No, I've not taken out the headlights. :P

During recent R&D work it came necessary to peel back the bonnet material covering on the inside. Well, I went a bit further and took it off entirely, clips and all. Estimated lightening of around 200 grams, my estimate of the weight of the Tesco bag the material and clips are now in.

No discernable increase in engine note from inside or outside either. Also there's something about looking at the ultra clean bonnet metal from underneath. Won't be clean for long I should think.

Might help with engine temps to, although you do have a BFOFMIC for that

Have you removed the back seats yet?

If your after weight saving why not get some lightweight alloys, help the unsprung weight a little, remember IIRC for every 5kg saved on the unsprung weight it's equivelant to 1 bhp

Might also be worth getting a custom made lightweight bonnet to go with your new bonnet lifters and remove sound deadening from the internals, could even consider getting a new steering wheel with no airbag - that should save 40kg. And last but not lest get some perspex windows (spelt wrong no doubt).

DevonUtopia - seeing your ebay items reminded me - do you know which episode has the vRS/mini thing in it? I watch Top gear religiously on sky and see all sorts of episodes going back over the last years but have yet to see it. it was Top Gear wasn't it??

Might help with engine temps to, although you do have a BFOFMIC for that

Walkie, you get that Roadster you were asking about on SmartMania forums?

Walkie, you get that Roadster you were asking about on SmartMania forums?

Random lol, its still a consideration, test driving the new MR2 this Sat and have already test driven a MX-5, so we shall see

sorry, off topic

DevonUtopia - seeing your ebay items reminded me - do you know which episode has the vRS/mini thing in it? I watch Top gear religiously on sky and see all sorts of episodes going back over the last years but have yet to see it. it was Top Gear wasn't it??

Nope, but I know its not on that thing on Ebay of mine. Someone buy my treasury tags so work can have a final nice lunch.

I also removed the two bits bolted to the head, which the engine cover sits on at the front. Those 2 bits weighed a good 300g+ too. The rear grommet will follow soon enough too.

Not sure on engine temps. my mate suggested fitting a backward facing scooby type vent at the back of the bonnet so air can come in the front and out the back, giving good airflow over the engine. That sounded a good idea.

snip

Just to let you know - i had a ForTwo and was looking for a new car for ages, when i saw those pictures of your vRS on the SM For Sale forums i could'nt resist, did my research and went a bought one. Im loving it, so cheers

Apologies for going slightly OT :eek:

Just to let you know - i had a ForTwo and was looking for a new car for ages' date=' when i saw those pictures of your vRS on the SM For Sale forums i could'nt resist, did my research and went a bought one. Im loving it, so cheers

Apologies for going slightly OT :eek:[/quote']:eek: That has made my day

fifth gear did the vrs v mini cooper time tests around ty croes you can view a taster or download the full test at the fifth gear website , the top gear 'race' was repeated on sky just after last xmas they may have a download facility on the bbc top gear website