Name some very, very light cars

I am smitten by the idea of doing a terrible thing to a tiny, light car from days gone by and maybe using a motorcycle motor ala the Jay Leno video from last week.

The first thing I thought of was a Fiat X 1/9 because... good handling but then I saw it had a curb weight of just about a ton and ideally, I'd like to start out way under that. Ideally, like a finished product that can be in the 10:1 power to weight using a common bike motor/trans so... with (probably) miata running gear and some safety tubing I want to stay under 1500lbs.

An Abarth 850TC would be sweet... probably can't afford :(

Show me pics of what to shop for!

Spitfire??? 1700#s + or - depending on the model... got a client right now planning on using a mildly built 4AGE for....

A beetle with a 2442 with a turbo. will get you close. around 1800lbs.

Bugeye Sprite, 1460lb factory curb weight Stripped a bit, I hear 1300 is more like it.

Much cheaper with only marginal weight gain, go for a MK2 sprite/MK1 midget

Keep in mind, thats before substutiting steel bodywork for readily available fiberglass...

Get the mk2/mk1 and flare fiberglass parts to take a 15" wheel/tire package (look for 13" tire options and you will know why) you should easially be under 1500lbs without resorting to any extremes. You could also do it with a totally stock steel body and a roll hoop probably (the stock motor is an iron lump)

Paul has a Lotus body. Cheap.

Berkeley is super light. AND has a motorcycle engine. Actually, there's a guy who put a 400cc Honda motor into his Berkeley- looks like it drives nice. 40hp instead of 20. Not the Bezerkely by any means, but I'm sure it's driven more than that beast.

My '88 CRX HF was 1800lb. I think the one before that was even lighter.

91 festiva! 1785 lb shipping weight.

Front wheel drive: first gen Ford Fiesta. 1775 pounds with the cast iron Kent motor. There's also the original Mini; around 1400-1500 pounds. Rear wheel drive: MG Midget, around 1650 pounds. Early Corollas, around 1650 pounds. Starlets, about 1600 pounds. Datsun B110 (no that's not a fatfinger, also known as the 1200) also around 1600 pounds.

I think my 1985 Honda CRX was 1700 lbs.

Old Fiat/Honda/etc. microcars.

Honda Z600 ~1300lbs curb. FF

Honda N600 ~1120lbs curb FF

Fiat 850 Special ~1500lbs curb RR

Also, Sandrail, most are under 1500lbs curb, some under 1000, with a VW powertrain. Just get one with IRS, the transmission is integrated into the rear suspension on the swing axle models.

2dr Swift GTi - about 1600lbs

Lotus Elan - 1600lbs

S1 Elise - 1600lbs

Sevenesque...into the 3-digits if you build them light enough! Modernbeat had one like this.

Fiat 600 and 850 sedans are in the 1300lb range. The 850 coupes are 1450 and the spiders tip the scales at just under 1500 but drop quickly when you shed door glass and top mechanisms.

Pretty much all of the vw rabbit race cars in the local circuit are gutted to ~1500.

A lot of the LBC's are just under a Ton but once you yank the heavy ass drive trains they are feather weights.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I am smitten by the idea of doing a terrible thing to a tiny, light car from days gone by and maybe using a motorcycle motor ala the Jay Leno video from last week. The first thing I thought of was a Fiat X 1/9 because... good handling but then I saw it had a curb weight of just about a ton and ideally, I'd like to start out way under that. Ideally, like a finished product that can be in the 10:1 power to weight using a common bike motor/trans so... with (probably) miata running gear and some safety tubing I want to stay under 1500lbs. An Abarth 850TC would be sweet... probably can't afford :( Show me pics of what to shop for!

I'd like to say that one of my friend's finished K20/24 converted X1/9s would weigh in the 1700-1800lb range and they make a fair bit more than 170-180hp. As an understatement.

My rabbit gti weighed in at 1850 wet.

Commutacar. It's 1300 lbs, probably less if you go dino juice. There is usually one or two on eBay.

Yugo. We had the YFH down to about 1200 lbs (still had engine, trans, exhaust, etc, which you would be dumping).

An X 1/9 is just a mid engined Yugo.

Or my Lotus body.

Here's a lightweight Lotus, about 1400lbs, you'll want to replace the stock engine even though anything you put in its place will be heavier, it costs the GDP of a small country to run. Comes with lead sheets on the floor you can pull to lose more weight!

GameboyRMH wrote: Sevenesque...into the 3-digits if you build them light enough! Modernbeat had one like this.

Keith has mentioned before that the only sub 1000lb Locosts he's aware of are bike powered. While a ton of work to make one, seems the easiest way to get a super light car. Easier than finding a 605lb Berkeley (according to the Wiki page)

BMW 700 - 1400#

Saw a king midget on the road on Sunday. That would be well under 1500 lbs. Exocet in the classifieds is 1515 lbs and around 250 hp

I knew these were light- but I didn't realize they were THAT light until I read it to reply to Gameboy's post. 605 lb. Geez, that's light. Almost FSAE light.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

Don't give up on the X 1/9.

1500 lbs with a bike motor is a pretty easy target for one.

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

The X1/9 is heavy because the US threatened to increase rollover/crash standards on convertibles while it was in development. So Fiat/Bertone designed the cars with an integrated rollbar and other safety additions that added weight to the cars. The US didn't enact the safety standards due to whining from the US manufacturers, but the die had been cast.

Early cars are the lightest, while the later cars have nicer appointments and less rust problems.

Replacing the quarterpanels, frunk cover, trunklid and engine cover with composites will reduce their weight nicely and the composite quarters will allow for box or bubble flares.

Ditch the big bumpers of the later cars and the pop-up headlights for solid lights.

Suspension pieces could be lightened and made stronger, etc.

You could go circle track with it as well:

More info on the Wedge-X and weight:

http://xwebforums.org/showthread.php?t=17200