Has anyone got any sensible suggestions on how the get the wieght down on my Fabia VRS without stripping it out?

Want it to look normal so i want to keep the seats, carpets etc.

ideas please

err.... cut the roof off

sensible suggestions

err.... cut the roof off

Hmmmmm

well, how else could you remove weight from a car without removing the interior?? or by having some expensive aluminum or cabon fibre body panels made for it??

Jason (devonutopia) had a go at weight shedding - see http://www.briskoda.net/forums/fabia/mongrel-needs-diet/68015/?highlight=fabia+weight

well, how else could you remove weight from a car without removing the interior?? or by having some expensive aluminum or cabon fibre body panels made for it??

Only thing i can think of is to remove the spare wheel - just make sure you have a can of the tyre moose in case you get a puncture.

When we were looking to shed as much weight as possible from the rally car, there comes a point where you have to look a bit closer to home (yourself!) :eek:

One of the easiest ways is to only ever half fill up with fuel your MPG will be higher your performance marginally better and as your carrying less weight brakes/suspension/tyres will last longer.

You could go further by only every half filling up the screen wash

Take out the de ice as soon as its past that period.

Is the Spare wheel an alloy or steel? If steel then buy an Alloy or you could buy a space saver spare much lighter.

Or you could opt for sealing foam and scrap the spare wheel big weight saving but your running the risk of having to buy a replacement tyre IF you have a puncture within 50-100 miles of it happening (or you just keep going to Tesco to repump it up).

Of course you could lose some weight from your persona

Take out the rear floor mats

Never carry a raod map.

Take out the rear and passenger headrest

Fill your tyres with nitrogen this is much lighter (They use it in F1)

Take off your plastic engine cover take off your plastic battery cover take off the timing belt cover.

Use a lighter battery but it will need the same Amp hours as the std spec.

Get carbon discs

Get Magnesium Alloys

Get plastic headlamps

Remove the bonnet soundproofing

Take out the carpet covers in the boot

Take out the parcel shelf

Deactivate the passenger window i.e. perm close and throw away the electric window system.

all of the above will give you approxiamtely 0% increase in acceleration

edit: plus a lot more noise thrown in for free!

take off the timing belt cover.

Ouch - expensive when you get a stray stone :eek:

Change to lightweight 14's, and nitrogen filled can be an option but it wont help THAT much.. Btw they use it in alot of cars nowadays, I thought the main use of it is to preserve the tyre pressure better..

.....or for people need that little extra of NOS they take the tyre and pipe it into the tank

Nitrogen filling tyres doesn't save weight...

Do you know how much nitrogen is in the air, as a percentage?

Look it up...and as we all know air is SOOOO heavy.

Nitrogen is used in F1 because its more inert and doesn't increase in pressure as much as air does when heated up, as the other components of air expand when heated, screwing up your tyre pressures.

If you want faster acceleration, lighter wheels is a good way...less unsprung weight = better acceleration and handling...although on a heavy road car the results would be marginal.

You must all agree the best way of increasing MPG & Performance is to only ever half fill the fuel tank.

Nearly all other options for a road car will have no noticable effect.

Really though this thread does beg the question - WHY? Is it for more performance higher bhp/tonne? or is it for greater mpg? Or is it something individual?

If its the first why didnt you buy a lighter/faster car in the first place

If its the second why not convert it to run on used veg oil as total fuel cost will be reduced.

The last option well I couldnt care less what you do to it however be aware if you do do something it will effect its resale value in a negative manner + may increase your insurance costs.

Why not buy a go cart twin engine have your fun with that and use the vRS for the A-B stuff which is what its designed for.

[quote=Welshy;895288

Fill your tyres with nitrogen this is much lighter (They use it in F1)

Nitrogen much lighter -

Look at a periodic table.

http://www.corrosionsource.com/handbook/periodic/periodic_table.gif

Nitrogen has an attomic mass of 7 vs Oxygens 8.. if you wanted to save weight it would be better to use helium :p

That plus air is 78% nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% argon 0.03% CO2 and the rest other bits

Nitrogen is used as it is more thermally stable.

Nitrogen much lighter -

Look at a periodic table.

http://www.corrosionsource.com/handbook/periodic/periodic_table.gif

Nitrogen has an attomic mass of 7 vs Oxygens 8.. if you wanted to save weight it would be better to use helium :p

That plus air is 78% nitrogen, 21% Oxygen, 1% argon 0.03% CO2 and the rest other bits

Nitrogen is used as it is more thermally stable.

Well ok as the particles are slightly bigger this will mean if you have a tiny puncture the bigger molecule will not escape.

You must all agree the best way of increasing MPG & Performance is to only ever half fill the fuel tank.

Nearly all other options for a road car will have no noticable effect.

Really though this thread does beg the question - WHY? Is it for more performance higher bhp/tonne? or is it for greater mpg? Or is it something individual?

If its the first why didnt you buy a lighter/faster car in the first place

If its the second why not convert it to run on used veg oil as total fuel cost will be reduced.

The last option well I couldnt care less what you do to it however be aware if you do do something it will effect its resale value in a negative manner + may increase your insurance costs.

Why not buy a go cart twin engine have your fun with that and use the vRS for the A-B stuff which is what its designed for.

was just a thought:O that there might be a benifit but obviously not:thumbdwn: . thanks for the input anyway

Cheers:thumbup:

Well ok as the particles are slightly bigger this will mean if you have a tiny puncture the bigger molecule will not escape.

Now when did i say that?

Of course you could always use hydrogen, but I don't think that works well with high temperatures... Just ask the Germans

when i was building a sprint car from an old type Mini shell , i shed about 12 kilos of bitumin sound deadening pads off the floor , PITA to get off

unfortunetely when i fitted the Safety Devices roll cage i added over 50 kilos back onto the shell :(

Its pretty hard to loose weight and keep the car the same, ie. noise and with all the extras.

Some ideas:

Remove electric windows (replace with manuals)

Remove climate control

Remove sunroof (if you have one)

Remove sound proofing and firewalls. Most of the sound proofing is under the carpets and behind the dash, so take them up, remove the sound proofing and refit.

Replace the battery for a lightweight competition battery

Remove the spare wheel

Lots more little things, but to be honest you wont loose much more than 100kg even if you go to the extreme and then you will have inpacted on the ride qualities a fair bit.

Some more ideas:-

As well as running low fuel/screenwash load, try reducing the ammount of engine/gearbox oil, brake fluid & coolant to the absolute bare minimum.

Bald tyres, shagged brake pads, worn discs & clutch also weigh less than new items.

Another idea would be to remove some (but not all )of the nuts & bolts from various locations around the vehicle ( wheel nuts, suspension, handbrake, steering rackare all prime locations).

Try putting youself, partner & kids on a crash diet, aim for size 00, however this may involve the whole family developing eating disorders and receiving an unpleasant visit from social services.

Also ensure the whole family has urinated & undergone colonic irrigation before entering the vehicle.

By far the greatest weight saving can be had by driving sans clothing, ladies must also remove all jewellry & make up. You may find, due to religious/social reasons, that undue resistance to this plan is encountered. In this case underwear may be retained (in lightweight nylon of course).

Now, jump in your superlight fabia, & head for the nearest bypass, because I need an answer to the following question.

Will the law have time to arrest you before you blow up or crash?

Regards

Rob