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Last summer I picked up an titanium headerback exhaust for a NB and decided to buy a car and make it as light as possible. I'm pretty far along and have already reached the 900kg mark with 2/3 tank of fuel. The weight savings are getting expensive as I spend every bit of free time to think of other places to shave off weight,
Kaaz 1.5 way LSD
Duraflex 80A differential bushings
Power steering delete
Antigravity ATX20 battery
Suspension/brakes/wheels:
VST custom valved coilovers (from twguru over at miata.net)
Racing Beat front sway bar
949Racing end links
Keisler drop spindles rear
Rear sway bar delete
Duraflex 80A bushings
Titanium lug nuts
Wilwood Powerlite
Custom aluminium caliper bracket
MMP custom brake discs
Weds TC0-05 14x7 ET20
Toyo Proxes CF2 185/65-14
Interior:
Car Make Corns seats
Garage Star seat rails
Custom door panels
Nardi Deep Corn steering wheel
3D-Printed center console delete
3D-Printed shift ****
Manual windows
Polycarbonate side/quarter/rear windows
AWD "Into The Blue" cluster
Polycarbonate side windows
Polycarbonate hardtop window
Ididit Billet steering column
*GCFabrications GCR2 Rollbar
*GCFabrications door bars
Exterior:
Mazda Miata small Tupperware kit
Autokonexion carbon trunk
RX-7 FD APR mirrors with 3D-Printed adapters
Aerocatch hood latches
R-Theory tow hook with numberplate mount
Weight savings:
Part Weight reduced in kilograms
Soft top 20
Seats and mounts 14
Carpets 10
Doors 10
Exhaust. Ti header back 20
pare tire, jack, mounts 12
Center console/interior trim 5
Flywheel/clutch 5.5
Sound deadening 4
Front crash bar 3
Rear crash bar 7
Power steering delete 4
Steering wheel 2
Carbon canister 1
Air bag 5.5
Battery 9
Wheels. TC05 (10.6kg) 21
Lug nuts 0.7
Steering column 2.5
Hardtop latches 3
Lexan side/quarter windows 4
Stereo and speakers 3.3
Passenger seat 8
Lexan rear window 3
Total 177.5 kg (391lbs)
I picked up the car around summer 2020 and enjoyed it a fair bit with the stock 1.6 engine. But the heavy wheels and cheap coilovers made this a rather harsh and sluggish ride.
The titantium exhaust showed below 3kg on the scales and it fits nicely!
I pulled the engine and interior and did a spit-shine over the winter while rebuilding an 1.8. I should have done the rings when I was in there lol. All sound deadening was removed and the interior and engine bay was stripped and painted. Doors were gutted, ECU was relocated, and only the most necessary things were added back.
Final revision of the ITB kit. 3D-Printed velocity stacks were made as long as I could get away with and still fit a decent filter.
Car at the scales. This was with 1/8 tank.
How it sits currently. At around 880-890 with 1/4 tank. I still got polycarbonate side windows and hardtop window to mount. Currently researching lightweight brake kits that fit under 14" wheels.
As much as I enjoy IG updates, it is always a pleasure to see a proper build thread. Your weight savings so far are impressive; I am all about gram strategy as well, but I cannot live without some of the stuff you removed. Regarding brakes, I believe FM had something called "little big brake kit" using Wilwood powerlite calipers; a guy I know used to run 13" wheels on his NA using these. They will also save you a decent amount of unsprung mass. I would also look at brake booster removal (mainly for brake feel, but also weight). Presume you do not run ABS as well?
Care to give some feedback about your coilover setup? Not a lot of info out there (besides m.net), but the guy building these seems really knowledgeable!
As much as I enjoy IG updates, it is always a pleasure to see a proper build thread. Your weight savings so far are impressive; I am all about gram strategy as well, but I cannot live without some of the stuff you removed. Regarding brakes, I believe FM had something called "little big brake kit" using Wilwood powerlite calipers; a guy I know used to run 13" wheels on his NA using these. They will also save you a decent amount of unsprung mass. I would also look at brake booster removal (mainly for brake feel, but also weight). Presume you do not run ABS as well?
Care to give some feedback about your coilover setup? Not a lot of info out there (besides m.net), but the guy building these seems really knowledgeable!
Thanks! I'm looking into lighter brakes too, but I'm not entirely sold on the FM LBBK yet. But we'll see! The car came without ABS and AC, and I have removed PS as well.
The coilovers have served me very well the year I've had them on the car. They're something completely different than the TA Technix, V-Maxx, BC and Maruha coilovers I have had. These respond well to setup adjustments. I could spend days and days just tinkering with the setup in small increments. Now it's a tad understeered on corner exit on partial throttle, but settles right down when I apply power and the LSD properly locks up. Plus they hold up well to the abuse I put them through.
This weekend I aimed for reducing the weight by another 10kg, but I had to settle for around 7kg.
I started by removing the old hardtop window (which was a ******* pain in the *** with just a razor), clean up everything, apply Sikaflex 291i, and put in a polycarbonate window and quarter windows.
Stereo removed and some speaker covers I fabbed up. I was inspired by JDM aftermarket slogans when I designed them.
What is your plan for the TunerStudio gauges? I've thought about getting a small tablet and running a cable to the ECU so that I can have all the data my little heart desires
What is your plan for the TunerStudio gauges? I've thought about getting a small tablet and running a cable to the ECU so that I can have all the data my little heart desires
I'll be using it to show gauges, but with the processing power to eventually do auto tune and configuration as well. Currently researching the Pi4 as a candidate for that. I've had luck with a Pi3B with a lightweight Raspbian OS in the past.
