gaz_gaz
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| posted on 22/6/11 at 09:19 PM |
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i read they where 1kg per damper without spring?
not sure how true that is but i will certainly weigh mine this weekend when there off.
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Jon Ison
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| posted on 22/6/11 at 09:26 PM |
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Here's an easy one for you, how heavy are your springs ? Got adjustable platforms ? Why are your springs as long as they are ?
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Sam_68
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| posted on 22/6/11 at 09:30 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Antnicuk
blimey, thats Light, do you have any pictures of your car?
Actually, it's probablyabout 20kg lighter at present, 'cos I've removed the ARB's, passenger seat and harness.
Not as light as some of the Caterham Blades, though - Richard Meaden got his down to 369kg, IIRC, though I don't know whether that was wet with
fuel. Mighty impressive, regardless, for a road legal 2-seater with as steel spaceframe.
Circa 500 kilos isn't too impressive for a BEC, tbh - my old Sylva was corner weighted at 508 kilos with no really lightweight components (cast
iron Crossflow engine, cast iron bellhousing and diff nose, Live axle, Sierra 5-speed box, fairly heavy alloys and full bodywork), though it will
have gained weight a bit later in life.
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Benzo
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| posted on 22/6/11 at 10:20 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by gaz_gaz
thanks for all the input guys,
i guess it weighs what it weighs,
do you think it would be realistic to think i could shed 30 kgs by replacing
uprights,(sierra)
front sierra brakes
rear sierra brakes
wheels (14" speedlines)
dampers (protech single adjustable)
seats (cobra roadster)
if there replaced with the correct items?
Hi gaz, a Major weight reduction i made on mine was replacing the westfield seats with JK Composite seats, the westie seats had a combined weight of
26kg! and now i have seats in which are 3kg a side so a straight saving off 20kg!! im not sure what the cobras are like tho.
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gaz_gaz
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| posted on 23/6/11 at 07:27 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Jon Ison
Here's an easy one for you, how heavy are your springs ? Got adjustable platforms ? Why are your springs as long as they are ?
The springs on my new dampers have 1" more travel than the damper has. Just so the spring does not become coil bound and the springs tend to
work a little better.
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franky
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| posted on 23/6/11 at 07:38 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Sam_68
quote:
Originally posted by Antnicuk
blimey, thats Light, do you have any pictures of your car?
Actually, it's probablyabout 20kg lighter at present, 'cos I've removed the ARB's, passenger seat and harness.
Not as light as some of the Caterham Blades, though - Richard Meaden got his down to 369kg, IIRC, though I don't know whether that was wet with
fuel. Mighty impressive, regardless, for a road legal 2-seater with as steel spaceframe.
Circa 500 kilos isn't too impressive for a BEC, tbh - my old Sylva was corner weighted at 508 kilos with no really lightweight components (cast
iron Crossflow engine, cast iron bellhousing and diff nose, Live axle, Sierra 5-speed box, fairly heavy alloys and full bodywork), though it will
have gained weight a bit later in life.
One of the few fw400s?
How come they made so few, cost? Its a nice shape.
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Sam_68
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| posted on 23/6/11 at 11:26 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by franky
How come they made so few, cost?
Several reasons, I think;
Cost, certainly - to be honest whilst the design is very clever, the build quality and detailing isn't even close to what you'd expect of
a £40K (in 1999!), ultra-basic two-seater.
It was overtaken by the BEC craze - a Megabusa isn't that much slower and was little over half the price.
The gearbox makes it very compromised for road use - incredibly noisy and with a fairly brutal gearchange.
And, allegedly, the sub-contractor who manufactured the tubs came back after the initial production run and said they couldn't make a
profit without a price hike that would have taken the overall price into Porsche 911 territory.
It's an interesting curiousity, though, and shows what can be achieved if you're a bit more adventurous; there are construction techniques
that would allow a similar tub design to be constructed quite easily by the average 'Locost' type home-builder, though obviously not as
cheaply as a spaceframe car.
...oh, and its F*****g quick, too! 
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DRC INDY 7
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| posted on 27/6/11 at 10:23 AM |
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Mine at sva was 550kg with full tank of fuel
What make's me smile when people say fit this fit that you will save 2 kg of weight when some owners are at least 18-22 stone in weight 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/462610273778799/
Puddle Dodgers Club
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Rocket_Rabbit
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| posted on 27/6/11 at 08:27 PM |
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I do seem amazed by some peoples weight quotes.
