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Lighter brakes
Barker - 21/2/03 at 12:11 PM

Anyone done anything on this. - I have treid to get a solid front 250mm dia sierra brake disc to then cross drill for weight reduction. They dont do them - there all heavy vented ones.
You can use the rear which fit dia wise but the braking surface is narrowed by about half inch.

have now halved a vented disc and need to smooth down cross drill and balance. will also drill near to stud holes for further weight loss.

has anyone else gone this route??????

pete


Simon - 21/2/03 at 12:56 PM

Pete,

Others may disagree with me, but I wouldn't start playing around with things like that.

A friend bought a new Yamaha XJ600 in 1990 (ish) and had to have both discs replaced coz they cracked between edge and outermost holes. And this from a massive company!! With Big R&D budget.

If I were you, I chuck your discs, buy some new replacement ones, then save to buy specialist lighter ones.

Probably not what you wanted to hear!!

ATB

Simon


kingr - 21/2/03 at 01:38 PM

I agree with simon, the ammount of material that you will have to remove before having any sort of useful lightening would compromise the strength of the discs, plus I can't see any scrutineers are going to look kindly on that sort of thing. If it's not for racing, the benefits you're going to see in weight loss are really nowhere close to the risks.

I'd look elsewhere for weightloss, but don't expect it to be cheap.

Items suitable for weightloss are :

Wheels
Tyres
Engine
Possibly changing fibreglass to carbon fibre
You maybe !
Seats
Possibly diff ?
changing your floor from steel to ali and putting in tubes to mount your seats may save weight
Obviously no trim, windscreen, washer, wipers
battery
steering rack
smaller petrol tank
different uprights

Doubtless there are other things, but that's all I can think of at the moment.

Kingr


Barker - 21/2/03 at 01:51 PM

Cheers for that

I have just bought a chain driven diff.
Sadly when I get in I will nearly be a quarter of the total weight!!!!!

have gone for alloy wheels and Ali cladding.

Have stuck to 16swg even though 18 swg seems feasible but didnt feel safe

My engine is a Bandit 1200 so battery will be bike and fuel tank small.

the hubs arent finalised yet - dont know whether to modify sierra lumps or start from scratch after seeing Rorties creation.

pete


kingr - 21/2/03 at 03:12 PM

Westfield do some quite nice looking uprights, they might be worth looking into.

Kingr


johnston - 21/2/03 at 08:09 PM

if you want lighter discs try some of the compition guy willwood ap etc for alloy bells and then you can spec wat size of disc you bolt onto them


Rorty - 22/2/03 at 02:47 AM

Barker, is that short for Barking Mad?

Seriously, Pete, please don't muck around with those discs. The only mod I would ever consider is to cross drill the discs. Never split them or drill lightening holes near the stud holes!
It would be far safer to actually make your own discs from either cast steel/stainless steel/aluminium than to start upsetting the internal stresses of a heavy pre-cast disc.
Admittedly, the Sierra, and I dare say Cortina, discs are far too big and heavy for a little Locost, but you'd be better off saving for some lightweight racing components, than floundering in an area that requires everything to be 110% right.


Barker - 25/2/03 at 10:19 AM

Appreciate your comments but racing bits are off my money scale. Can get vented new serria ones for around a £10 a peice but they weigh a ton.

My weight reduction was based on serria all up loaded design weight of 2 tons plus - my car should be just under 400Kg.

The skunk actualy uses bike discs although its weight is even less at 290Kg I think.
The lightening of the hub itself based on Ford putting in holes for postioning spikes and or retaining screw holes????

It sounds like I can save more weight by removing the passenger seat with all above comments!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no takers then!


Rorty - 26/2/03 at 02:51 AM

Barker:

quote:

my car should be just under 400Kg.
The skunk actualy uses bike discs although its weight is even less at 290Kg I think.



You must be using the same scales as Westfield!