are there any fiber glass body panels like front fenders or front bumpers, rear bumpers, fiberglass anything? i want a light FB.

so tell me guys where can i find these body panels?


~Steve

 

The stock fenders are already very light. The metal is so thin you can dent it by leaning against them too hard.

Similarly, the front and rear bumper covers are neoprene - hard to get lighter than that with hand-laid FRP.

However, I'm working on a kit to replace the front bumper hydraulics with shorter aluminum tubes to recess the bumpers and allow for smoother bumper caps. By deleting the hydraulics one should realise substantial weight savings while still having a functional bumper - it just won't 'spring back' after a collision.

 

oh i see, very cleaver. ok then, what can i do to drop the weight to 2000lbs?

 

Removing your interior and bituthane (that tar-like mat substance used for sound deadening) is a good start.

 

so just freeze it with dry ice and hammer at it until it cracks off? am i going to hurt my car by doing that, like, can i accidently put the hammer thru the bottom of the car into the ground? thanks for the responses.

 

what about lexan windows? that could drop tons of weight right?

 

Well u will be chiseling at an angle so I doubt you'll pound thru the bottom of the floor. Be prepared to accidently dent the floor pan. You don't have to hit the tar that hard. In some cases you can break a piece off and then peel some larger sections out by hand.

 

If you use lexan windows I doubt you'll be able to roll them down. A lexan rear hatch glass is a nice idea though. It won't dump tons of weight but it'll shave a decent amount. Start removing things you don't need. My first major step in the weight removal process was removing the entire AC system. That shaves a lot of weight.

 

Remove all accessories under your hood, PS, A/C, Cruise, etc. sound insulation under carpeting, dash, passenger seat, spare tire, lexan windows, fiberglass hood (though stock hood is pretty light).

 

Don't remove your dash.

 

Why's that?

 

Because its dangerous if he's still gonna be driving it on the street.

 

How is it dangerous?

 

That all seems like a lot of work for a small increase. How about generating more horse power?

 

What i listed would be around 200-300lbs of weight reduction, not only will it makes the car faster, it will make it handle better and stop quicker.

 

Go on a diet...i'll bet that Whopper and fries weighs like 2 lbs...

 

ROFLMA!!!

That is too funny

what about taking out the rear storage bins and the steel fram that makes them, and all the junk underneath ie. the radio amps?

 

Ok here are some weights of items in lbs.:

Front Bumper 20.65
Rear Bumper 20.3
Hood 32.65
Front piece that has
mazda emblem 6.85
gslse rim 13.9
se rim with Yoko Es100 33.5
12a rim with crap tire 27.7
exhaust pipe
(muffler to manifold) 9.6
air pump 8.8
door panels (both) 13.6
stereo boxes (both) 7.3
A/C compressor 13
condensor 5.95
A/C storage canister 1.05
A/C pipes 5.3
charcoal canister 1.1
rear sound deadening 8.5
spare 26.5


I ask you to think and have plans for your car before you start taking things off. I took the a/c off of mine when I first got it to try and save some weight. Now I am going to have to buy another system to install. If you have a working a/c system and decide to take it off I would be interested in disposing of it for you.

 

Ummm? What the hell are your emblems made of? LEAD??

 

he said 'front piece that has Mazda emblem' - as in the header panel between bumper and hood

 

No, they are actually plastic (believe it or not). I was talking about the metal piece that is in front of the hood but behind the bumper. The piece that the Mazda emblem is mounted to.

 

ahhh you're refering to the entire nose piece (between the lights) ...wouldn't it's removal f&%$ up the aerodynamics of the front end?

 

He's not saying to remove it. He was simply stating how much it weighed.

 

ahhh i c

 

Weigh the A/C compressor mounting bracket if you can, i removed that and was surprized.