Light weight Miata

MrJoshua wrote: In reply to dyintorace: I was going to be insulted, and then I remembered it was true. (and that you are picking on yourself as much as me )

Absolutely as self directed as not.

MrJoshua wrote: -Using Keith Tanner 1/2 dash with one of the radio supports removed

MrJoshua or Keith, Do you have pictures of the 1/2 dash?

In reply to Sultan:

You basically cut everything off below the seam from the flat front surface to the portion where it tucks under.

alfadriver wrote: Keith Got any old Miata mags? a LONG time ago, there was an article about how to make a light weight one. Not sure how accurate it was, though. May have to see if I can find the copy that I think I kept.

Not only do I remember it, I've driven the car extensively on the track and the street It was the "Supersport", and some of the numbers were just a touch hinky. But it was a fun little car, and it's actually where I cribbed the idea of the half dash. If you are looking at weight savings, start with a 1.6 dash. Surprising weight difference.

Here's the dash. I think I took 6 lbs off it compared to stock 1.6.

Thanks! I think I will keep what I have as I need the heater.

You can keep the HVAC, it's just more visible than usual.

Lets put it this way, I'm shooting for under 1700lbs with my DP car. Minimum weight is right at 1700 with a 1.6 for that class. Gutted doors, minimal custom bar, no interior at all, 8lb wheels, gutted bumpers covers, no lights and a custom wiring harness. Basicly just a suspension, unibody, body panels and a motor.

Most of the 1.6L DP cars at nationals were just over the 1770 mark, and that minimum weight is going down by about 90lbs for 2012.

Without using exotic materials you should be able to build a 1.6 DP car at around 1400 lbs. If you aren't, then you are not taking advantage of the allowances.

modernbeat wrote: Without using exotic materials you should be able to build a 1.6 DP car at around 1400 lbs. If you aren't, then you are not taking advantage of the allowances.

So where is the 370 lb. difference between your number and the 1770 quoted?

DeadSkunk wrote:

modernbeat wrote: Without using exotic materials you should be able to build a 1.6 DP car at around 1400 lbs. If you aren't, then you are not taking advantage of the allowances.

So where is the 370 lb. difference between your number and the 1770 quoted?

1770 is the minimum fighting weight. 1400 is what Modern is saying the car should be before ballast. I haven't weighed my car yet so I don't know where I'm at yet. Anyway you slice it, you should be able to get a miata to ridiculous numbers if you try.

Oh, I understood what Modernbeat was saying, but another 370 lb is a lot of stuff. Is your DP car at 1700 with nothing left but the "suspension,unibody, body panels,and motor" ? If it's close without ballast, then what's left to start carving out more weight ? Do like they did back in the 50s and 60s and get a bunch of holesaws and have at it ?

My XP car is coming in around 1380. The only thing making it illegal for DP is the relocated OEM ABS pump. All my exterior bodywork is OEM metal or OEM bumper cover. I'm using stock subframes and mostly stock arms, spindles and uprights.

I would say that the fp road race cars are around 1700 without driver, cage, ballast. 4 glass fenders, bumpers, & our 11 pound hood. stock subframes & control arms. I'd be interested to see what a dp car looks like :)

Kendall

They look a little like this:

They don't look a whole lot different than an F-prod road racer. I wonder how much ballast the FP guys are actually carrying then. Even so, if I built a DP car ,and added lights and a speedster style windshield, it would still weigh 1600 lb,or less.That could be entertaining !

That doesnt look too different than the FP car I worked on:

KJ

modernbeat wrote: Without using exotic materials you should be able to build a 1.6 DP car at around 1400 lbs. If you aren't, then you are not taking advantage of the allowances.

I'm looking forward to seeing this car I've seen Miata-powered Locosts that weigh 1380 lbs.

Do I sense a little skepticism, Keith?
Regardless of anyone's claims, it should be possible to take 300-400 lb out of a stock NB if one didn't care about any creature comforts.

although I don't doubt anything these days, I know my HP spridget was about 1400 w/o driver.

