lightening your car - anybody ever tried this?

I detest continentals, but thats just me. I also use rust to lighten my car, but I'm guessing you wouldn't want that either.

You could swap out your intake manifold for the earlier M50 mani. Not lighter, but they do flow better. Although if you are unhappy with your low end, maybe you should try to keep all the torque you've got.

I remove my backseat, rear carpet, spare etc. when autocrossing. It's lighter, but it does make the back end looser. I also remove the grills, license plate and antenna, but that's just for giggles. I'll typically see about 1 mpg better if I leave my seat out for an entire fill up. So it makes sense to me...way to go on the project.
 
All the emission related BS is out of my car, the secondary air injector pump, the metal and plastic tubing, egr valve, all the evap stuff is gone, all of that stuff weighed about 40lbs.

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My stock airbox is gone, replaced by a 90 degree 4" to 3" silicone bend right off my turbo to a cone filter, about 10lbs is weight saving.

My headlight washer system and pump has been removed, the sprayer nozzles have been removed as well, about 10lbs there. A lot of the bumper reinforcement was trimmed as well.

The stock exhaust weighs around 60lbs, mine has been replaced with a stainless piece with lighter mufflers. I'd guess around 30lbs in savings.

A whole bunch of sensors were removed as well..

What I have planned:

CF Trunk and Hood.
Lightweight wheels.
11lbs ATV battery.

At the track my car weighed in at 3232lbs (without driver), I would figure it weighs around 319X lbs now, I haven't had a lot of the things removed I have now. The weight for a face lift A4 1.8t Quattro is supposed to be 3241 lbs.

Reason mine weighs pretty much the same: Audi S4 brakes front and B7 S4 rear add a good 50lbs over stock brakes. The use of solid engine mounts adds a few lbs, that and a front mount intercooler core with aluminum piping also added a few lbs. I have a external oil cooler as well, everything adds up. I'm going to be weighing the car after I go to the track again.


EDIT: Lookie what I found.

Weight.jpg
 
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My (car's) curb weight was supposed to be 1400 kgs (3090 lbs) before I started, so I should be at 1294 kgs (2856 lbs) now. :)

I put on the new wheels yesterday morning (no photos yet, but I will deliver) and had a short test drive. First impressions: these wheels drive very well. I don't want to say too much because I only drove for 10 minutes, but there were two major things I noticed:

The comfort has improved a lot, and the car feels more agile. I think I was actually able to feel that there was less mass being hurled around when I introduced quick movements. Also, the sports suspension, which was incredibly hard with the old wheels, was much nicer now. I wouldn't call it soft, actually, it still went over short bumps and into holes quite hard. Yet, for some reason that did not get through to my bum as much by a huge margin. I think it's a result of the much reduced mass of the wheels, transferring less energy onto the chassis.

More when I'll put the battery in and drive some more...
 
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Continentals are the shit! Best compromise tyres (comfort/grip/wear) there are by a long way.
 
May I ask why you detest continentals?
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NooDle said:
Continentals are the shit! Best compromise tyres (comfort/grip/wear) there are by a long way.
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You're half right. They are just shit. Well, in my experience. I had ContiTouringContacts on my GTI from the factory. They were dreadful to autocross on, loud, bad in the rain, bad in the snow, they wore down to the wear bars in under 30,000 miles (mostly highway excepting the autocrosses), they're expensive, they were uncommunicative, the sidewalls were way too soft, the breakaway was not progressive, they were expensive, and they seem to be made out of cheese. They did do a good job of holding air.

I replaced them with Falken Azenis, for less than 40% of the cost to get new Conti's, and they are better in the rain, the dry, the track, the road...they are quieter, grippier, cheaper, more communicative, more progressive AND they're going to last me about 20,000 miles (about a 50:50 highway/city split and autocrosses) which is about what streetable track tires should last.

Disclaimer: This is just my personal experience and opinion. But the Falkens are less than half as much, last more than half as long and do everything a tire is supposed to do better.

I've heard the contisports and contiextremes are much better, but I'm not gonna be the one to find out.

Anyway...sorry for the offtopic. Just answering a question.



Back on topic. They make titanium lugnuts. Those would help shed weight. Alot of new cars come with a can of fix-a-flat and an air compressor, saves about 35 pounds. If you cut out the spare tire well in addition, thats about another 8lbs.
 
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^weird, for "normal" driving my Conti's have been at the top of the car tests lists for forever.... maybe it's the car that can't make the most of it?
 
The weather was crap today, but still, I decided to make some initial pics of my Bimmer with the new wheels:





 
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Still looks fairly standard from the outside, have to respect that. Too many E36:s have been modded beyond good taste.
 
public said:
Still looks fairly standard from the outside, have to respect that. Too many E36:s have been modded beyond good taste.
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A few tiny details aside, every mod will be functional. I like the car as it was meant to be, thus I avoid all the crap people usually put in, which basically makes the uglier and slower.
 
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MacDubois said:
A lot of new cars come with a can of fix-a-flat and an air compressor, saves about 35 pounds. If you cut out the spare tire well in addition, that's about another 8lbs.
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I've used "Fix-A-Flat" a couple times and it worked as advertised. That was on a ~2,500lb vehicle with puny 225/65-15 tires though. Also, tire shop guys hate that stuff, so give them a heads up if you're getting a tire replaced and you've used it.

the Interceptor said:
A few tiny details aside, every mod will be functional. I like the car as it was meant to be, thus I avoid all the crap people usually put in, which basically makes the uglier and slower.
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Good philosophy.
 
