Rotten Passat

[dfeldt91]

Alright, had a few more hours to work on the car. Will get pictures up real soon, tomorrow is supposed to be really nice. I've got another 60 to 80 pounds of interior removed that needs to be dumped in the nearest trash as it is just sitting in the back of the car. Then it is off to the scales. I am pretty confident the Passat will now be under 2700 pounds as it was 2780 with headliner, rear door panels, Oh $h*t handles and brackets, some sound deadening, shelf above where rear seat was, Rear sun shade, Side curtain Airbags, unnecessary wiring, and a few other little things. Also, my gas is nearly empty so I can finally get a good empty weight.

Tomorrow I will get the muffler removed which probably weighs a good 25-30 pounds at least. After that, I'll pull the rear crash bar and arms for about 20 pounds or so.

I should be able to afford a nice set of coilovers to lower the rig in July, until then.......it's sky high....

By the way, the acceleration at highway speeds is amazing now with the huge weight reduction. Pulse and glide is much easier and should net me higher gains as soon as I get past the performance aspect of the car.

[MobilOne]

Pulse will be easier with less weight; but glide might suffer with less weight equaling less inertia. The results will be interesting.

[dfeldt91]

Originally Posted by MobilOne

Pulse will be easier with less weight; but glide might suffer with less weight equaling less inertia. The results will be interesting.

Indeed. I figured with the 500 pounds less that I am aiming for the car will not coast quite as far, however, I will be doing a bunch of aero mods soon in order to help get the CD lower than the stock .27.

With a grille block, under tray, wiper delete, external mirrors delete, antenna delete, car being lowered, rear wheel covers, etc, it should still have a good impact.

Only time will tell. I'm trying to aim for 2650 pounds by tomorrow evening. The bad part is that the majority of this weight is removed from the rear of the vehicle upsetting the balance quite a bit in the process. However, I do not think it will be a real issue as I will be driving it economically and under/oversteer won't be an issue.

[matt36415]

Do you think some of that stuff might make the car safe? Airbags possibly? With no mufflers will your car pass any checks required? There are rules about noise levels in Aus.

If you do manage to take 500 pounds out, what fuel saving do you think you might get?

[ME_Andy]

I respect your vision. Sounds fun!

[Xist]

The rule of thumb is that for every 2% you improve the weight or aerodynamics, your fuel economy improves 1%, so if he loses 16%, he gains 8%.

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by Xist

The rule of thumb is that for every 2% you improve the weight or aerodynamics, your fuel economy improves 1%, so if he loses 16%, he gains 8%.

Right, but depends on his driving mix. More in city driving, less on the highway. City gains definitely won't exceed 16%, of course.

Seems to me there are probably better ways to gain 3mpg, but I'm morbidly fascinated and would love to see pictures of this stripped and gutted car.

[dfeldt91]

Originally Posted by matt36415

Do you think some of that stuff might make the car safe? Airbags possibly? With no mufflers will your car pass any checks required? There are rules about noise levels in Aus.

If you do manage to take 500 pounds out, what fuel saving do you think you might get?

I have taken the rear and side airbags out as I do not have rear seats, so no people to protect back there. Also here in Salem, Oregon, USA, there are no safety/smog checks so nothing to worry about for me. Even with the muffler off, these cars aren't loud enough to receive a ticket from an officer unless you are trying to put the car in higher RPMs(Where I don't drive when I am trying to be economical..)

With the 500 pounds out of the car I am hoping for a big difference in city driving. The aero will come into play for highway. I am hoping for 200% EPA HWY which is 58 MPG. I was around 45 MPG before starting on highway so it should be attainable. City driving would be around 150% EPA to make me happy(About 32 MPG).

[dfeldt91]

Originally Posted by Ecky

Seems to me there are probably better ways to gain 3mpg, but I'm morbidly fascinated and would love to see pictures of this stripped and gutted car.

You are in luck, I'm headed out right now to clean out the car, delete some stuff, weigh it then get pictures!

[V6MustangFTW]

Not really MPG related, but it would be cool to compare the factory 0-60 time to the 0-60 time after you've finished stripping it