How to loose 200kgs?....

[immortality]

Fark me, that brake rotor looks like swiss cheese

yep, has had a lot of material removed, not only by drilling but also machining of the OD and most other faces, still very heavy though..
Rears look about the same

I'm going to assume your running an OEM rotor?

Have you cut one in half to see how much extra material there is around the outside of the hub face/internal bearing housing?

[Holden202T]

yeah I've noticed even an empty tank of fuel v's full makes a difference to response, and so it should 60ltrs odd is about that in KGS!

[immortality]

Fill the roll cage tubes with helium????

[vlad01]

yeah I've noticed even an empty tank of fuel v's full makes a difference to response, and so it should 60ltrs odd is about that in KGS!

yeah same, but I notice 1 extra person a lot more than the fuel. 60L would be about 45Kg. One average (today's average) bloke would be 2 tanks worth of extra weight.

5 people in the car minus the driver would be 300Kg extra assuming average 75kg each. I can tell you that is very very noticeable.

I have noticed the V6 corners a lot better than the V8 models with same suspension setup. less weight over all and its further back behind the front wheels too.

My understanding is in most cars the ideal location for the engine is just behind the front wheels.

[immortality]

Yep, weight distribution is critical.

I wonder if BiggVL has considered moving the engine back to improve weight distribution and shorten the driveshaft, probably save a kilo

[vlad01]

I wouldn't bother moving the engine back. its good where it is for a V6.

As I found changing that bias towards the rear on a V6 makes it worse. Having next to no weight in the rear makes it very snappy and nimble.


here is a thought, what if the rear end was converted to IRS of some form, tubular arms and sub-frame, that would reduce a ton of weight and reduce unsprung weight a whole heap. Live axle it a heavy breed. And leave room for finer suspension tuning. IRS is pretty good on dirt over live axle in my experience.

[slewinson]

Fill the roll cage tubes with helium????

Or the driver full of hot air as it is cheaper

[vlad01]

methane is lighter than air, eat heaps of beans and cabbage?

[slewinson]

methane is lighter than air, eat heaps of beans and cabbage?

And higher octane too!

[immortality]

I wouldn't bother moving the engine back. its good where it is for a V6.

As I found changing that bias towards the rear on a V6 makes it worse. Having next to no weight in the rear makes it very snappy and nimble.


here is a thought, what if the rear end was converted to IRS of some form, tubular arms and sub-frame, that would reduce a ton of weight and reduce unsprung weight a whole heap. Live axle it a heavy breed. And leave room for finer suspension tuning. IRS is pretty good on dirt over live axle in my experience.

Just changing to a proper rear coil over set up would allow the use of tubular lower arms, and lighter springs, weight to be saved there yet. Considering it's already got a roll cage extending into the boot, fabricating upper mounts for the coil overs shouldn't be hard, just need to make some mounting brackets to weld onto the diff, Delco has good pics in his V6 Starlet thread.

Also consider making a tubular K frame, would allow you to lower the engine a bit which would be a bonus. Custom dry sump you could go even lower. Lower centre of gravity should aid handling.

Could also consider chopping out the trans tunnel and making a new one from alloy sheet.