Name some very, very light cars

Turner -> 1280 pounds.

http://newhaven.craigslist.org/cto/5003539740.html

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: - A friend said "What you want is an Exoset and drop a cool body on it, done" like that was a no brainer. He may be right. Anyone looked into the proportions to see what can be skinned onto it?

If it was me it would be a Datsun Roadster shell on the Exocet. It's pretty close.

Found an even better 2CV pic:

Elva Courier 1275 pounds.

Woody wrote: Elva Courier 1275 pounds.

1500+ with driver.....

Bike/rotary powered formula vee?

Lotus XI, or more reasonably priced, a Westfield XI? They weight between 1000 and 1200 lbs. A Coventry Climax fits, so I would think a small, modern turbocharged 4 might be wedged in. Something like a Focus ST motor would be nice, but probably too tall. A 1 liter ecoboost would be interesting.

3 cyl. SAABs run about 1700 lbs.

Krebs fiat 850 spider is under 1350 with an ej20 and Porsche 915. Swap those for a bike setup and you should be several hundred pounds lighter

turboswede wrote: 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

Fiat was aware the Exxie was overweight, so they teamed with Alcan and built (IIRC) 5 aluminum shells. Again IIRC, 4 were crash etc tested and 1 was 'completed', i.e. made to run so it could be test driven and the story is Road and Track crashed that one.

http://xwebforums.org/showthread.php?t=6383

The crash results were promising (even though the cars were stamped on the same equipment the steel ones were, meaning a lot of the construction was probably too thin for mass production) but the extra $ was what killed it for production. It was also glued together and there was a fair amount of concern about what would happen as the adhesive aged.

http://papers.sae.org/890718/

Pics of one of the 'Alcan' X 1/9's:

http://xwebforums.org/showpost.php?p=190585&postcount=33

1st Gen Honda Insight: 1847 w/o A/C. The electric bits are over 70lbs or so of that. A bike engine and plastic windows would get it to be REALLY light.

T bucket with a bike engine would be go cart weight.

Tube chassis plus Saturn body panels could be interesting too.

Do you need it to be road legal? There are lots of 1960's fiberglass replica race car bodies out there.

Also, Palatov DP4. 800-900lbs complete. Absolutely insane performance. http://www.palatov.com/cars/d4.html

Going on a bit of a tangent here, but the old saw of "adding lightness" is much less relevant in this age of cheap power. If you could suck a couple hundred pounds out of some old 62 BHP British thing, it was a great achievement. But in this day and age, suspension setup, tires, chassis stiffness, safety features and such are arguably more important. I'm a big fan of Colin Chapman, but if he paid more attention to those other factors as well as more powerful engines and less to light weight, he would probably have won more races. And probably a few more drivers would be alive right now.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: - A friend said "What you want is an Exoset and drop a cool body on it, done" like that was a no brainer. He may be right. Anyone looked into the proportions to see what can be skinned onto it?

Exocet with a pretty body check.

Unfortunately not USA chassis compatible or I would have jumped. Plus 14K for the kit is outrageous I can get a spec cobra kit for less then that and they are 1000% better engineered. 8K for the kit without wheels then different proposition.

Renault Dauphine ~1430 lbs Can usually be found in fields on Craigslist. I always wanted to do a big snowmobile engine in one (because electric reverse) but a bike engine would work too.

"14K for the kit is outrageous I can get a spec cobra kit for less then that and they are 1000% better engineered."

TWo things:

-Perhaps kit cars wouldn't be so quick to go out of business if people were willing to pay more.

-Where can you get a spec Cobra kit for that cheap?

MacDubois wrote: Renault Dauphine ~1430 lbs Can usually be found in fields on Craigslist. I always wanted to do a big snowmobile engine in one (because electric reverse) but a bike engine would work too.

That's a great idea. I love the way that they look, but they are also known as steaming POS. Now if you got rid of everything but the pretty stuff......

Speaking of Renault: How about a 4CV? ~1400 lbs.

Or a Morris Minor: ~1700 lbs.

Kreb wrote: "14K for the kit is outrageous I can get a spec cobra kit for less then that and they are 1000% better engineered." TWo things: -Perhaps kit cars wouldn't be so quick to go out of business if people were willing to pay more. -Where can you get a spec Cobra kit for that cheap?

After helping with and building 10+ kits cars and the trash that gets sold by most builders I get to throw stones. Again USA exocet chassis and that style of body they would have a line out the door with buyers with me near the top if I had the garage space.

The Euro chassis not a chance.

Cobra for 14,900 for the kit which is what mine is based on.

http://www.factoryfive.com/kits/challenge-car/what-you-get/

http://www.factoryfive.com/kits/challenge-car/what-you-get/

In reply to wearymicrobe:

That's a pretty darn impressive component list for the money.

Food for thought, my Datsun 1200 engine and gear box is 2 pounds lighter than a Hayabusa engine. While a full race Datsun A15 motor makes slightly more power than a stock Busa engine, it will only go 6hrs before it needs service but detune it about 25 hp and it will go several seasons.

There are quite a few 1500-1600 lb cars that have bolt in engines that will give 125-150 whp and will be way less work then fitting a bike engine. The laps times will be very good.

Since it isn't my money I say a turbo Haybusa engine in a Lotus 7 rep.

Tom

Kreb wrote:

MacDubois wrote: Renault Dauphine ~1430 lbs Can usually be found in fields on Craigslist. I always wanted to do a big snowmobile engine in one (because electric reverse) but a bike engine would work too.

That's a great idea. I love the way that they look, but they are also known as steaming POS. Now if you got rid of everything but the pretty stuff......

I love that thing. Is there a coupe?

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: I love that thing. Is there a coupe?

There is the somewhat differently styled Renault Caravelle which was available as a coupe. Wikipedia says they were about 12 inches longer with the same wheelbase and mechanicals. Not sure what the weight is or what kind of struggle you would have finding one.

Where would a Fiat 124 fall in this list?