A few people I know have used the battery loom from a recent beemer to relocate the battery to the boot, works very well....

I'd also suggest going nuts with a holesaw on the bumper irons/supports, ditch the rear window winders, replace the front electric window motors with winders and swap the door panels for some carbon fibre panels.

I might have a spare engine bay loom..... Was hoping it would just involve me cutting and shutting one wire though to be honest.

Also ditch the airbags and impact bars - they're pretty heavy

Chris

A 318I has the battery in the boot. If I rember right its just one big cable (looked like 4awg) from the boot to the engine bay. Then all the other wires came of that.

How about porting the head. That could save a few grams

there's a fair bit of excess weight in the engine bay you could get rid of, if not there is even more behind the steering wheel most of the time. That could help you out.

You could also try never having more than 5 litres of fuel in the tank too.

Not working at the minute anyway as I'm still to try and diagnose what the "high pressure sensor" is - It's what's stopping my aircon from working. Had various reports it might be the temp sensor, or might be a sensor actually in the engine bay somewhere around the aircon area. Damn, I miss Ross being around, who always could solve any problems with one post.... :(

It's on the drivers side of the engine bay behind the fuel filter.

It's on the drivers side of the engine bay behind the fuel filter.

Might be an easy repair then. (compared to rummaging around blindly behind my dash)

lpg and battery would be kept very separate, plus even if the tank fittings were too leak, they're sealed from the top so all the gas would go out through the electrical feed hole cut in the boot floor. Also saves gassing me. Is it just a case of running a 4AWG wire from the bonnet to the boot, a bit like running ICE? I remeber that when you lift the flap on the battery cover, there's another little section with about 6 or 7 thinner red wires coming off it, and then going to various places. :eek: Don't fancy running 7 or 8 wires from the battery....

I think those 7 or 8 wires come off a small bus bar, so you'd just need to sort out mounting, insulating and weather sealing it (to be on the safe side). You'll just be needing the one wire going through the car. A nice fabricated alloy box would house the battery OR if you're beginning to develop a fetish for the black woven stuff..... (although it doesn't stand up to impact damage very well, thinking about stuff sliding around in the boot)

I would relocate the battery box housing and secure it to the boot floor with self tappers.

But wouldent the thick copper wire increase the weight of your car. Also dont you have to have the battery sealed off from the passenger compartment or at least have a sealed batt with a breather running to the outside. Why not move the washer bottle to the back too. you can use the old pipe running to the rear screen to feed the front washers. cant think of anything else that has not been mentioned already. good luck

Also dont you have to have the battery sealed off from the passenger compartment or at least have a sealed batt with a breather running to the outside.

Indeed - your current (ha ha pun) battery needs to vent to the atmosphere (not inside a car)

Indeed - your current (ha ha pun) battery needs to vent to the atmosphere (not inside a car)

From memory it has a breather pipe coming out the bottom of the case. In which "case" I would simply drill a hole through the boot floor and have it poking out.

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

Spend a week down the Gym, you will feel better for it as well :D

Jason, it may be easier to put a really mild Nitrous setup on - if you want to increase power to weight. There is only so much you can do to lose weight.

Mild is the key word unless you want to snap a driveshaft.

I fitted a nitrous setup on my car in 1990 - it would snap you head back when engaged - sorto like going to warp-speed.

Good luck!

Bas

I would relocate the battery box housing and secure it to the boot floor with self tappers.

:eek:

I'd use something a bit more substantial than self tappers mate!! Car batteries aren't exactly light! Brackets and bolts would be a lot better, imho......

LPG + nitrous = lots of potential to kill your engine (IMHO of course )

That said it would be interesting

:eek:

I'd use something a bit more substantial than self tappers mate!! Car batteries aren't exactly light! Brackets and bolts would be a lot better, imho......

I think a dozen self tappers would provide the same level of security. There's only about 2 bolts that holds the battery housing in in the engine bay. I'll make sure all is OK.

Talking of weight saving... took my rear seats out to clean the car... shocked at the noticable difference in driving the car with them out, just need to shed the pounds myself now lol!

Talking of weight saving... took my rear seats out to clean the car... shocked at the noticable difference in driving the car with them out, just need to shed the pounds myself now lol!

I need to shed the 25 odd kg that's lying flat in my "boot" at the moment.

Ta - Daa!

Varley Red Top 15 Racing Battery | Batteries | Demon Tweeks Motorsport, Motorcycle, Modifying, Parts and Accessories

Mind you, it might be cheaper somewhere else, everything else thieving geeks sell is.

I need to shed the 25 odd kg that's lying flat in my "boot" at the moment.

Thats why i'm leaving me seats out!!

You need more than self tappers to secure the weight of a battery!

Get it VERY firmly bolted down and insulated. Easy to make up a wooden cover and carpet it to protect the battery and much better than using any form of metal or look at using a premade competition battery box

And to the people getting hung up on front:rear weight ratio yes balanced is good but removing weight from anywhere is better. 500Kgs at from and 500KGs at rear is balanced but its inferior to 400Kgs at the rear and 500kgs at the front

A loose surface car cannot rely on carfull suspension tuning but instead has to rely upon fundamental dynamics. Any front wheel drive rallycross car wiil be built with the objective of 90% of its weight on the front wheels!

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.

Surely you'd lose a lot of stiffness? Anyway, in most VAG cars IME it isn't double-skinned there. There's usually an access cover for the fuel sender, so whip that out and have a look.

I'd have thought these days most of the metal that wasn't required wouldn't be there. I reckon your best option is removing trim, changing the glass, and changing parts for lighweight ones where you can rather than trying to cut out metal. I just don' think you'll cut enough out tosave a good amount without making the shell less stiff. How about dropping an email to the people that rally/race the Fabia/Ibiza?