Hi All, Me and my mate spent this weekend working on our joint track car, an '88 16v Mk2 and have stripped a good deal of stuff out. We've removed all the obvious weight such as the rear seat, trim, carpets, headlining, some wiring, central locking and that sort of stuff. Basically is now has two seats, a dash, centre console and door cars and that's about it. Just wondering what anyone recommends for further lightening of the car on a budget without going mad and fitting plastic windows, fibreglass panels etc? We've left the door cards and dash for now as they make the cabin a nicer place to be and I presume don't add much to weight. Is there any point swapping the electric windows out for manual winder mechanisms weight wise? Any other ideas? A few pics... It's a track car, doesn't need to be comfortable or quiet so we can be quite brutal with removing stuff, that said I quite like a rear wiper, heater for demisting etc... We removed some of the sunroof parts but have left it operational, any thoughts on what to do with that weight wise? Looks a big job to remove all the excess metal and seal it up! Any pics of other people's track cars and weight reductions would be great. Cheers Stu PS. The car is now comparable in performance to my other Mk2 which has a 2.0 engine, P&P'd head and all that stuff - the red one is a standard 1.8!
The heaviest bit of the sunroof is all the mechanism, and it all unbolts. The actual frame bit that holds it doesn't weigh very much at all.
Yes, we had it all apart at the weekend but put most of it back 'cos it looked like rain... How would you seal the sunroof if the mechanism was removed? Make brackets to bolt it shut?
Just put an ally sheet over it. There is a lot of weight there. Other areas are underseal and internal sound deadening pads. Then you can look at changing the cast iron exhaust manifold for a 4 branch manifold and remove a few silencers from the exhaust system.
also a good idea it to move whatever weight you can around the car i.e battery behind the seat . more weight over the wheels acts as a pendulim and therefore give you understeer .
If I were you Stu, I'd more or less follow what's done in the Mk2 Race Series, which is to do broadly what you've done, lift the sound deadening off the floor with a heat gun/freezer scraper, make sure all the sound insulation's off the bulkhead, lose the centre console and electric windows, the plastic caps of the rear struts - and then brace yourself for the sunroof cage removal, since that's the picky job. Just either tag weld in the old sunroof and seam seal (ask steve r) or add a plate as Ian said. After that' it's limited returns time - best get out and drive it The rest of metal removal is a mission - all depends how much time you want to put into it.
Thanks Ian, most of the sound deadening is out already, previous owner must have removed it. It already has a four branch too, forgot to mention that. Steved - Got any pics of the interior? What have you removed? Yes, I had thought about relocating the battery but didn't know if it'd be worth the hassle. Is the general opinion yes then, to reduce understeer and weight in the front of the car? Thanks Chris, good info, will take it onboard. I'm new to this track car business but already enjoying preparing this car and it goes really well already... got an ABF waiting for it too... SteverR - if you see this, any sunroof removal and sealing info or pics would be great Any more thoughts and tips much appreciated, cheers all.
Safety is more important than having a weight advantage, I personaly wouldnt go near a circuit without a cage.
the whole cage or no cage thing probably should be a different thread but I am not planning one in my MK3 track day car, but then everyone will probably come out with loads of stories of severed heads now and I will change my mind lol
also stu, i would leave it pretty much as is now tbh, If you were racing it would be worth getting really anal about a few grams here or there but you have already made it loads lighter to make it as quick as your 2.0 like you said and any power upgrades will have all the more effect now Whens your first day out with it going to be?
Yeah, if its a dedicated track car it'd be a little bit crazy not to have a cage IMO Another advantage of preparing it similarly to The Golf Championships cars is that if you ever come to sell it you could as a rolling shell to championships regs
My Wiechers cage has just arrived. 6 point bolt in, with door bars, rear cross and harness bar, weighs 35kg.
Where did you order it from sean? And how much? I need a cage to and also think anyone going to few track days a year or more should have one Much rather extra 35kg than battered head!
The car is going to have a cage don't worry, wouldn't want to use it on track without. The idea of all the weight reduction is to partly offset the weight of a cage you see As above - where from and how much please?
You could remove the bonnet catch and cable and replace with bonnet pins. Same with the tailgate if its not a daily driver. Also remove any alarms and immobilisers, and door cards....if its electric windows replace the mechanism with manual ones (16 from GSF) The passenger seat, subframe and harness' would probably be the biggest gain.
I'm happy to advise if that's an idea. Main thing is keeping the shell legal. If you get carried away with an angle grinder, it very quickly becomes ineligible.
