Here is another cheap battery I found:
A123RC 16 Cell 4S4P 13.2V9.2AH motorbike battery starter in a hard plastic case_26650_A123 start battery_A123 RC Battery|High Quality Battery|Wholesale Ebike Battery

Research shows that the cells are either b grade a123 or some decently performing knockoffs. $180, free shipping, and they take paypal. The deltran and ballistic 16 cell batteries are ~$300.

 

Another thread bump of battery research. These companies don't share much information about what is actually in the box, so I have to infer a lot of this based on the stats. Also, LOL at voltfreaks. Cheaper prismatic pouch cells and they charge $649. It would also be interesting to find out if all of these companies are using legit a123 products or sourcing their cell from china/grey market alternatives.

Alien Motion looks like a good cheaper alternative to ballistic.

https://i.imgur.com/k64Qhpy.png

Also, I would like to point out that the braille battery posted earlier is rated at 7 amp hours but is made for a 2p4s array of 2.3AH cells- It's at best a 4.6AH battery and they make no attempt to refer to it as PbEq AH. It's basically exactly the same as this battery but with terrible contruction and no balance port: http://www.ballisticparts.com/produc...roducts_id=425 And they still offer it at $400: https://www.braillebattery.com/index...batteries/ml7t

 

Does anyone have the ability to weigh and compare 2 bolt flanges with fasteners vs a complete vband + clamp assembly? I am sketching out an exhaust for my car and am curious which is lighter and by how much.

 

I can weigh a v-band assembly and a flange. You can do the math for adding the flange and hardware. I'll try and do it tonight.

You have issues. vbands are worth any weight penalties just in ease of use.

 

Both SS304

 

Thanks. Fasteners and gasket for a 2 bolt flange came in at almost exactly 4oz. The V-band is ~ .4lb lighter. If you have two clamping areas in your lightweight exhaust saving almost a full pound while using easier to take apart Vbands is a win win.


My current exhaust plan is:
20 gauge burns 2.25" with a scrubble packed burns stainless muffler in the middle. The far end of the tail section would be a vibrant 2.5" aluminum muffler.

Weight breakdown looks like this:

5 feet of 2.25 20 gauge - 6.64lb
Burns muffler SM-225-450-14-SC - 3.4lb
Vibrant 2.5" aluminum muffler - 2.5lb
2 sets of vband clamps- 1.6lb

14.14lb without including weight for hangers. Realistically 5 feet is more tubing than needed.

 

I am planning a prepreg NA hood with integrated headlight covers. I don't know how much the stock hood latch and hinges weigh so I am assuming zero for them. The actual savings would be this number + the weight of those parts. Also, the materials cost would be about $500 + cost of mold making:
https://i.imgur.com/EUOcJ5L.png

There is probably 15+lb to save from stock.

 

Just make sure it's rigid; use a core, don't go single sheet. There's a lot more force acting on the hood than some realize.

I have a dry carbon hood here with integrated headlight lids, foam core. 10.9 lbs. Lighter than stock, but it could've been better if whoever made it hadn't used an unnecessarily liberal amount of epoxy or similar bonding agent between the top skin and the perimeter frame on the underside. That frame is also about twice as many layers thick as it needed to be.

 

I have it at 3 plies of 6oz material with a nomex honeycomb core. I am thinking I would probably add a stack of extra 2" wide strips around the edges.

 

For data sake, a Treasure Coast/CCP Fab hardtop weighs in at 13lbs on my bathroom scale. (They claim 12)
Also related, a 1/8" lexan rear window weighs 5lbs.







I have both an OEM top with lexan window and a full OEM/glass/headliner/defrost NB top here currently...

 

I'm in the process of trimming my na6 dash. Has anyone cut out this section of the stock dash bar? I am a little concerned it will weaken the area where the steering column mounts. Thoughts?

 

I left mine there but punched a bunch of big holes in those large sections of steel.

Steering column mounts are up above on the tubing.

 

Yeah, my concern was that these pieces tie the tubing into areas where there are bolts in the chassis. I'll cut them out and if its too weak I will weld in some small pieces of new metal.

 

I chopped those off. It's all good without them.

 

I had my tub sandblasted, but not dipped. I didn't think about having it dipped to get the rest of the crap off. So whatever the sandblasters didn't get I scrapped off, wire wheeled off, and cussed off. I will weigh the tub when it gets back from powder coat, and then see how much crap I add in the car for a total dry weight once I am finished with it.

 

Curious about two things

- Is that 1.75 tubing for the whole cage? Looks fat but maybe that's an illusion.

- With the extensions into the engine bay, what class/org is this being built for?

 

It is indeed 1.75" that's why it does look a lot heftier than any 1.5" rollcage. There are 1.5" gussets in the rollcage. This is going to be a car I run in any type of unlimited class. SU/TTU with hopes of going and doing things like Pikes Peak next year and eventually try and make some Bonneville runs with a real tall gear. This is a turbo V8 car, so being 1.75" and a little over built is really fine with me. I realize most if not all sanctioning rules only require 1.5" .120" mild steel for up to 3000lbs I really want to walk away if/when I wad this thing up in a wall at 150mph. And with it being an iron block and all the other crap it'll probably be 2500lbs without me in it.

 

My gutted NA6 dash comes in at 17.3lb. I could have been more aggressive, and I still have a complete dash harness in there. The last time I weighed an NA6 dash it was 25.75lb but I can't remember if that included the glovebox.

 

My front crash bar was all bent up and I was looking for something to test out my new carbide tipped metal cutting blade on:



The plan is to cut out most of that front structure and then drill the spot welds to get the heavy stuff off of the frame rail. Then a 1.5x.095 tube with some gussets kind of like this:



I was disapointed to find out the center section of the crash bar was flimsy and only weighed about 3lb. All the thick stuff is in the area where the tow hooks mounted and where the crash bar ties into the frame rails.

 

Front crash bar is a total of 6.61lb if you remove all the tow hook reinforcement like this:



It looks like my replacement bar will be just under 4lb if I use 1.5x.095 and 9 square inches of 12 gauge. Not a lot of weight to be saved here.


Those tabs, are they just for mounting AC stuff? No aftermarket radiators use them?