Lee Mabee Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 New subscriber from over the pond...(actually landlocked in South Dakota)....proud owner of 2 Sevens 1) 94 Kent powered...extensively run on Solo 2.... 2) 02 Superlight-Zetec powered.... we have wt issues!! 1) I'm too fat....(personal issue being addressed...but marbled beef and beer are a problem)...ok ok so you can't help me with that 2) looking for source of smaller fuel tank 1-2 gallon (preferably with port for in tank fuel pump..) 3) recommendations on Wilwood or other brakes ,pots, pads car wt is 1134 #'s with 1/4 tank of fuel....in this class can weigh 1000 # 4) noted comment on wt reduction on valve cover? Upright source.....need alloy light and wide...currently run 13 X 9 Hoosier's all around have received 3 Low Flying magazines so far....am jealous over the trips and scenery----have you considered a road trip to Mt.Rushmore greatly enjoy my Sevens----wt reduction help would be most appreciated .............Thank you....Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Biddle Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 Lee, start with wheels and tyres, you did not mention which wheels you had, but I beleive the hoosiers will be quite heavy. I have custom made 13" three peice wheels and Avon ACB 10 tyres, and with the tyre fitted they weigh around 21Lbs each. Avon also do some very soft compounds which are ideal for autocross, I assume you are in a modified class, and tyre choice is free. Lighter and more powerfull brakes are available, I saved 4.5 Lbs on the fronts, and got big stopping power (good for autocross)Hi spec 280MM discs, aluminium bells and lightweight four pot calipers. There are some things you could just junk altogether, like windsheild (heavy), and fit the R500 screen. Don't know what seats come in the superlight, but if they are the standard leather ones they are also quite heavy. Other things, lighter battery, smaller, lighter altenator, light flywheel and clutch. There have been many threads on this subject with much better advice than I can give you, so it would definetly pay to do a search. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Mabee Posted January 20, 2003 Author Share Posted January 20, 2003 Mike...thank you for the reply....have so far no windshield..just the R-500 deflector,,,down to one R-500 seat...using a smaller lighter battery..aluminum flywheel..lightened clutch...etc have been done appreciate the data on the brakes... plan to use 1)smaller alternator 2) debating on delete of mechanical H20 pump and using remote electric...(US version of Zetec rotates reverse --so not quite sure how to use reduction pulleys on mechanical pump and also hope to lose wt)-3)anyone with experience with electric H2o pump?? 4) using Panasport ultra light rims... 5) hope to replace uprights with wider lighter alloy 6) gas tank reduction to reduce wt and allow low volume of fuel without fear of centrifugal pump starvation 7)have been told that 25# savings can be had for replacing all the bolts with titanium 8)have replaced the Superlight FIA rollbar with the R-500 rollbar (nice wt saving) 9) have removed the parking brake and cables goals remains general wt reduction with focus on unsprung wt.... again thank you....Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Carmichael Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 Lets get a sense of perspective. Your car (in euro speak) is ~515kg... with a Zetec. That makes it probably the lightest Zetec there has ever been, but you have done things like downgrade safety equipment (R500 rollover bar). The real answer is to just go over the car and remove anything that isn't needed. One easy way is to completely dismantle the car and just come to the decision on a component by component basis - "do I really want to attach this component". You don't need a boot floor. You don't need the tube that contains the upper steering column. Chop it off to keep the lower bush mounting. You don't need sill protectors. How many instruments do you really need for Solo 2? You don't need the ignition barrel. Can you get away with a small capacity radiator for short runs (less coolant too)? Alternator can get down to 3 kg. Have you gone as far as poss on the battery. You can get a Red Top 8 and use a separate starting battery. A Red Top 8 in peak condition can start the engine once, so may be enough for your class regs. Wheels and tyres are the best bet, as mentioned earlier, depending on how heavy the Hoosiers are. ACB10s are certainly very light. Hope this gives you some ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philwaters Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 If for racing, and reg's allow, the front lights are heavy and will reduce drag. Number plates and rear light, 7 grill can be swapped for wire mesh, nylon bolts on things that are not critical (pedal box, etc) and rear wings, check the length of all the wiring (I took out 5ft - yes 5ft!!! - of positive power cable, about 2kgs), do you need both horns - one will do, cam cover insert - make a thin ali one, wing protectors - change to fablon/material, rear ARB - do you have connected - if not remove, etc... lots of little thing that will all add up... Steve Foster is the king of weighting things! who said sad 🤔 😬 My Zetec is about 526kg and that is in full lardy road trim, soft seats, carpets, heater, etc. I think I could get it to 500kg, but it would cost a lot to do (R500 wheels, Tillet seat, ACB10's, etc) Phil Waters You mean you can drive these? I thought it was just there to polish 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R500 CYA Posted January 20, 2003 Share Posted January 20, 2003 A 1000 lb car engined 7? I would say that there is no chance: 455 kgs in eurotalk is motorcycle engined territory. Good luck and let us know how you get on, I'd be happy to lighten my 499 kg SLR some more! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scooby dooby doo Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 *arrowright*there has been talk and some ibnvestigation into carbon and lightweight steel half shafts and probshafts. *arrowright*rear brakes can be replaced with alloy ones *arrowright*disks (rotors) can be skimmed *arrowright*rear light blocks are pretty heavy (1kg of rubber on each) *arrowright*tunnel cover can be removed presume you've got rid of ALL the carpet, all GRP to CF, no doors, no screen, no wipers/motor or water bottle, mag wheels etc. HOOPY 500 kg R706KGU Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Mabee Posted January 21, 2003 Author Share Posted January 21, 2003 Really appreciate the input....will look into several of recommendations---in response to Pinky...several Sevens at the US Nationals Solo 2....had to add lead wt (to make class min. wt of 1000#'s).....believe one weighed 982 and another 990 and change....this was with fuel, battery, etc....(I believe there were 14 ---Lotus 7's, Caterham 7's and handful of other 7-clones...seemed unusual in the center of Kansas) will look into the tire wt. issue......both Hoosiers and Avons readily available...Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R500 CYA Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 Lee, WOW! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMMO Posted January 21, 2003 Share Posted January 21, 2003 Lee If you don't have one already, Esslinger make a light weight aluminium crankshaft pulley for the Zetec (and other engines). Saves about 2.5 lbs of weight. AMMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yankeedoodoo Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 Might these 1000 pound 7s be live axle cars? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Perry Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 Getting the weight down for track use is one thing, getting it down for the road is another. I don't know if anyone has ever measured the weight of ALL the things that are needed to make a car road usable/legal but I wouldn't mind betting that its 25kg or so. Other savings to mention. Check weight of exhuast silencer, if it weighs over 10 lb then its too heavy. Although badged as a superlight what kind of gearbox and bell housing does it have ? Over here Bell housing and gearcase the are readily available in Alloy for all main gearbox derivatives which makes substantial weight savings, thats if you don't have them already. Have you weighed the steering wheel ? I was amazed how heavy some are, managed to cut 1 lb out of mine by making my own centre. What kind of front hubs do you have ? Some cars have alloy, others steel, go for alloy if possible. Do you need a handbrake, these can be quite heavy and can be junked if not needed by the rules. If handbrake isn't needed then AP ali rear calipers can be fitted You might also want to consider lighter spring / damper units, but these can be very expensive Edited by - Graham Perry on 22 Jan 2003 07:57:30 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Mabee Posted January 22, 2003 Author Share Posted January 22, 2003 Graham...thank you for your note...have been following adds and articles in Low Flying about muffler wts...good idea...using alloy bell and gearbox for Caterham 6 speed...tried to attach photo's (to show off but can't figure out how to...) As aked earlier....the less than 1000 cars...2 were live axle 2 are not...(one had an alloy block--my understanding 40+-# wt reduction)........Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yankeedoodoo Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 Without regard to my personal safety considering the riot that this question may cause on this site: Was not the D Mod class @ the national solo II championship in Topeka won by an unnamed 7 clone which is ALWAYS considered to be more porcine than, say, a Caterham? Do you know the weight of the winning car? And what motor motivated it so swiftly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Mabee Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 Indeed the champion was a W-------- 7 clone....don't know the wt....or the engine.....but I do know the driver (Jeff Ellerby).....and unfortrunately he is a fine gentleman..and an even larger problem is that he could probably beat me if he had his arse in the kiddy seat of shopping cart....(the guy can really drive).....the only thing that gives me hope...."is that he's not driving a Caterham-7"-- it's a joy (albeit envious) to watch Jeff drive a car......the only intelligent thing I've done is not offer him a run in my car (I couldn't stand the shame of how fast the car should go).........Lee (South Dakota,USA) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yankeedoodoo Posted January 23, 2003 Share Posted January 23, 2003 I occasionally hand my 7 over to friend who gives me a "benchmark" of what the car is capable of doing. I'm getting closer, but... He has autocrossed 7s for 20 years and is surely a local terror, and will probably appear in Topeka next year. He runs 9 1/2 inch wide cantilevered Hoosiers. Is that the de facto spec tire for the class? Does anyone use a comparable Avon? As a guy originally from Minnesota I have to ask, "How's the winter up there?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Mabee Posted January 23, 2003 Author Share Posted January 23, 2003 Dear Doo Doo 1st the weather....this morning you'll find no balls on brass monkeys....(-16 degrees....don't want to know the windchill)------Seven is in deep hibernation.... the spec tire is actually not the catilevered tire....too much trasitioning occurs with heavy loads of autrocross--most use a 9 inch Hoosier with a 10 inch rim...(apparently gives the best edge in cornering---however, this set up is not any good for road racing)...the only Avon I saw there were my rain tires....good day to all,,,off into the Tundra-----Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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