My Westfield has pretty much every lightweight item going, barring the engine which admittedly is a iron blocked, but naturally aspirated, YAB
Cosworth (Yep, YAB  ) that is dry sumped and a windscreen which is soon to be retired.
Oddesey battery, carbon nose, carbon front arches, roll bar only, alloy uprights, alloy hubs, alloy calipers, billet image wheels, type 9 box and live
axle (which is lighter than IRS as you all know)
Otherwise, full tank of fuel it comes in at 576kgs on Procomps scales
A decent IRS BEC with a thou, wet, would be 500kgs.
[Edited on 27/6/11 by Rocket_Rabbit]
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SJL
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| posted on 27/6/11 at 08:45 PM |
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My Megabusa came in at 521kgs full cage,anti roll bars etc and half a tank of fuel.
This was on properly calibrated corner weight scales.
I could lose some weight as I am using a 7.5 inch diff but it was brand new and the rightish price.
When I was building I did strive to keep the weight down where possible using alloy bits in places where there was no structural integrity etc.
Unfortunately it all boils down to a cost/weight equation as getting lighter costs lots of ££££
Best thing I did was to lose two stone in weight after Christmas was over
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franky
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| posted on 27/6/11 at 08:52 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Rocket_Rabbit
I do seem amazed by some peoples weight quotes.
My Westfield has pretty much every lightweight item going, barring the engine which admittedly is a iron blocked, but naturally aspirated, YAB
Cosworth (Yep, YAB ) that is dry sumped and a windscreen which is soon to be retired.
Oddesey battery, carbon nose, carbon front arches, roll bar only, alloy uprights, alloy hubs, alloy calipers, billet image wheels, type 9 box and live
axle (which is lighter than IRS as you all know)
Otherwise, full tank of fuel it comes in at 576kgs on Procomps scales
A decent IRS BEC with a thou, wet, would be 500kgs.
[Edited on 27/6/11 by Rocket_Rabbit]
I think some people are quoting what the kit manufacturer says. IE sales speak
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TimC
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| posted on 27/6/11 at 08:55 PM |
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Mine...
MK Indy CBR1000 w/ Cobra Roadsters & lots of stainless, big wheels, iron calipers etc ~ 565kgs
Sylva Striker X-flow, Type 2 gearbox, live axle, small drums, minimal trim, cosmetic roll hoop ~ 476kgs (seriously!)
ST Locost Race Car x-flow, full roll cage, Type 2 gearbox ~ 526kgs
Autotune Gemini RGB car R1, Live axle, full cage ~ Target 440kgs wet
Edit as I'd over-stated the Locost weight
[Edited on 28/6/11 by TimC]
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UncleFista
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| posted on 27/6/11 at 09:31 PM |
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Boggo locost with Zetec and type9, wet 570kgs.
 
weight
Tony Bond / UncleFista
Love is like a snowmobile, speeding across the frozen tundra.
Which suddenly flips, pinning you underneath.
At night the ice-weasels come...
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David Jenkins
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| posted on 27/6/11 at 09:36 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by DRC INDY 7
What make's me smile when people say fit this fit that you will save 2 kg of weight when some owners are at least 18-22 stone in weight
Yes - to twist an old saying - "the heaviest thing in many of these cars is the nut holding the wheel!" I'm sure that many of those
cars would go faster if the driver ate less pies...
My x-flow-powered book locost is 600kg - but I wasn't trying to save every kilo when building it.
[Edited on 27/6/11 by David Jenkins]
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Chet
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| posted on 27/6/11 at 11:18 PM |
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FYI -
The US demo Sylva J15 Hayabusa weighs a little less than 450 kg.
This includes all fluids, 15 x 6.5 street wheels, 205 x 50 x15 tires, single hoop roll bar with brace, electric reverse, etc..
The car was being shown at the Carlisle PA USA show recently and I had many "experts" willing to wager that the car couldn't
possibly weigh less than 1200 lbs(about 545 kg ). I ran out and purchased four bathroom scales and then displayed the car on the scales.
I also collected $200 in bets!
Chet
PS - Jeremy modified this J15 with a longer wheelbase (93) to get better chain life or it would be even lighter.
[Edited on 27/6/11 by Chet]
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Sam_68
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| posted on 28/6/11 at 04:13 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by frankyI think some people are quoting what the kit manufacturer says. IE sales speak
I can only speak for myself, but my Sylva's weight was taken by myself on high quality digital scales when corner weighting the car; I
have no reason to disbelieve TimC's similarly very light figure though - Sylvas are physically smaller than most 'Seven' type cars,
with a very lightweight chassis, and seem to come in a good bit less than most of the competition. You'd need a real boat-anchor of an engine
(ie. a Pinto or Vauxhall 16V) or a very lax approach to weight saving to get the wrong side of 550 kilos with a Sylva, I think.
