Prawn and BigAls A3 Track Car

What tool will you be using? Are you literally going to remove all the metal thats double skinned?
 
Prawn said:
Cheers JB :thumbsup:

Another little drive this evening. Noises most definitely gone. Very strange.

I'd like too get the car weighed soon. New mission is going to be some more serious weight loss!
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Oh hell, does this mean you are going to enroll me at Weight Watchers.:haha:
 
It's Friday. most people have a bit of a dress down friday.

I wear jeans and a T-shirt to work anyway, so this is my take on 'dress down Friday'



 
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Love that last potie. It looks like a stealth machine. (under cover jobbie) "We WILL catch you".:busted_cop:
 
Taking the car to be weighed next friday. Going to get a base line weight for how it is now, then spend the next year or so slowly trying to make it lighter.

How much we want to lose will depend largely on what it starts off at!
 
badger5 said:
plastic windows next
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Correct! :icon_thumright:

When we first built the car, the brief was for something that was comfortable and easy enough to drive all the way to Germany in comfort, then lap the Ring and drive home.

That requirement has changed now, with TF at the Ring a thing of the past. The ariel broke off the roof about 9 months ago, and although i've now replaced it, I didn't miss it to be honest.

I think we've ended up going a bit quicker, and getting a bit more serious than we expected when we started the whole project, so I think it's time the car got a bit more focused too and we removed all the things we just don't need any more.

Door card lowers and heavy sound deadening can go, all the excess wiring to plugs which no longer have sensors can go, plastic windows, a few more bits removed, some excess metal work, and maybe some time with the hole saw if I get really bored.

I like to tell myself it's somewhere near 1130kg's currently, but i think in reality it's likely to be much closer to 1200 than I'd like.

Sub 1100 as a finished goal would be quite nice.
 
You going to diy or buy them done?
and will you still be ok using your windows?
Ill be doing this myself soon.
 
Much to look into at the moment Daz.

Personally, I like the idea of replicating the factory front glass in lexan, and then covering it with a clear tint film to make it scratch resistant, and keeping the electric operation of the fronts, with a stripped down / lightened window frame.

I certainly don't fancy little holes and sliders though, I get far too warm too easily, so that's just not an option.
 
We have found a company that will supply the Lexan windows preformed and ready to fit for under £200. Have not got the quote yet but it looks like it's possible judging by their other costs for Golfs etc. That is damn good. NO silly little holes and sliders. We both suffer from the heat. There are times when I think we should vent the windscreen and open the rears, it gets so hot.:thumbsup:
 
Interesting to see if these work.
Are you fitting them right away or will you test the fluid out first then fit these?
 
Prawn said:
Correct my good sir! :thumbsup:

Would this be the Craig T from plymouth that I know by any chance?

if so, :sign_welcome:
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It would be mate :)

Been stealthily following yours and a few other topics on here for the last month or so; feels good to have a (sort of) proper car again.

Back on topic Nick, how thick are these shims? I guess more suitable insulating materials aren't feasible due to the fact they have to be so thin?
 
daz-20vt said:
Interesting to see if these work.
Are you fitting them right away or will you test the fluid out first then fit these?
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Fitting the whole lot in one hit mate. I'd rather go overboard than have issues again at the next trackday.

next TD is Goodwood, which isn't nearly so hard on brakes as bedford anyway

craigt1985 said:
Back on topic Nick, how thick are these shims? I guess more suitable insulating materials aren't feasible due to the fact they have to be so thin?
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Shims are 0.5mm thick mate. Any thicker and you wouldn't get them in behind a new pad.

Ti has really good properties for thermal insulation too.

To give you an idea of scale, Aluminium has a thermal coefficeint of conductivity of 220, around 60-80 for normal steel, 16 for stainless, and just 7 for Titanium.

In comparison, wood is around 0.2, so for a metal, ti is a brilliant insulator, which I never knew until recently!
 
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Bet your dying to see how the brakes cope. Might pop down to watch if ok with you guys!!
 
Nick, just thinking. Is your car not weighed during a MOT? Mine had a readout after the brake tests of its weight.
 
daz-20vt said:
Bet your dying to see how the brakes cope. Might pop down to watch if ok with you guys!!
Click to expand...

Brakes will hopefully cope well Daz, but time will tell :) by all means pop down dude! It's a sessioned day, with roughly 10 sessions over the day, 1 per hour, so it's fairly sociable with lots of time to chat between sessions, but perhaps not the best for taking others out for a pax. depending on how keen BBD is to passenger I might be able to take you out! that'll be up to BBD :laugh:

I've done a bit more looking into it (again!) and it sounds like many people use various things to add material to the brakes when pads are low to dissipate heat, some people even use an old pad backing in behind the pad to add material for heat dissipation.

The company who make the Ti shims also offer 1mm stainless steel shims, and reckon stainless is around half as good thermally as Ti, so a 1mm stainless shim is similar in use to a 0.5mm Ti shim.

it just so happened that I came across a load of 1mm stainless sheet whilst clearing out the garage at the weekend, so before I fit the Ti shims I'm going to trace around them and make a set of 1mm stainless shims also to double up on the thermal protection when the pads wear beyond the initial 1.5mm. I'll probably add both the Ti and Stainless shims at the same time to go belt and braces, then bleed through with RBF660 and see what happens!

