Hidden weight in a clio

[alistairolsen]

Hi,
I have a clio track car which has had most of the obvious weight removed (stripped, buckets, cage etc). There are a few areas I'm aware of I want to address, such as the electric windows, and others I wish to leave as it's used on the road (central locking for instance), but where does weight hide in a clio (for instance an Audi TT has a 15kg mass damper behind the rear bumper...)

What have people removed which is significant after the really obvious stuff?
Cheers

 

[imprezaworks]

How much do you weigh?

 

[alistairolsen]

About 75kg and heading towards 70 mate

 

[Matt W]

There's a weight along the same lines as the TT you mention.

 

[alistairolsen]

Whereabouts? rear bumper? Are the crash bars/bumper mounts heavy?
Mine still has the dash in it (which is staying) but the aircon heater matrix is still there and Ive no idea what it weighs?

 

[imprezaworks]

Mine has no heating, blowers etc

 

[alistairolsen]

Yeah I want to keep that as I live in scotland, do wet trackdays and drive it on the road, but if the aircon unit is massively heavy it might be worth swapping to something simpler.

 

[Goodj]

If you do wet trackdays, you'll want the air-con to keep that screen clear of mist, surely?

 

[JackJack]

There is a lump of metal that can be removed near the drivers side engine mount iirc.

 

[alistairolsen]

If you do wet trackdays, you'll want the air-con to keep that screen clear of mist, surely?

Aircon pump and belt and so on have gone, so it doesnt work anyway. I want to keep the heater and blower for demist (never seen the point in removing it all and then not being able to see)

 

[Goodj]

PAS pumps?
Lightweight battery?
Carpets & sound deadening (guessing already done)
All the foam bumper inserts
Passenger-side mirror
Any glass that hasn't been swapped out for plastic.

....may as well remove the rear brakes entirely, thinking about it

 

[alistairolsen]

PAS pumps?
Lightweight battery?
Carpets & sound deadening (guessing already done)
All the foam bumper inserts
Passenger-side mirror
Any glass that hasn't been swapped out for plastic.

....may as well remove the rear brakes entirely, thinking about it :smile:

PAS is still there, EPAS is a consideration for the future
Battery is on the list
All that has already gone
Is that just packing behind the bumper?
Haha, mirrors are staying (road use and pulling left after an overtake on UK circuits)
I'm avoiding plastic windows as it scratches horribly and heated rear is handy

 

[Goodj]

shave all the paint off?

 

[1812lsd]

Looks a bit like this.

Can get to it from inside os/f wheelarch.

 

[British_Tommy]

Where in the hell did that come from! Looks heavy - I need to find it and remove it immediately!

 

[GrahamS]

that's from a mk1 though. There's a smaller bit in the ph2

 

[loggyboy]

Looks a bit like this.

Can get to it from inside os/f wheelarch.

Thats a mk1 though.
The mk2 weight is much less substantial

EDIT TOO SLOW!

 

[loggyboy]

The mk 2 on is shown here, just forward of mount, below the lip, behind the cable sleave.

 

[alistairolsen]

Worth finding that and getting rid!
I'm at 1005kg just now with a full cage, but even 20-30kg would be nice between battery, window regulators and stuff like that!

Cheers

 

[British_Tommy]

Thanks @loggyboy, that will be coming out! Any body know what it is and what it's for??

 

[loggyboy]

I think its too small to be a balancing weight, my only assumption is its some short if vibration damper.

 

[JackJack]

Have you got rid of the carbon canister?

 

[GrahamS]

Acoustic valve, tar on the inside of the rear 1/4 panels. Excess loom. Rear wiper. 1 extra horn you don't need. Some of that isn't significant but it all adds up. Leave in the elec windows as the windy ones aren't that different and difficult to get hold of.

 

[alistairolsen]

Acoustic valve, tar on the inside of the rear 1/4 panels. Excess loom. Rear wiper. 1 extra horn you don't need. Some of that isn't significant but it all adds up. Leave in the elec windows as the windy ones aren't that different and difficult to get hold of.

Carbon cannister is gone, although the little valve from the top of it seems noisy! (left that plugged into the cable)
Tar is gone
Loom I've done before on a previous car, so not worth the effort for 3kg or so.
Rear wiper is gone
1 horn is gone along with the larger of the two brackets
Yeah I was going to leave the drivers one for roadgoing convenience and then just add an alloy angle bracket to fix the passenger one permanently up and bin the complete regulator.

Cheers

 

[@Josh]

Have you got rid of the carbon canister?

