CLR Project Leichtbau: adding lightness to the tune of 250kg

[drabux]

Important not to let those batteries go flat, though. Be careful with them, and they work fine!

 

[MisterCorn]

Indeed a great read. I'm on a similar mission with my M3.... But unfortunately this is a Porsche forum. The BM forums all discuss wheels and single mothers...

Anyway, i am up to about 175kg reduction now but the thing about airbags worried me a bit, whats the MOT thing with airbags?? I have removed the airbag controller box so no lights on the dash.

Light should come on and go off. You are better off keeping the controller and fitting resistors for the MOT. Are you on 'cutters? it would be nice to have a decent technical thread on there.

MC

 

[Senoj]

Indeed a great read. I'm on a similar mission with my M3.... But unfortunately this is a Porsche forum. The BM forums all discuss wheels and single mothers...

Anyway, i am up to about 175kg reduction now but the thing about airbags worried me a bit, whats the MOT thing with airbags?? I have removed the airbag controller box so no lights on the dash.

Light should come on and go off. You are better off keeping the controller and fitting resistors for the MOT. Are you on 'cutters? it would be nice to have a decent technical thread on there.

MC

May need to find a friendly MOT station...some good stuff and people on cutters but they are well hidden and its a bit of a mess as a forum, totally disorganised..

 

[ELA]

Not where I intended on starting but today I made a start on the roof. According to my priority matrix, the roof was number eight on my list. Oh well
My car has not seen rain for 5 years in my ownership and is in immaculate condition. Or so I thought: a little warning guys, if you have a sunroof, slide it fully back then remove the felt seal around the sunroof aperture as I had some surface corrosion that is not evident unless you go through this process. In my case it is not really relevant as I am replacing the roof with a carbon one.
For reference the Sunroof assembly comes in at 13.4kg (4.9kg sunroof panel, 5.0kg frame, 3.5kg inner roof lining/brackets/blinds etc).
Lining and panel removed:

Here are all the parts:

Frame removed. This is the seal that needs to be removed to check for corrosion

Trim strip removed ready for me drilling to spot welds for roof removal:

Temporary cover to keep spiders out:

As I have removed the Hifi system I decided to do a lower dash delete

I have ordered all the parts and also switch blanks for when I removed PSE, Rear wiper, and heated rear screen

Could someone confirm if all cars are wired for PSE (the black plug in the lower position in this picture).

 

[BenC]

good to see you getting serious with the big stuff now!
I can recommend the Odyssey batteries - had one on my track car for ages, just fit a trickle charger lead when you install it, just in case.

 

[JohnnyDangerous]

Important not to let those batteries go flat, though. Be careful with them, and they work fine!

They dont go flat, they switch off at 12v 8)

 

[Senoj]

In my case it is not really relevant as I am replacing the roof with a carbon one.
For reference the Sunroof assembly comes in at 11.4kg (4.9kg sunroof panel, 5.0kg frame, 1.5kg inner cover).

Trim strip removed ready for me drilling to spot welds for roof removal:

Have you considered just putting a carbon blank panel in there? Much easier job. Have just done this exact thing on my e46. Sunroof cartridge weighed 20kg!

 

[ELA]

In my case it is not really relevant as I am replacing the roof with a carbon one.
For reference the Sunroof assembly comes in at 11.4kg (4.9kg sunroof panel, 5.0kg frame, 3.5kg inner cover and brackets etc).

Trim strip removed ready for me drilling to spot welds for roof removal:

Have you considered just putting a carbon blank panel in there? Much easier job. Have just done this exact thing on my e46. Sunroof cartridge weighed 20kg!

Hi Senoj, I considered a few options, most preferable would have been to bond the stock panel back in but it weights a ton (well 4.8kg anyway) and the net result would mean all this work for only a 5kg loss (Just the frame/motor). Having removed the seal though, the corrosion, although only minimal, swayed my decision towards full roof replacement. I have experience doing complex sheet metal repairs with Aircraft so the roof is a relatively straight forward job
Net result of this will mean 18.7kg gone from the best place possible (Carbon roof is 2.8kg).
As it is a pretty unique modification it can also be viewed as a bit of a signature.
Can't wait now to see how different this will be when finished. 1150kg, LWFW, 330BHP should make for quite a combination

 

[drabux]

Important not to let those batteries go flat, though. Be careful with them, and they work fine!

They dont go flat, they switch off at 12v 8)

Really, really nice feature. Not seen that before.

 

[drabux]

This is turning into something impressive. Enjoying reading this. Thank you again.

 

[Harv]

Great work :thumb:

Looking forward to seeing the carbon roof panel install.

Out of curiosity are you selling any of the parts removed or keeping them so the car can be returned to stock?

 

[ELA]

Great work :thumb:

Looking forward to seeing the carbon roof panel install.

Out of curiosity are you selling any of the parts removed or keeping them so the car can be returned to stock?

Harv /drabux, many thanks for the compliments

Harv, I will never sell this car :thumb: At the same time I now have a massive pile of spare parts taking up considerable space. I could maybe start a thread listing all the removed parts as this may help a little to off-set all the new bits and bobs that are going to be ordered.
When you tally up all the new parts I aim to fit it really is approaching eye-watering sums. Good job that about £10k will be saved in labour :grin:

List of components planned
-LWFW
-Trick clutch for LWFW (already bought this)
-Titanium exhaust
-Lexan windows
-Carbon Roof
-Carbon Buckets
-Lightweight Battery
-Carbon bonnet
-Carbon Ducktail RPM or equivalent
-Carbon doors
-CUP steering wheel
-Lightweight alloys
-Lightweight brakes
-Dash delete and Misc trim panels
-New coilover suspension (Probably Bilstein)

One question: Original aim was for a Stock looking car, what is the concensus regarding bare carbon or painted. I think with a silver car all the Upper surfaces (bonnet, Roof, Engine cover/Spolier) left in Carbon may work :? I like discrete though so am undecided :?:
If I manage to achieve fitting all of the above the car should end up in the 1100-1150kg range, rev like a motor bike, go like a GT3, all whilst singing a beautiful Titanium harmonic crescendo

 

[ELA]

Based on the above I plan to carry this work out in a modular fashion:

Phase 1:
Strip and Calculate scope of project (retain OEM feel/quality/look) -60kg

Phase 2:
CABIN 1: Sunroof delete, Carbon roof, Lexan windows, Lightweight Battery, rewire cabin to suit -40kg

Phase 3:
ENGINE: LWFW, Clutch, Ti Exhaust, A/C delete, Engine bay lining delete -30kg (7kg unsprung weight)

Phase 4:
CABIN 2: Carbon seats, Cup Steering wheel -34kg

Phase 5:
BODY: Carbon bonnet/Engine cover/Doors -36kg

Phase 6:
HANDLING: Lightweight alloys lightweight brakes, Bilstein Suspension -20kg (all of which unsprung)

Total ~220kg retaining all trim panels, carpets, and 4 seats.

NOTE: Stage 1&2 accurate figures based on actual testing. Other stages all weight approximate (TBC).

 

[Harv]

I would be tempted to keep the stock look but maybe have the carbon roof showing.

Could work well against the silver body colour
:?:

 

[BenC]

not sure how a wrap would work over carbon, but could be an option if you wanted a change later?

or

how about you wrap the rest of the panels in carbon look to match?????!! 8)