fibreglassing my ae101

[touge_ae101]

have been doing some thinking and i need to take some more weight out of my ae101 over summer since its gaining the weight of a cage soon...

was talking to a guy at road and track on sunday from wellys ?chris? i think who had a ae101 levin and he said he had some moulds to make a sweet bomex style bumper and supercharged bonnet.
just wondering if anyone knows him or someone who could help me out with fibreglassing the front end of my car?? obviously not wanting to spend the earth or anything so if anyone has any hook ups that would be great.

tbh don't really care what it looks like its just got to be light! fibreglass door skins would be cool too but maybe too cold/drafty for a daily driven car.

i have no previous experience fibreglass/panel/paint or anything so don't think i could do it myself. but how hard is it?

[Bling]

Fibreglassing isn't cheap. So if it was me, i'd work out how much weight i'd be saving and roughly what it was going to cost, then decide if it's worth the money or not. I'm not saying don't do it, just work out how much money you're willing to pay to save that weight

I'd hazard a guess at it being quite costly for minimal real gains. my2c

If you're wanting to do it just for the experience etc though, then go nuts

[Stott69]

Give me a PM, My uncle is the foreman at FDL in Fielding and does stuff out of his house in Dannevirke too. Remoulded my front lip from preface lift

[touge_ae101]

Fibreglassing isn't cheap. So if it was me, i'd work out how much weight i'd be saving and roughly what it was going to cost, then decide if it's worth the money or not. I'm not saying don't do it, just work out how much money you're willing to pay to save that weight

I'd hazard a guess at it being quite costly for minimal real gains. my2c

If you're wanting to do it just for the experience etc though, then go nuts

main thing i'm wanting to lighten is the bonnet. its got to weigh a good 10-15kilos almost. but may as well do guards while i'm at it (can't be bothered fixing/replacing my dent)

just from knowing how much faster you can go by removing a bit of weight i think it will be worth it. if it means another 5kmh (perhaps a bit optimistic though) at the end of the straight on manfeild then it will be worth it.

all depends on cost though. i have a figure in my head and not sure how far from the truth it is.

i think if i do it myself i'll just fcuk it up and not have the patience to see it out.

awesome scott PM'd! chur

[h8wrxs]

ive been wondering about how to lose some weight from my trueno as well actually, it currently weights pretty much ban gon 1100kg without me in it

is there anything you can easily lose that will be worthwhile? was plannin to ditch the aircon soon btu what else?

[Dell'Orto]

Drill lots of holes

[levinguy]

Drill lots of holes

this.

speed holes.. they make your car go faster.

i wouldnt bother with the gaurds/door cards unless your bored, they're pretty light already.

but definantly the bonnet

[touge_ae101]

yeah just aircon, back seats etc but that doesn't get rid of a lot. best bet would be to get a nana spec 4afe model with no extras like mine then they weigh 1020kg std. now mine should be just below 1000kgs...superstrut is quite heavy

have also heard of removing power steering pump but i think i'll keep mine for daily driving.

the doors are really heavy aye. might look at hacking away at the frames for that at some stage. as long as no one sees it for wofs. bonnet on truenos is reinforced to antarctica and back and soo heavy so a bit of weight could be lost there but if i want to keep getting wofs then they might look at me a bit funny and go looking for more weight savings.

[touge_ae101]

not worried about door cards but the skins/frame of the door is really heavy. need to take a closer look someday and decide if there anything that isn't necessary in the structure of the doors.

[Bling]

Depends if you value your limbs, it all helps stop other cars coming inside your car. If you're putting in a cage, that will change that though I guess. I'd probably focus more on driving technique / track time than spending money on making it lighter. Who knows in 6 months you might want a different car. Just sayin'

[touge_ae101]

yeah definately wouldn't want to get rid of all the structural rigidity of the doors without a cage there thats for sure!!

yes track time would be awesome but i want to build it up while i have money over summer to a decent state. get sick of everything being so standard...

then as much track time as i can afford next year! oh and i don't think i am ever going to sell this car i don't think...its just too much fun and i've put too much money into it.

[TRD Man]

I still have some Bomex style front bumpers & side skirts in the shed which we would sell at knockdown prices.

[Truenotch]

There's not much point going to fibreglass guards - it's cheaper to use steel ones and you won't make a F/G panel much lighter anyway. It's easy to pop out a dent at a race meeting and a lot harder to re-glass something on the spot.

Don't cut the reinforcing out of your bonnet, Nick's integra will attest to that (it folds in half when you lift it). One of the guys in Hamilton has made a bonnet for his AW11 (as a uni project ) and it wasn't too hard but you need the right gear.

Front bumper - not sure how much weight is in this either. It's normally the support that makes up the bulk, so you could look at making lighter brackets. This might be dodgy for a daily though.

The inner panel of the door is quite heavy, but you need a cage to pass scrutineering. May as well put a thin alloy skin at the same time.


The biggest difference is to make plastic windows, but screw having a daily that leaks like a sieve.


In conclusion: Drill holes.

[touge_ae101]

yeah true fibreglass front guard might be a bit of a bitch to deal with if damaged.

not too fussed on taking weight out of front bumper but wanting a lower splitter and to make the car look a bit better too. there is f all weight in the bumper support. think it is all of 1-2kg...no frills 4afe model ftw!

trying to stay away from removing std panels as i want to keep it fairly std foward of the seats so its not too far from streetable. not quite going to be a full race build yet, more a race inspired build with plenty of track use.

ahh wish glass was lighter! dammit

[Emperor]

I think from memory, mate used $380 worth of product to mould a front bumper, and its not complete yet... So its not cheap.

[Bazda]

The bonnet, I took out the braces in mine to lighten it, the bonnet just goes crazy when on the race track. So i put the stock one back in.
After all that i just bought a fiberglass bonnet from SpeedFactory (with carbon layed on top). Its about 2/3 of the weight of the stock bonnet as its double skin and its got all the bracing moulded into it etc.

As for the doors, are they electric? or manual wind up?

I keep adding weight to my car lol, only thing i've taken out is the weight of the stock seats replaced with buckets. Think mine weighs in near 1100kg with all the extra stuff i've added.

In conclusion, the only way to make it lighter is to:
Replace all brakes with 2 piece rotors and Wilwood calipers - Calipers are alloy, 2 piece rotors save alot of weight as the centers are alloy
Lexan windows
speed holes every where
alloy exhaust
smaller fuel tank
light weight 15" rims
bucket seats
chromolly half cage.

[1I1]

Yeah Rhys' car still has electric windows

[cogent]

IMO:

[rollaholic]

this is why you'll never be a mod cogent, thats adding weight

[1I1]

Seeing as there is SFA in the back half of the car maybe look at removing anything nnnecessary from the B-Pillars forward? Maybe gut the inners of the dash / centre console area. Though even then are you going to gain much performance vs time and effort spent