I received the screen yesterday. High res and it seemingly works well. I'll get my hands on a Pi4 to start testing. Anyone running a CarBerry on their Pi with success?
Got the race dash ready. I found a Asus Tinker Board laying around at home. Put a heat sink on it and now it is as responsive as a computer. I'm now only missing a mini-HDMI to HDMI-cable.
Started researching lighter brakes. It seems like I can get my hands on a set of ventilated 10 inch two piece discs and some super light calipers. The weight of the caliper, disc and adapter should be just over 9 pounds. That should net me a weight saving of 9 pounds each side in the front. Ordering up the parts next month to start building the kit. Long term the plan is to move from 14" wheels to 13" centerlock wheels.
Also wondering in anyone has a set of Xida dampers complete with springs that they could weigh? That should be the next low hanging fruit. My current coilovers are steel body and I'm betting the aluminium Xidas can save me tens of pounds.
Hey Teejay, those weights might be in my build thread somewhere, but i remember moving from Bilstein-based coilovers to Xidas saved about 12 pounds overall, so you're in the ballpark.
Hey Teejay, those weights might be in my build thread somewhere, but i remember moving from Bilstein-based coilovers to Xidas saved about 12 pounds overall, so you're in the ballpark.
Just skimmed through the thread. Great inspiration! That header looks sweet! Totally forgot to check for weights lol. I think my coilovers are even heavier than the stock setup. So potentially 12 pounds total at each front wheel. And whatever I can save by swapping to 1.6 rear brakes.
It looks like the brake setup should clear 13's. Barely. Now to get the parts in house. Two piece rotors intended for a VW and GP320 calipers from Wilwood.
Brake idea sounds cool, and guess that replacement rotors would be relatively inexpensive. Let me know if you move away from your current coilover setup, have been on the talks with them trying to spec one for me so I may be interested.
Brake idea sounds cool, and guess that replacement rotors would be relatively inexpensive. Let me know if you move away from your current coilover setup, have been on the talks with them trying to spec one for me so I may be interested.
It should be cheap to get replacement rotors if I can find where the seller sources them I might swap out coilovers this winter.
Originally Posted by concealer404
Turns out i actually had the weights in my phone still.
Xidas: Race singles w/ dual springs and spherical hats
Billies: MSM shocks w/ dual Hyperco springs and Maruha hats
Rear Xida: 6.4lbs
Rear Billy: 8.6lbs
Front Xida: 8.0lbs
Front Billy: 10.8lbs
Xida total: 28.8lbs
Billy total: 38.8lbs
I think my coilovers are closer to 15lbs in the front lol. Everything is steel. Potential weight saving of 10-20lbs..
I did the last weighing of the car after the last mods. Ididit steering column, polycarbonate windows with light bronze tint from plastics4performance, and passenger seat removed. Only fumes left in the tank and I'm right around 860. Now the car is parked for the winter and more extensive mods can begin.
.. And whatever I can save by swapping to 1.6 rear brakes.
It looks like the brake setup should clear 13's. Barely. Now to get the parts in house. Two piece rotors intended for a VW and GP320 calipers from Wilwood.
I didn't see any mention of how the car will be used, but if it will see any sustained high speed or track use, those from calipers aren't really big enough for a Miata. Even a very light one. 1.03" pad volume is significantly less than stock. There is probably a Wilwood caliper with bigger pads that will fit your smaller rotor.
If it's strictly street use and will never be driven hard, more for show, then those brakes should work. You'll need a 205/60/13 tire to get the gearing right for a Miata.
That tupperware isn't made of helium, easy couple pounds to lose there. Nice job documenting everything!
I like the look of it, so that has to stay. At least unil I am just a couple of pounds away from my new goal. Then I might reconsider.
Originally Posted by emilio700
I didn't see any mention of how the car will be used, but if it will see any sustained high speed or track use, those from calipers aren't really big enough for a Miata. Even a very light one. 1.03" pad volume is significantly less than stock. There is probably a Wilwood caliper with bigger pads that will fit your smaller rotor.
If it's strictly street use and will never be driven hard, more for show, then those brakes should work. You'll need a 205/60/13 tire to get the gearing right for a Miata.
Nice work so far!
The car will be used mainly on the street and the occational AutoX stint of 1st/2nd gear. No hard track use. I didn't factor in pad volume at all. I just looked at the pad/piston area. You think a powerlite with nearly double the pad volume would be a better candidate? It's only half a pound heavier and I think I can live with that. It depends on how challenging it will be to make an adapter for it since its radial mount. And it's in stock locally!
Hard to say. It is just speculation on my part but I do know that reducing the pad volume will increase the wear rate and likelihood of fade. You are in uncharted territory.
So I decided to play it safe and get one of the Wilwood Powerlite calipers. On the scale they are 1.6kg / 3.5lb with pads. So around 2-3kg off the original caliper. And then the bracket should save some weight along with the 2-piece discs. If I can get close to 15-20lb saved in the front I'd be stoked!
A bit of progress on the setup. The caliper bracket is done. I have yet to receive the VW discs for testing, but that should be here on Friday. Technical drawings of the discs can only get me so far with 0.2mm "acceptable" errors in the thickness and offset.
07-28-2021, 05:38 PM
James II - The lightweight ITB NB build
2
I might swap out coilovers this winter.