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Update:

The new battery is in, if not as planned: the holding mechanism below the battery didn't turn out ot be constructed the way I thought it would be, so I just had to strap the battery down with rubber temporarily. Also, the old battery "only" weighed in at 17,6 kgs (39 lbs), so there only were 6,5 kgs to be saved here. Car runs fine off the smaller batt so far.

I also removed an audio amplifier from the original BMW audio system and some wiring, which saved me another 2,5 kgs, so I'm at a total save of 115 kgs (254 lbs) right now.

As for the lightened wheels and how they affect driving, it's a clear two thumbs up for me. It's kinda hard to explain what's happend to the car, but I found an analogy: try to go jogging with some heavy boots and those jogger weights on your wrists. That's what it was like with the old wheels. You get used to it, and taken for itself, it's alright. Then lose the weights and swap the shoes for some light running models and do some more jogging. You'll immediately feel the difference, and it feels like you'd almost fly. It actually is pretty much the same with driving. The car just gets off the line much easier and fluent, you can actually feel and there aren't four weights anymore that you need to load up with energy to get going.
In the same manner, the car becomes buch better at cornering. You can just feel that it takes much less energy to change direction, it actually feels like a smaller, lighter car. As for actual figures, I think the car hasn't improved that much. But the feeling is totally different, and better in every aspect. Comfort has improved by a lot as well. Therefore, I can only say: if you get new wheels, go light! :thumbup:
 
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I had these ideas::think:

Sorry if something has already been written!

1-Try to get a spoiler to push the car down at high speed and a front splitter as well.

2-Put the battery or any possible thing to be moved from it's place in the trunk, to balance the weight distribution of the car since you removed the back seats and some stuff.

3-Try to lower the centre of gravity of anything as much as possible, and also be aware to move it to any side, so put in the middle if possible, or even better lowering the suspensions and fitting some shock "abzobaz" absorbers. ;)

4-Lightweight exhaust system.

Good luck with your ultraleggera :grin: nice wheels btw!
 
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i know a guy whos addicted to doing this, his car was 1550kg stock, hes got it down to bit under 1400 with spare tyre and jack still in car.

he removed air con, insulation, noise foam, under carpet stuff, converted to manual, ditched the power steering + more. how hes moving the battery to the boot for weight distribution, engine covers gone.
 
TVR-161 said:
i know a guy whos addicted to doing this, his car was 1550kg stock, hes got it down to bit under 1400 with spare tyre and jack still in car.

he removed air con, insulation, noise foam, under carpet stuff, converted to manual, ditched the power steering + more. how hes moving the battery to the boot for weight distribution, engine covers gone.
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That seems like a lot of effort for the gain (or loss if you will). Just buy an old light car for cheap and work from there.

MGFRONT_000.jpg


~1800 lbs.
 
^My MX5 starting weight 1005.6kg, current weight around 950kg. :cool:
 
I was away and now i see what you did to your car. It's pretty awesome! Of course the lighter wheels affect the way the car drives dramatically. The removal of unsprung (i think it's called "unsprung" in english :D) weight does that exactly and is a wonderful thing to do if one has the chance and/or money. One question though...all this weight saving how has affected the weight balance? My understanding is that BMWs have excellent balance. Have you measured that?
 
Go with lighter wheels and brakes (carbon ceramic - yes, I know it costs a FORTUNE). Maintain your tyre pressure as well.
 
Porsche Liebhaber said:
1-Try to get a spoiler to push the car down at high speed and a front splitter as well.
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A spoiler and a splitter would only make the car heavier and reduce top speed by increasing aerodynamic drag. As long as I don't experience problems such as lift at high speeds, I don't think I need those. :)
Porsche Liebhaber said:
2-Put the battery or any possible thing to be moved from it's place in the trunk, to balance the weight distribution of the car since you removed the back seats and some stuff.
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That pretty much only is the battery, and it's at the back by default on my model.
Porsche Liebhaber said:
3-Try to lower the centre of gravity of anything as much as possible, and also be aware to move it to any side, so put in the middle if possible, or even better lowering the suspensions and fitting some shock "abzobaz" absorbers.
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Yup. That's why I'm looking into losing the heavy sunroof at the moment, which is close to the center of the car, but as high up as it gets. The suspension already is lowered as far as I am willing to go through a H&R Cup Kit sports suspension.

Porsche Liebhaber said:
4-Lightweight exhaust system.
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There are little chances of finding that. Of course I could have a custom-made titanium exhaust system, but it would cost more than the whole car is worth. The only part I will have replaced is the muffler (I'm thinking Eisenmann 2x70 at the moment). I heard that those stainless steel tuning mufflers are supposed to be lighter than the stock muffler, but I was not able to dig up any actual figures whatsoever. I only know that the stock muffler is 13,7 kgs.
Porsche Liebhaber said:
Good luck with your ultraleggera :grin: nice wheels btw!
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Thanks! :)

Vambeer said:
I was away and now i see what you did to your car. It's pretty awesome! Of course the lighter wheels affect the way the car drives dramatically. The removal of unsprung (i think it's called "unsprung" in english :D) weight does that exactly and is a wonderful thing to do if one has the chance and/or money. One question though...all this weight saving how has affected the weight balance? My understanding is that BMWs have excellent balance. Have you measured that?
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I haven't, but I haven't experienced any effects of an unsettled weight distribution as of yet. I'm sure I have worsened it, but I don't know whether it's bad enough to actually make a difference outside a race track.

But I also thought about having my car weighed somewhere, since I'm eager to know how heavy it actually is.
 
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