Project Lightweight, Trackday Clio 172

[scullyg40]

I took a bit of metal out of the interior.

It was a lot of work with all the spotwelds, and the parts that came out didn't feel like they had any weight at all. But when you add them all up, it shows that every little bit helps.

In total, the metal parts were 6 kg's to be exact, which I am really pleased with, as I didn't expect it at all. Also took out the drivers seatbelt, which weighs 1,6 kg's, making total weight savings 224,5 kg's.

 

[scullyg40]

Small update. I took out the wind shield today. I bought a tool for it.

Hoping it was going to be easy. I pushed the tool through the rubber, pulled, and nothing. Now, I weigh 110 kg's, I benchpress 100 kg's, so I'm thinking, what the f**k. After a bit of swearing, and walking around the car, I sharpened the tool with the grinder, and eventually got the job done.

The windshiled already was scrap, but for anyone wanting to do this at home, and is planning to re-use the screen, you might want to hire a professional for this job.

One minor, was that there was also a bit of rust underneath. I hope I can grind it away, and put a lick of paint on.

 

[scullyg40]

Making progress. I took out the last interior brackets that I will not be needing again, which cleans up the dash quite a bit. Total weight saving 215,7 kg's.

 

[scullyg40]

I completely forgot to add that the drivers seat is already at the scrapyard, which makes total weight saving 235,7 kg's. The goal is to take as much weight out as needed to compensate the weight of the cage. Don't know if that's realistic, but we'll see.

 

[scullyg40]

I took out the seam sealant in the interior. It was quite a job, but at the same time, it's quite therapeutical seeying all the sealant fly away.

The car is a complete mess.

I'm a mess.

The garage is a mess.

Even managed to get the stuff on the roof.

But the result is worthwile.

 

[scullyg40]

Whoops.

I got the other one out in one piece though. They weigh 2,9 kg's a piece. Total weight saving 241,5 kg's.

 

[scullyg40]

I closed up some holes on the interior.

Next update will involve the actual roll cage, as this was the last thing I needed to do before getting to the cage work.
I also needed to remove a piece of heat shielding for the welding, and as I needed to cut it off, I decided it wouldn't go back on. Off course I decided that the heat shields following this heat shield then also could be removed, saving another 1,6 kg's, making total savings 243,1 kg's. The last heat shield I will be using, is the one that's below the gear lever.

 

[scullyg40]

BIG update.

Well, not really, but for my piece of mind it is.

I finally got to the stage where I needed to cut the cage up, in order to get it into the car. Will this work, has gone through my mind since I've bought the bloody thing.
So, I've been measuring, and made a carboard template of the door opening. Marking where I should cut, then taking a step back, visualizing how to get both parts in the car, then starting from the beginning again.

But it's been cut up.

And the good news is, both parts are quite easy to get in the car. ?

For those wondering how I plan on getting them back together, and gain some rigidity back at the same time. I am going to sleeve them on the inside, drill a couple of holes to weld the sleeves to the cage, and then weld the cuts again. I think this will be a very strong sollution.

I also weighed the cage, and in total it weighs 62,5 kg's. Goddamn. And that doesn't even include the turrets, gussets etc. I have to admit, that this cage was a bit of an impulse buy, and for my weight saving plan, there were better options. I also admit that this cage is a bit overkill. But for my piece of mind when going fast on track, I am very happy with this cage. Should I have gone for the most basic cage in order to save the weight, I probably wouldn't have felt completely safe inside. At least not as safe as in this cage. So for this one time, weight isn't the priority, and safety comes first. ?

I also took of the hood, because it was in my way, and weighed it in at 4,4 kg's. As with the bootlid, I don't see a real reason to go fibreglass here in the future as most fibreglass ones are listed at 4,5 kg's. I also need to neaten up the hood, so it will even be a bit lighter when it goes back on the car.

 

[scullyg40]

Bought myself a new tool this morning from the local Ebay at 200 metres from my house for 50 Euro's. Not a bad deal if you ask me.
Don't know when, but someday I'll need it.