Kj

Production class roadracing cars have WAY too much cage in them for D or X Prepared.

modernbeat wrote: Production class roadracing cars have WAY too much cage in them for D or X Prepared.

I'm not being a hater, but I know the #31 car above has a 6 point cage with nothing forward of the lower hoop. Prolly 80 pounds of 1.5 x 095 dom tubing. minimal cage by prod standards.

I'd be very interested in light miata stuff. we spent serious $$ molding up a light weight hood that deleted the steel head light covers (just to save 9 pounds)

I Betcha we could maybe lose 100 pounds through a dipped chassis rebuild, but I'd be doubtful of a 300+ loss. we've already lightened the harness, hand picked every bolt for minimal length, etc.

also, I know my scales are calibrated with nist traceability & differ from most track scales.

Kendall

DeadSkunk wrote: Do I sense a little skepticism, Keith? Regardless of anyone's claims, it should be possible to take 300-400 lb out of a stock NB if one didn't care about any creature comforts.

No, I'm serious. I would like to see that. It'll be an impressive feat. My own Locost is around 1200 lbs full of fuel, but I have indeed seen a turbo Miata Locost right around 1400. I forget the exact number. It was a +442, BTW.

Miatas are harder to strip significant weight out of than other modern cars, as the interiors are pretty skimpy to begin with. You have to lose more than just creature comforts to pull out 300 lbs.

Resurrecting this from the dead.

This week’s day dream de jour (hmm, this week’s dream of the day, interesting) after E30’s and Fiat Spiders is a light weight Miata. One of the cars I’ve missed the most is my 91 B stock Miata (Yup kiddies, 1.6L NA’s used to be in B stock with the silly car club of America!!) I preferred the feel of my wimp mobile to those big block BP guys and their extra fancy schamncy 242cc’s. The thread on the Detroit based speedster got my light weight juices flowing again. Now, light weight is fun in theory, but the thought of driving out for a romantic meal with SWMBO, or even driving across the state to a track day with no screen, no interior, no music no nothing, well, that’s just a step or three too far.

So the brain juice is thinking along these lines. Find a 1990, short nose crank be damned and remove the weight that’s not needed, but keep the creature comforts. Looking around 90 model year cars seem to come in around 2,150lb.’s. Now things I personally would want to keep. Carpet, windows, radio, some sound deadening. Any high $$ parts would be out, this low budget. I’m assuming whatever springs shocks I put on would be awash with the stock parts, ditto on wheels. I’m assuming the car would come with daisy wheels and I love Minilite style wheels which means Konig rewinds or Rota RB’s, neither of which are the lightest wheels out there, but oh well. Now if some 93LE BBS’s came along for cheap, that would be a different matter!! Here’s a cut and paste of a spread sheet with some #’s I’ve found along the way.

It seems that 2,000lb.’s should be doable before my fat arse flops into the seat even with a roll bar. I’m surprised it’s not lower as you see claims of ST cars being down around 1,900-1,950lb’s, admittedly without a roll bar and with mega high $$ wheels and shocks that need to be bolted to the car to stop them floating off, but still I would have expected better.

Thoughts?

My old 1990 used to be 2150 lbs wet. And that was a car that could easily lose another 50 lbs, as it had some big one-piece brakes, 16" wheels, dual exhaust, PS etc. Stock seats too. No AC or airbag, it's a Canadian model. I didn't spend any money on lightening.

Fun reading for you, here's the one weight loss program I can vouch for:
http://targamiata.com/tags.php?tag=weight%20loss

It might be fun to do this again, actually. We have a car at FM that's got an awesome high compression stroker engine that really wants to be in a super-light chassis, but it made the mistake of being yellow so the boss wants it as a street toy. I doubt I could convince him to let me cut on it at all.

My 97' with sport brakes, FM front bar, 15X8 6ul's, full cage, full tank, extinguisher, cool suit, etc... is 2040lb. I found probably close to another 30+ pounds to take out.