The figures for my Westfield and the Evo/Meaden Caterham are as reliable as you're going to get from third-party figures (and the Westfield
actually represents a miserable failure against its design target weight/manufacturer's claim of 400 kilos).
'Normal' Westfields are physically quite large cars, particularly now they've standardised on the wide chassis/body, and Locosts
are, well, Locosts: at the end of the day they were designed to be cheap and robust, with no particular eye to weight saving.
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phelpsa
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| posted on 28/6/11 at 08:02 AM |
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460kgs at Procomp. Thats with no particularly special lightweight parts and a full cage, but not road legal.
Have since saved another 2kgs a corner on wheels and tyres but added fire extinguisher.
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BobM
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| posted on 28/6/11 at 12:36 PM |
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My ZX10R BDN S3 is just on the 560kg weight limit for RGB with my 90kg, 10 litres of fuel and 10kg of ballast
Not very Locost but very BEC
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bigfoot4616
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| posted on 28/6/11 at 08:32 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Sam_68
I can only speak for myself, but my Sylva's weight was taken by myself on high quality digital scales when corner weighting the car; I
have no reason to disbelieve TimC's similarly very light figure though - Sylvas are physically smaller than most 'Seven' type cars,
with a very lightweight chassis, and seem to come in a good bit less than most of the competition. You'd need a real boat-anchor of an engine
(ie. a Pinto or Vauxhall 16V) or a very lax approach to weight saving to get the wrong side of 550 kilos with a Sylva, I think.
my blade powered striker weighed in at 440kgs at procomp
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No. 67
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| posted on 15/7/11 at 03:53 PM |
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mine's 450 kilos but then it was built purely for racing
Oh, and it's for sale!!!
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black fingernail
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| posted on 15/7/11 at 05:10 PM |
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mines 560kilo with 1/2 tank of fuel. weighed on nice shiney new weighbridge.
alloy puma engine, home made alloy bellhousing, everything else pretty much standard locost.
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andyfiggy2002
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| posted on 16/7/11 at 10:05 PM |
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managed to put my megablade on a diet last year & got down to 420kg, even i've lost weight so with me thats 490kg, now all i need to do is
find a job so i can afford insurance, MOT & TAX to run it...lol
[Edited on 16/7/11 by andyfiggy2002]
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Nick DV
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| posted on 17/7/11 at 09:00 AM |
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An interesting thread but it surprises me how much some people get hung up on the weight of the car. Maybe the sole purpose for some is just to build
a kit as light as possible just to say he or she has the lightest car when down the pub at a meeting - or on a forum
Not to put anyone down, but I would question whether or not anyone here could drive their respective BEC's, or CEC's, to the limit on the
road - or for most, on the track - so why go to the trouble of spending ages and probably £'s trying to shave off the odd kilo or two in weight?
Until you can drive them to thier limits just get in, drive and have fun
For me though, I need to eat a lot less pies, drink a lot less cider and get out on the bike - mine would be 15 kg lighter then!! 
Cheers, Nick
"The force will be with you, always!"
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Sam_68
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| posted on 17/7/11 at 09:33 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Nick DVNot to put anyone down, but I would question whether or not anyone here could drive their respective
BEC's, or CEC's, to the limit on the road - or for most, on the track - so why go to the trouble of spending ages and probably £'s
trying to shave off the odd kilo or two in weight?
You're at least partly missing the point. It isn't necessarily about ultimate performance or shaving the last 10th of a second off lap
time or 0-60.... very light cars feel different all the time, throughout their whole performance envelope. The lack of weight means that
every response to steering, braking and throttle inputs is that much sharper and more precise.
And sure, no single overweight component makes an overwhelming difference on its own, but if you take such a lax attitude, you'll find
that everything quickly starts to add up and the next thing you know you're driving a 650 kilo car when it could have been a 500 kilo car... and
believe me, the extra weight makes a very noticeable difference to responses.
But I guess the question you're asking is 'why strive for excellence, when mediocre will do?'.
Some of us just don't like to settle for mediocre.
[Edited on 17/7/11 by Sam_68]
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eddie99
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| posted on 17/7/11 at 10:02 AM |
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The global with the zx10 weighs at 490 wet including myself, im hoping for 600 for the panther...
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