Prius 75-91mpg

[Nathan jones]

Originally Posted by Andyinchville1

HI,

I was just thinking that too ... About paint weigh that is.

Now this may seem a little radical but with so much of the car being converted to non metals how about simply stripping off all the paint and running the sheet metal au natural (OK I know you don't want rust so I guess you can rub her down with some sort of oil to keep that from happening .... a light film of oil is bound to save some weight VS layers of paint..

Also thought about titanium lug bolts (or studs / nuts if that is what a Prius uses .... In a Jetta , the titanium saves a fair amount of weight).

Lastly, I read somewhere where a person put SMALLER rotors on the front (based on a jetta that would be like using the rear rotors and using them in the front).

I believe Wilwood also makes Aluminum Calipers whch may save weight also).

Andrew

PS - Maybe to eek out the last bit of MPGs ditch the gas engine and go with a small Turbo Diesel instead ....

All this is hard core .... I like it!

Hi
Thats true
I already have aluminium lug nuts. Aluminium 2.something g/scm titanium 4.something and iron/steel is 8.something

Use registration give me 8 points to play with and hence won't likely affect my insurance either so yes brakes were one thing I checked out. Wilwood or anyone else don't make stock alu calipers for the corolla or prius so would have to be made special. So far nobody wants to make anything I've asked for...

Yes the paint idea is very good. The only part of the exposed chassis that won't be remade is the roof, which I plan to cut out so at the moment as has already been sensibly recommended is to keep it white



n.b an old diesel without a dpf system and a mechanical pump yes but no my prius 1nz-xfe engine with 0w-20 will be just fine for now

[freebeard]

Originally Posted by Andyinchville1

I was just thinking that too ... About paint weigh that is.

In WWII, bare metal B-17s saved 75lb of weight. But they needed another [IIRC] 200lb of fuel for the same range.

[Nathan jones]

Originally Posted by Andyinchville1

HI,


PS - Maybe to eek out the last bit of MPGs ditch the gas engine and go with a small Turbo Diesel instead ....

Thanks for the thought.. the prius engine I like too much

If I was to change, the 1SZ-FE would be much better, it would not work in a conventional prius but my in mine would be very neat. All associated improvements would be combined along with 28kg less weight. 0-60 in still less than 7 secs too

Also sorry for my in depth replies sometimes

[Nathan jones]

Originally Posted by freebeard

In WWII, bare metal B-17s saved 75lb of weight. But they needed another [IIRC] 200lb of fuel for the same range.

Thanks, it has a 3-1 wet/dry ratio which is very little, especially how tight on cellulose that I am. For my doors I may even mix in a little basecoat with my gelcoat too. If I use it )

[Nathan jones]

Also I was thinking, athough the options were not available 8 years ago and nobody I don't think suggested it but a kandy k23 with a boat tail trailer for all my work crap type of deal would work

I would still take the seats out for work

...And replace the doors

Also for long trips take two spare batteries. Or just one, 2hr charge and 4-500 mile range in warm weather

Bah who knows, in a few years maybe

Night folks

edit. k23 is 1310kg!! Yaris only option until hydrogen

[Nathan jones]

Making the 4th bumper mold. I did the areas within 180 degrees, then took the mold apart, put back together to do the rear wheel bits at the back. As you can see it's different in the two pictures

[Nathan jones]

The black piece was an experiment to see if powder bound carbon would saturate in polyester and it did

Although it's not supposed to...

SShhhh

[Nathan jones]

Waxed, just needs pva. Not sure wether to use another non woven fabric I found but it may not arrive in time. We have postal strikes and I need this on before xmas

N.b the bamboo was just to keep the mold square. It's a very thin layer of glass because it only will get used once (760g incidentally)

[Nathan jones]

I wanna make a door at xmas

also the dark shading on the mold is furniture finishing wax

N.B after my bumpers experience with a fox I am moving away from mineral fibers (the carbon shattered and the bumper is only held in shape by paint and a layer of glass fibre I put on as a backup). Despite their high uts, flex and elongation still is a problem. Polymers very much interest me now. Polyimide-imide if available as a filament would be very very good. It's mean strenths higher than uhmwpe, which is stronger than para-aramid. Well, it's not available (non woven kapton it's trade name) also I don't have time to test materials in the post so for now the bumper looks like it will be made from glass

**actually I'm going to wait until the test results

[Nathan jones]

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