Weight Reduction v1.4

Originally posted: 10-15-2011

The weight reduction begins! ......  Again!

About a week ago I began stripping the car down.  I'm working my way from front to back removing any parts I can find that are no longer needed on a race car.


I have been finding various brackets and pieces that aren't needed.  Things that were previously hidden by other items.  I finished removing the A/C lines, which wrap completely around the ending bay before continuing back to the T-case (read as "fun," yey!).
I removed the dash/crash beam from the car to further reduce it's overall weight, and clean up with wiring mess.  I will also be relocating many of the connectors and the ECU behind the crash bar for better protection and a cleaner look. 

With the crash bar and the steering wheel removed, I was able to remove more of the sound deadening tar off of the floor by the drivers feet, and over the drive shaft tunnel by the shifter.  The brown marks all over the floor is adhesive residue from the under side of the tar.  Removing all this tar really makes me wish I had an RS(which didn't come with the tar or the fiber mat on the firewall).

I'm taking some extra time on everything to make it look as clean as possible.  The first 7 months, I focused on getting the car running well without issue, and wasn't as detail-orianted as I should have been, but time was a factor and I didn't have any. So a clean and neat look is what I am going for.  And the nicer finish will pay off in small areas.  Cleaner means more material (dirt, glues,etc.) is removed, which in turn means lighter.  It may be minimal at the end, but every little bit is a step ahead.

With the dash bar removed from the vehicle, I completely removed the wiring harness that was attached to it to give me the most room to safely work.  There are a number of heavy braces connected to the crash bar to support the dash.  I removed anything not needed for the wiring harness support, or needed gauges.  Some of the items, such as the ECU and OBDII plug, had their own extention brackets off of the crash beam.  I removed those and built a bracket to house the ECU behind the center of the crash bar.  This gets it out of the way of peoples legs, and furthest from possibly getting wet.  I cut off the large OBDII plug holder, and welded the small place holder to the center of the crash beam mounts.

Next step is to reinstall then crash beam, and relocate the harness plugs that currently sit on the floor, to a more rain friendly location.

-Mike