Quote:
Originally Posted by niky
If you're planning on taking it rallying, more welds rather than less are what you need. You may end up seam welding some of the panels for added structural strength... because that car is going to take a chassis-rattling beating if you drive it at speed over 3,000 miles.
Focus on non-essentials when lightening. I wouldn't touch anything structural until you have a chassis-stiffening cage in the car, already.
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Thanks for the input. I'm still a year out from doing the rally if I choose to go that route. I've removed all the airbags so a cage will be required with some good racing harnesses in order to meet inspection requirements I am sure. In the next year of eco driving until I do the rally the car will be fine structurally. I'm not removing major components. I'll remove the full dash and weld in a 1.5" tube across to act as a brace to hold up the steering column.
I drove 40 miles yesterday and the car died. Turns out that the alternator signal wire is ran through the instrument cluster which was not installed so the entire time the battery was not being charged. I'm also removing the trunk floor with the spare tire hole in order to replace it with polycarbonate or something else that is much lighter. I'm going to remove the inside metal part of the doors since the structural bar isn't needed with a cage. It's very likely that the doors will be welded shut. I have the driver side lock set up so when I twist it to the unlock position it opens the front windows. Likewise if I hold it in the lock position it shuts all the windows. Since I plan to remove the front door cards and whatnot I will have to make a mount of some sort for the window motor because the inner door metal that the motors and locks are mounted to is pretty heavy. Another thing I could do is use the hole that is drilled into the lower part of the glass to hold up the window with a strong elastic cord. That would allow me to remove the cord if I want the window down. I'd just have to create a padded cradle at the bottom for the window to rest in so it doesn't shatter.
Oh man, so much to figure out still. I look forward to it though!