OK, some time between Xmas and new year I am going to be spending a whole day on shedding some pounds off the Furby, and the aim is to weigh all these bits and get an overall weight saving (a permanent weight saving)

I'm after any serious suggestions of where weight / metal can be sacrificed - preferably (ok Definitely) out of sight from inside or outside the car, and not comprimising safety to any major degree. I will have access to metal cutting tools. Mainly an air compressor powered grinding mini-wheel which spins at 25,000 rpm.

First thought is material from behind all 4 door cards. But I've not looked to see yet.

Possibly some material from the boot, from behind the panel that covers the mechanism etc

After any serious extra thoughts. Anyone who just wants to moan or come up with some bull about safety and pointlessness, please keep it to yourself. This is another little project of mine. A bit of fun, without being too silly. Ultimately, less weight means better performance and better economy.

Things to bear in mind:

I rarely run with back seats in (doesn't mean I'm going to hack off the T piece though )

I don't care about extra road noise / sound insulation... Waaaay past that point now.

I would prefer to not generate rattles, as it's rattle free at the moment.

Glass is heavy plastic replacement rear windows

How much cash you got? carbon fibre wings etc

How much cash you got? carbon fibre wings etc

carbon fibre boot would save a few pounds

Carbon fibre panels I could get from the chap who did my bonnet, but everything is WRC, which I don't want - plus it's £2500+ compared to just hacking away some metal.

Nice idea on the glass. I'm aware of a polycarb company up north somewhere. Maybe could just get all the side windows re-done in polycarb. Might be expensive. I'm just after stuff I can really remove permanently, and not replace.

Another thing .......no seats in the back ? do you need the window winders in the rear doors...make the plastic windows fixed

all carpet and sound deadening

glove box lid, stearing column surround, most of dash, how stripped out do you want it to look?

Rather not touch plastic stuff, as its negligible weight. Sticking to metal as lb for lb its heavier. Don't want to touch anything I can visually see from in the car. Sound deadening could be removed. I wonder where most of it is located? I remember there being quite a lot behind the glovebox, against the bulkhead. I think the internal carpet is also layered with a lot of deadening.

I'm not after the stripped out "look" - that's not the point. It's losing weight without sacrificing on the feel of the car visually. I've been looking at piccies of a fabia door with no door card fitted. Looks awkward to start hacking about due to the motor mechanism and wiring.

So how much did you save with the carbon bonnet?

all of the ICE...

proper lightweight wheels and brakes.. youll get better gains from these than hacking away at sprung weight.

It's a tricky one - what kinda things do you need/use? Rear window wiper/washer assembly should weigh a fair bit, any kinda carpets etc will weight a bit.

I'd imagine rear window up/down mechanism could be ripped out, perhaps weld it up instead so you can take the other bits out. If you go for plastic replacement ones, you may be able to rivet them in I suppose

Thing is if you want to keep it visually nice inside, your options will be a tad more limited. If you strip it out for racing, how about putting in a roll cage and then really stripping it down to the metal. I bet the weight difference would be good + roll cage would be good on the track I'd imagine (ps this is based on banger racing, which I know you're not doing, but thought I'd suggest it )

Light-weight racing seats, remove the standard seats etc.

I reckon there must be a fair bit of plastic weight in the front of the car still

Definitely going down the more / most extreme route then :P

Nope, the mongrel will never be a racer, beyond its current amateur occasional trip out in road going form.

I'm trying to think mentally of the metal underneath where the rear seats usually go (i.e right below where a rear passenger usually sits. I vaguely remember it being double skinned.

So how much did you save with the carbon bonnet?

about 20kgs at best estimate, maybe a little bit less, but not much.

TBH you either do it or you dont, theres no point fannying about with a wee skin of metal here, a door card there when all you are really saving is the equivalent of that bag of shopping in the footwell and going for a sh!t before a journey.

Must admit lighter wheels etc would make most sense in that case, the double-skinned metal stuff might work too but dunno if it would make the chassis flex more, which might upset the handling.

There can't be all that much behind you though, normally you'd have your spare to get shot off but you've got the LPG tank in there.

It may (but please check ) be possible to drill a few holes out of there to save on weight, covering the holes with some plastic tape or summit, but whether it would save much I dunno

Side impact door beams weigh a lot. I'd get rid of those first.

Then replace the front seats with fixed placement lightweight race seats. The seat and rails will weigh a fair bit.

Hmmm, the fact "impact" is mentioned there, gets me concerned. I know the doors are rock solid anyway. All options are being considered.

I

The other beauty of doing wheels is the handeling gain you would get. Carbon door cards look good, but i dunno how much weight you would save, possibly carbon foot trays, from outside you wouldnt see the differance unless you really looked, the only problem there is the expense. Electric window motors tend to be quite light bout a kilo or so each, its the mechanisem that tends to have the most weight in my experiance.

Sorry cant see the point. Its a Skoda Fabia, if you want to go faster, buy a fast car!!

You have probably spent alot more than buying somthing fast anyway.

Drive a Evo or GTR. Thats fast. Then spend nothing more!!

Am I just old???:confused: :confused:

Hi

To make it worthwhile, you need to go for serious chopping.

Weight up high is the main enemy, so all side and rear glass replaced with thin Lexan. Lose all the electrical gubbins in the doors, speaker magnets weigh a fair bit, amps / ice in general, as do leccy windows. You may be able to hole saw inner door structure and boot structure. Lose all the sound deadening. Without going completely OTT though, you will be maybe lucky to remove 20Kg without makig it too unpleasant to be in. Worth around 3.5 bhp. Or looked at another way, every kilo gone is equivalent to 0.17 bhp Nice stainless exhaust? Lovely but often heavy. If so, scrap it and go for a bitsa made from Jetex 2" DIY bits. They are about as light as you can build and very very good for gas flow.

Much better to go for lightweight discs, calipers wheels and tyres. Less weight loss but better handling / ride.

Only real way to get weight down properly is to have a hammerite interior, no dash / heater / aircon. Swiss cheese anything you can and remove as much internal structure as possible. Spaceframe the turrets together via a decent 4 corner cage. Essentially a spaceframe with an exterior shell.

Chris

I can't remember where I saw it but using a hole saw to put lots of holes in stuff apparently adds up to a lot without weakening things too much.

What about losing the roof and having a convertible? You wouldn't be too happy with the body flex tho' and you would need a rollbar/cage installed to be safe which would be expensive and negate the weight loss in the first place...

In my case, I could easily gain about 10bhp by going on a diet!!!!!!!

My current wheels are pretty light, so happy to leave them.

I think I will concentrate initially on that wirey padding stuff that's in some areas. Then start removing some bits of internal trim and see where metal can be lost.

Get some light OZ or Team Dynamics 16's.

Replace calipers with alloy ones. (AP's of a CUPRA?)

Replace discs with 2 piece ones.

Replace front seats with one piece racing ones.

Removed sound deadening from under the carpets, behind dash, from the outer skin of the doors and I think you'll find some above the roof lining.

Think thats about it unless you start going OTT like getting rid of the door cards, carpet, hacking at the dash.