Vex182 said:
Nick, just thinking. Is your car not weighed during a MOT? Mine had a readout after the brake tests of its weight.
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Not that I know of Dan, where's mine's tested it's only a single axle tester anyway, so it'd never give a true full car weight.

I'm taking it to Ace Engineering in Billinghurst to weigh it, as Gareth there has a full set of proper cornerweight scales :)
 
I gave those sheets of SS to you a long time ago. I have quite a lot of it here still. Also 1.5 2.00 and I believe 2.5mm if not 3mm. Will check.:icon_thumright:
 
On Friday, I had a day off, so I took a trip down to see Gareth at Ace engineering who kindly let me use his scales :)

After a nightmare getting the car up the slope into the workshop, we then struggled to get it up onto Gareth's 'weighing ramps' again due to the splitter! Haha





So, this a pre diet weigh in. Tyre idea being to weigh it now at the start, then weigh it again when I'm done stripping bits out.
I wanted an accurate and repeatable fuel state for the weigh in, simply guessing 'half a tank' or similar wasn't going to be accurate enough.

I decided the most accurate way to get a repeatable level was from a full tank.

I filled up at a station close to Gareth's (8 miles) with the pump handle dead vertical, to the first click. I then drove steadily to Gareth's to weigh it :)

I realise the fuel useage on those 8 miles could vary, but at 20mpg it'd use 1.3kg of fuel, and at 35mpg it'd use 0.75kg of fuel, so we're talking less than a kilo of discrepancy with economy at extreme ends of the scale. I'm way over thinking this I realise, but why not :laugh:

So, 54L of fuel plus a few L the filler neck, I'm assuming 54L at weigh in. Petrol has an SG of 0.737kg/L, so 54L of fuel will be 39.8kg. For the sake of this, let's call it 40kg for each weigh in.

Right, to the weigh in, meth tank full. Fuel tank full, no driver:



1197kg. Minus the 40kg of fuel, puts the car in at 1157kg.

And the wheel weights:




Given that it was setup in the Pets at Home car park with a tape measure, to have the wheel weighs within 5kg side to side is a miracle.

It was 1130kg 2 years ago, before the bigger seats, 6 point harnesses, plumbed in fire ext, splitter, wing, bigger brakes, meth, and a few other bits, so I'm actually pretty happy with the result.

With me in, the cross isn't quite so great:




But interestingly, due to the corner weights being slightly out, my weight goes to the front left, not the front right as you'd imagine. So it's currently sitting 'up' on the front left and rear right. I'll re-do the ride height set with dad sat in the drivers seat at some point and that'll be close enough for now.

Having done the weigh in, drunk lots of incredibly nice coffee, and out the world to rights, I blasted home 65 miles without venturing onto a single boring main road. A272 the whole way across from Billingshurst to west neon, then an even more obscure route back to home, thoroughly enjoyable!



All in all, a good day out, and I've got plenty of ideas to ensure that next time it comes in at 1140 or less with the full tank.
Target for the car without fuel is <1100kg :)
 
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We managed to strip 5.5 kg of wire alone out and that's without taking the wires for mirrors or Windows out. I think you will easily get it down to that weight. Wish I could have a day off like yours.
 
Im sure im being thick once again but whats this corner weight business?
I reckon your able to get below 1100kg with full tank.
 
I think another 100kg off would really be pushing it, but I'd like to think 60kg+ should be reasonably doable, only one way to find out!

Random small part came in the post yesterday:



Can anyone guess what it's for?
 
Prawn said:
I think another 100kg off would really be pushing it, but I'd like to think 60kg+ should be reasonably doable, only one way to find out!

Random small part came in the post yesterday:



Can anyone guess what it's for?
Click to expand...


reducer for something (is that too generic) maybe oil line for the turbo
 
You would when setting it up properly yes Alex.

In this instance we wern't really going for corner weighting, I just wanted to get an accurate overall weight for the car pre diet.

Once I'm done with the weight loss program and moving things around I'll have it all set up and corner weighted properly with ARB's disconnected and the like :)
 
What sort of space is there for an intercooler ?
Is all your bits still in the doors
 
What sort of space is there for an intercooler ?
Is all your bits still in the doors
 
This is a race car build thread you need the intercooler stickies!!

Yours is s3 no?
 
This is a race car build thread you need the intercooler stickies!!

Yours is s3 no?
 
Plenty of space for a big intercooler drue, lots of info in the fmic thread :)

So. Weight loss. What is going to go?
All ideas welcome!

My thoughts:

Stereo
Cd changer
Subwoofer
Remote central locking system
Bluetooth phone kit
Passenger airbag
Sound deadening behind dash
Door cards + speakers
Excess wiring
Final bitumen on floorpan
Rear screen and rear side glass for poly
Tailgate double skin cut back
Remove crash bars front and rear for track use.
Lighten doors and window mechs as much as possible

What else can I do I try and get below my 1100kg target?
 
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