Maybe a silly question how the hell do you get this out and what is it attatched to as i cant seem to get at mine to well. Is it just a matter of geting it and ripping it out or is their anything i should look out for?

 

[alistairolsen]

From memory there are bolts down through the inner wing from the top into the bracket

 

[GrahamS]

Yeah that's it. N/S. Easiest to take the bumper off and the headlight iirc. Leave the purge valve plugged in to stop a fault light coming up.

You need to block one of the lines to the inlet and put a fuel tank breather on the one that goes to the tank so it doesn't build up pressure with temperature changes.

 

[.Joe]

Thanks @loggyboy, that will be coming out! Any body know what it is and what it's for??

I believe it's something to do with body harmonics and stopping something vibrating for French laws

 

[Tomotek]

Aircon pump and belt and so on have gone, so it doesnt work anyway. I want to keep the heater and blower for demist (never seen the point in removing it all and then not being able to see)

You could get a heated front screen from here:
http://www.heatedwindscreen.com/acatalog/renault-clio-2-green-heated-windscreen.html#SID=519

 

[sonny172cup]

Summary of items weighed for reference from my 172 cup

2.2kg Both Window motors complete
2 kg Both wing mirrors complete
2.8kg Tool Kit
3.5kg Front side window
3 kg Rear side window (including rubber edging)
4.8kg Back bench lower
9kg Back bench upper
3.2 Both front seat belt mechanisms
18.4 Single front seat
3.2kg Steering wheel with airbag
1.6kg Head unit
2kg Parcel shelf
2kg Roof lining
8kg Both front door cards
7.5kg Carpets
0.8kg Bulkhead heat shield
2.3kg Isofix bar
1.5kg Carbon Canister with bracket
1.5 Acoustic valve
0.8kg Foglights
2kg Nuts, bolts and bits
6kg Bag of further bits (Speakers, sun visors, rear seat belt rolls).
4.2kg Heater Matrix (all components’)
2.1kg Heater blower
4.5kg Lower Dash
4.1kg Dash support brace
2.8kg Passenger air bag
6kg Upper dash (for reference)
3.5kg Cup Spoiler
2.5kg Sport spoiler (for reference)
15.2 OEM Tailgate with glass (no spoiler and wiper)
23kg OEM Door with poly glass (no mirror and no door cards)
2.2kg inside of both headlights
14.5 OEM battery (for reference)
1.5kg Battery and ECU support brace.
3kg Airbag ECU with wires and associated bolts and also 2 x rear gas struts for tailgate
1.5kg Headlight blanks (DIY OEM lenses)
5.5kg Radiator and Fan (vw polo rad and fan 3.5kg)
11.2kg Bonnet (GRP bonnet 5.1 kg)


There's prob some bits I missed, but you get the idea

 

[Carlv8415]

Possible to get a clio down to say around 650kg ?

 

[sonny172cup]

Mines 872 dry with cage, single seat, there is still weight to be saves, better lightweight seat and subframe, poly windscreen, shell sandblasted/dripped. But then i think all that would only really save an around 50kg max!

Willwoods over oem also would sae about 6kg.

Cant see it getting to 650 unless you made bespoke drive shafts, hubs etc but would be mega bucks.

 

[sonny172cup]

Driver weight also plays a part, so keep on top of that as well, but turning anorexic might be a bit too far

 

[bloke]

to get to 650 chances are you'd have to go space frame.

 

[alistairolsen]

Thanks very much for posting that up, some heavier and some lighter than I expected!

Won't be going heated screen, nor composite panels, the bang for buck ratio isn't good enough.

 

[JoeMarano]

The odd thing I found is removing the spare wheel does make a difference as its so blooming heavy. But what shocked me was taking out the rear seat rests which weigh nowhere near as much. That made a big difference. Steering feels lighter at the front now!


Could be that the spare is very close to the floor and the seats are higher?

Debating in stripping the lot out but it looks quite nice and tidy as it is at the moment.

 

[sonny172cup]

Iirc the 16" speedline with tyre weights around 14-16kg (assuming its a 172 cup).

 

[JoeMarano]

No its a full size 172 sport wheel with tyre and jack etc.

Debating on stripping more of the car now but the rear looks "tidy" as is. Also not sure if theres a lot of weight to be saved for a road/occasional track car.

 

[p@blo]

Interesting post with all of the the weight savings listed @sonny172cup . Good effort.

 

[JoeMarano]

What shocked me was the weight between cup spoiler and sport.

I thought the sport one would be a lot lighter.