How to fiberglass

[andylaurence]

Losing weight is never detrimental (apart from towing), so it's a no-brainer in my book. As for effort, I've stripped out >100kg in a day. It's the old adage of diminishing returns though.

[Vekke]

I have took also about 100 kg of my car and later when I know the resulst its not worth it unless you have already done everything else that is possible.

10% weight savings might be even 4% of fuel savings if you drive only in the city.

[andylaurence]

Obviously, weight reduction is most important in stop/start situations. I don't think it should be dismissed out of hand though as it's really very easy and completely free to pull out bits that are not required. If you only need two seats and don't care about noise, you can definitely remove the rear bench seat, seat belts and carpets in an afternoon for a saving of at least 50kg and for free. If you don't need the rear seats, then you can often sell the front and rear seats for enough to buy a couple of lightweight bucket seats that will normally (with the carpets and rear seat) save you 100kg.

[Vekke]

Taking weight out is worth it. but to change/manufacture youself the parts from fibergass is not the first thing on the to do list on my next project. My target is still to lose 100 kg from 830 kg Lupo 3L. So I will need composites to reach that target that is certain.

This topic was for manufacturing parts with fiberglass.

So here is one tip.

Laminate over the old maybe even negative release anlge part one or two layers of thin 300g/m2 twill glasfibre. After it has been cured you can take it first off because it will flex so much that you can remove it from around that part. after that support it to its correct shape and apply more layers inside the part. This way you dont need to make mold of the original part which takes time and money. You need to sand that new part which you manufactured but it takes less time than making a mold...

[Creeper]

The car is mostly drivin in the city now and at 425km at best in the city and that includes killing the engine at reds and driving normally.

[Vekke]

In city driving best place to lose weigth is to change as small wheels as possible and light tires. This means narrow wheels and 55-65 aspect ratio height tires. If you go to even smaller heigth ratios they dont roll so easily and cost more.

You save in city driving 3X the actual weight of the real weight savings.

[watahyahknow]

taking out the insulation under the carpet and firewhall whill allso safe a lot of weight the stuff is usually bitumen and heavy , it will become more noizy , you could take out the undercarpet as whell and mount poliested racingseats , it will be simpler and more effective

[andylaurence]

The solid stuff is a nightmare to remove. I've done it a couple of times. You need a hot air gun (hairdryer is a good bet), a scraper and a lot of time. I forget how much my M535i had in it, but I seem to remember that what was stuck on the seat back alone was 20kg. My Mk2 Golf (Rabbit in the US, I think) was very different with just a few kgs covering the whole floor. I decided my time was better spent elsewhere once I'd got part way through it and realised how little difference it made. The soft stuff comes out in seconds though and still weighs a good amount.