 

[Chambers_RS]

Coming along nicely ??

 

[scullyg40]

Doing prepwork on the cage.

Stripping the paint of as it was quite tatty, at the same time, I'm cleaning a lot of weld splatter.

Drilled holes in order to weld the sleeves to the cage.

I had the sleeves turned down at work to the correct diameter.

And the cage material became visible. S355J2H/E355/St52, which is good.

 

[scullyg40]

There, the cage is in, sleeves are on the inside, the first one is in it's final position. The cage weighs 62,5 kg's, the sleeves 1,2 kg's, making total weight savings 179,4 kg's.

 

[scullyg40]

Before I started welding the connections, I wanted to do some test pieces to set up the welder correctly, and to find out if it was better to have a gap or not in between the cage tubes.

The welder settings are turned up to level 6 for the amps, and level 9 for the wire feed.

 

[scullyg40]

Got the connections welded up. Pretty happy with how they turned out. I will grind them back though.

 

[scullyg40]

Today it was time to get our Polo a bit lower to the ground. We didn't want it extremely low, as we will be driving on small country and mountain roads through the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and Italy. But the difference is quite significant.

My friend took the ATS Classics with him, to get the tyres wrapped around them. I can't wait to see how that will look.

 

[scullyg40]

Today there was a Golf GTI Forum meeting at JD Engineering, and because of that, JD offered a 20% discount on engine and dsg tuning amongst other good offers. Because I already wanted a stage 1 remap, I applied for this day, saving 140 Euro's.
Power went up from 220 hp to 300 hp, and torque from 350 Nm to 430 Nm. Quite the difference, I can asure you.

In the above pic you see my car, with now 300 hp, the S4 with 530 hp, and a Golf R with 400 hp. So big numbers.

JD's own race car.

As a result of the tuning, the torque went up quite a bit in the lower and medium revs, but in the upper revs, the hp increase takes over, and the car just keeps going and going. Really happy with it.

 

[scullyg40]

I bought myself a Scenic shifter, and it is not often, that I can say, that postage was more expensive than the actual product. I paid 8 Euro's for it.

And it's not often, that a product is this well packaged.

For those interested in which one it is, this is the label that came with it.

Height comparison.

It's 8 cm's taller than the original one, quite a difference. I've also measured the travel distance from 3rd gear to 4th gear. With the original one, it is 12 cm's, with the Scenic one, it is 13 cm's. That's just 1 cm difference. Also, note that the Clio one has a bend in it, and the Scenic one is straight.

 

[scullyg40]

Cage update.

After I grounded all the connection welds back, it was time to start with the load spreader plates. I used 2 mm plate for this, and I made sure, that any seams in the area would be covered by the spreader plates, in order to (as the name of the plates imply ) spread the load.

First marked where the cage feet should be roughly.

Then started on the plates themselves.

So that's done. Pretty happy with them.
Added weight is 2,2 kg's, making total savings 177,2 kg's.

Also started on the cage feet. Now it's 3 mm material.
Because of the thickness, I can't bend them in the vice anymore, so I've started with the rough shapes, and I will bend them at work, and make them to fit after.

 

[scullyg40]

We got the ATS wheels fitted to the Polo, and they absolutely changed the car's appearance.

 

[scullyg40]

There, the cage is in.

Pretty happy with it, next up is connections to the front suspension turrets, and A and B-pillar gussets.
Total cage weight added so far, 68,3 kg's, making total weigh saving 174,8kg's.

 

[scullyg40]

One more thing to cross of the list.

Steering column bracket reinforcement.
It's one of those things that seem like a little thing to do, but when you're finished, a lot more time has passed than initially planned.

 

[Danev]

Hello mate... i am glad to see I am not the only person in the world weightsaving from everything.
here is an idea if you want to go for... you can remove the underbody coat + the f**king nightmare hiding in every corner of the body resulting as a 20KILOGRAMS!!! EXTRA!

 

[scullyg40]

20 kg's? That's a lot. But how did you weigh it though?

