt retractors out (Seats have to stay though as per the rules, unless I get a cage).
However its basically impossible to get any weight out of the front. So far done a wire tuck, removed all the harness brackets, lighter radiator and fans, plastic kintex upper plenum. I haven't gotten the car on scales yet but I would guess its probably now 57/43 weight distro.
Moving a ~30lb battery to the back would help a little, as well as the windshield washer fluid like you have done here. Coolant overflow in the battery compartment was an excellent idea. These cars have the luxury of being able to fit HUGE tires in comparison to the other cars in class so I am not super concerned with the overall weight. More so the distribution of weight.
I am moving to bucket seats soon, I am thinking about sitting myself literally on the floor, getting a really deep dish steering wheel and sitting super far back in the car.
I'd love to hear everyone else's ideas. If this isn't the right place for this discussion ill happily make a new thread.
Another immediately easy item to remove is these stupid things from behind the crash bar:
These are the crash supports, they are steel and at the very front of the car. Off memory they are like 10 or 12lbs each and in the worst spot in the front of the car.
Problem is they are meant to work like harmonicas during impact and crush, so if I replace these with carbon bits I will get in touch with a local university and ask them for a quote on impact or compression testing so I can match the crush forces these are meant to absorb with whatever I make from carbon. If you don't care about that kind of stuff, then just have someone fab something up from aluminum to replace these stupid things. The front crash bar is aluminum btw, hence why replacing it with carbon like I did is nice, but you will get equal if not better weight savings by just replacing these steel pieces.
I completely agree about the battery relocation. If you are looking for better weight distribution then keeping a stock battery and moving it to the rear is a solid option.
edit: I forgot to mention one more thing. There are now maaaaaany options for electric power steering pumps. BMW makes a bunch including for the mini cooper if I recall correctly. Pull the hydraulic one off the front of the motor and swap over to the electric one in the trunk of the car along with the batter relocation...perfect to do together. Just some extra lines to run, but the added benefit is with so much extra fluid in the line you probably won't need a power steering cooler...win-win.
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