LawrenceR Posted August 27, 2015 Author Share Posted August 27, 2015 Thanks for the advice Jonathan. Having had a little read I don't think will exchange the few grammes saving for the head ache required to achieve them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 What about drilling some discs out of the wooden but if the boot floor? Have you looked at ditching the heavy Banner battery yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceR Posted August 27, 2015 Author Share Posted August 27, 2015 The banner has to go, but, given the car is brand new I can't bring myself to ditch a perfectly good battery........yet! I guess I could sell it but not sure a second hand banner is worth much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian H Posted August 27, 2015 Share Posted August 27, 2015 LawrenceA LiPo battery is a bargain in weight saving terms! Reduction is circa 7kg for £160!I considered drilling holes in my Ali sandwich floor. But then you have to cover them all up and if you don't like it, a new boot floor from CC is £100. Better to do the job "properly" in the first place.Seeing you mentioned aeroscreen bolts makes me think. I have made a rookie mistake, I have fitted the two unused windscreen bolts in the their holes, need to remove them quicksmart.J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molecular--Bob Posted August 28, 2015 Share Posted August 28, 2015 What instruments do you have? I suspect that there is a good saving in wire and the instruments themselves if you go to a digital dash, especiallly if you use one that can pull most of its data from the ecu, which will alow you to ditch duplicated wiring and sensors, and you can gun drill any non safety critical bolts to almost full depth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian H Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 Hi M-B. I'm partial to the standard dash set up and the change would, I suspect, cost a lot. Has anyone rifle drilled their bolts ; you extract the urine?In a similar vein, we could all fit thinner gauge lighting looms if we changed to LED lights! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molecular--Bob Posted August 29, 2015 Share Posted August 29, 2015 Back in the pre-membership days there were a couple of weight obsesives who talked about it, Dave Edmunds took a lot of weight out of bdr700 and Julian Thompson was very intent on dropping mass. I'm going to a racetech dash 2, but only as part of a full refurb. not to loose weight. The loom looks to have a good amount of wire that could go and I might rationalise mine during the rebuild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian H Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 I too am an obsessive type about some things but I don't think I'd go as far as drilling hollow my bolts!The RaceTech dash looks super cool. I have not seen one in the flesh and would want to check out the clarity of the display in a car as open as our Sevens, particularly with Aeroscreen/no doors, before I considered one.I would be interested to know how much of the loom can go. Rewiring from scratch, one could size every cable to the necessary current demand too. The copper must weigh quite a lot and there are some very oversized conductors all over the loom.. The more I think about this, the more I would love to build (or even rebuild) my own Seven but that will be some time off for now..My next steps are replacing the seat runners with fixed brackets and the CF boot floor. A friend of a friend is a designer for a racing yacht company. He is going to calculate the spec of CF for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdC Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 Just curious, but does anyone know what happened to Julian Thompson's car? I remember following the build; all carbon fibre this, lightweight that, a bike engine that got damaged during development, and then up for sale iirc. Is it still on the forum? I'd like to know it's still strutting its stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_ASH Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 I believe that only the passenger seat can be permanently fixed in place without runners and that for the MOT the drivers seat has to remain adjustable... not that I've ever seen it checked on any car I've owned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian H Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 Thanks Ash. I didn't know that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 So could you directly bolt the seat directly to the floor and do away with the runners, or would you need to fasten it thought some Ali box section or similar? As I rarely have a passenger, I could instantly loose a few hundred grams from the car. Less is more. Including passengers ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian H Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 HiI am not sure what the options are at present. I need to remove the seat and runners and see what the whole arrangement looks like. I will lower the seat as much as possible too but I suspect there isn't scope to do that very much, if at all. Also, I am not sure Ali is acceptable? Maybe a small purpose made steel bracket? I have a local company that could knock something up for me if needs be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7 wonders of the world Posted August 30, 2015 Share Posted August 30, 2015 Any pointers for a supplier / cost for the Armaboard please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian H Posted August 31, 2015 Share Posted August 31, 2015 7wow, you have BM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceR Posted August 31, 2015 Author Share Posted August 31, 2015 Can you copy me on that mail as well Julian.Thanks Lawrence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceR Posted September 3, 2015 Author Share Posted September 3, 2015 My Bolt obsession continues! I have replaced the Ti areascreen bolts with m8 Ali ones. Not only are they lighter, another 4g, but more importantly they are anodised orange so match the car. The other plus it they are much cheaper, so with the Ti bolts for sale I should soon recoup the cost. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian H Posted September 5, 2015 Share Posted September 5, 2015 Hi LawrencePlease BM the details of your Ti bolts? Perhaps a pic too so i can see if they are the same ones I need? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceR Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share Posted September 6, 2015 Hi Julian,they are m8 x 30 dome head Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian H Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 Ahh, thanks. Mine are different. A lot shorter and countersunk head. Never mind. Cheers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julian H Posted September 6, 2015 Share Posted September 6, 2015 For all those that are interested here is a picture of my boot floor. The ply area replacement works a treat but the area over the fuel tank is unsatisfactory, as I previously mentioned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Jonathan Kay Posted September 6, 2015 Member Share Posted September 6, 2015 If you want pretty lightweight bolts etc I recommend motorbike shops.Jonathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceR Posted September 6, 2015 Author Share Posted September 6, 2015 The boot floor does look good! Aesthetics and weight loss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LawrenceR Posted September 11, 2015 Author Share Posted September 11, 2015 I got my car back from Caterham Midlands today, so this evening, after a reunion blat, the weight saving continues. 15 x M5 bolts on the pedal box and scuttle have been replaced with black nylon versions. Saving 46g, costing a few pence.I also tried to remove the ply from the boot foor, unfortunately Caterham seem to have glued the carpet to it at the PBC. So I will have another go at removing it when I have a bit more light over the weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_ASH Posted September 17, 2015 Share Posted September 17, 2015 I remembered this thread when I read this BBC article on marginal gains http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34247629 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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