 

[Danev]

well i collected all of the shite using a vacumcleaer, and pouring the vacumcleaners tank in a bucket...
but be prepared for a f**king mess all around... you will need: an anglegrinder, about 20 metalbrushes for the angle grinder and also a disk grinder about 10pc.

PS.
- a door card made out of aluminium sheet 0.2mm thickness weights 0.565kg/pc
- a rear card weights 0.195kg/pc
- front window cut out poly 2mm thickness weights 0.965kg/pc
- rear window 2mm weights 0.700kg/pc

 

[scullyg40]

Nice, I was planning to do the rears out of 2 mm, and the doors out of 3 mm.

 

[scullyg40]

I received a nice little package today from @Yanoo to complement my Scenic shifter.

 

[scullyg40]

Sometimes, you just have to do a clean up. Now, it was time for the garage door. As I've been doing a lot of grinding, a lost of metal dust particles layed down on the opened door. I have this stuff to clean my wheels, which reacts with metal, and this is the result. Door looks much better now though.

I've continued with the cage, and added bars to the front suspensions turrets, and A- and B-pillar gussets.

The next picture is just to show, that it doens't all look spot on. The difficult corners are not always the nicest to look at.

 

[scullyg40]

Then it was on to the gussets.
I've made them from scratch, using my own DIY dimple die set.

Quite happy with how they turned out.

Interesting thing is, a lot of people add the holes for lightness, so offcourse, I weighed it all before and after, and it turned out, that the holes added a 24% weight reduction. Not bad if you ask me, other than the gussets didn't weigh much to begin with. Added weight 2,9 kg's, making total weight savings 171,8 kg's, and the final weight of the cage 71,3 kg's. I'd like to gain this weight back with the windows, seats and other things. Don't know if it's possible, but that's my weight goal for the future.

 

[scullyg40]

Next up are the seat mounts. I've collected one of my seats from my parents house, which have been there for over a decade if I am right, so my mother will be quite happy to see them leave.

The FIA date has expired a bit though.

And a small trial fit.

 

[scullyg40]

The seat mounts are done.

I wanted to sit as far back, and as low as possible. For the passenger seat, this is achieved. For the driving position, reach to the pedals is a limiting factor, and having somewhat of a view to the outside as well.

This is my view.

And this is with the clutch depressed.

Added weight of the seatrails, including the seatbelt mounting plates is 2,5 kg's, making total weight savings 169,3 kg's.

 

[scullyg40]

Got the seatbelt mounts done.

First a load spreader plate, then a 3 mm plate with the nut welded on. When al was welded, I used the thread tap to get a nice long thread.

 

[scullyg40]

Got the steering column done.

I've got a snap-off boss, which I would like to use, but unfortunately, the steering wheel got to close to me, so I'll have to get used to getting in and out with the steering wheel in the way.
Added weight, -37 grams.

 

[scullyg40]

Instrument panel is in.

And we got our maintenance parts together for the Polo. All of this for 155 Euro.

 

[scullyg40]

One Yanoo 3.0 stiff shift bent Scenic shifter in the car.

And my seating position, with all the tools in place.

Quite a difference compared to before.

 

[scullyg40]

Received a nice little package today.

It's even lighter than advertised, just 1 kg. Should be good for at least 10 kg's of weight saving under the bonnet.

 

[donnylad]

ebay? how much was the battery etc?

was looking at one at £250 but this could end up a lot cheaper, its twice the weight at 1kg tho!

 

[scullyg40]

I got it direct from Powerlite.

 

[scullyg40]

My new windows arrived.

 

[scullyg40]

Another (well 2, and both quite heavy) package arrived, man it feels like Christmas. My wife also said I've spend enough for a while. Man math doesn't work anymore.
These packages are for the GTI though.

A nice looking set of Clubsport front brakes to match the brakes with the stage 1 remap. Very happy with these.

 

[scullyg40]

I got the first one done.

This window alone is over 2 kg's lighter than the original, so times 5, I will be saving at least 10 kg's. Nice.

I'll do the other side tomorrow, and then it's time to start prepping the interior for paint.