[Maleware]

I'm wanting to make my car lighter. … So what's the most effective way of reducing weight in the car? …

In the good old days when I didn’t have a belly and three chins my car was way faster!

 

[Micke]

Usually that is the cheapest way of gaining speed 😁

 

[Alan16ac]

Holy thread resurrection. I asked this nearly 11 years ago now. 😂

 

[Micke]

Topic still valid after a decade 😅

 

[Alan16ac]

Topic still valid after a decade 😅

Even more so probably. I’m about 4 stone heavier than when I posted this originally. So the weight savings needed are far greater now! 😁

 

[Gav1513]

For any new people wanting to strip they're road car.......DONT

I have a facelift cooper s, mildly atripped so far for track (still plenty to strip) so far I've take out rear seats, all 4 door cards speakers all round and the rear boot carpet and that is more than enough for me to say you would not want to daily a car like that. Before I put my decat on and I drove it down the road I would have to put ear plugs because it drones, rattles, booms like crazy

If you wanna save weight, save on unsprung weight change the front seats to lighter buckets, fixed back or recliner, and if you remove the rear seats see about making up a rear seat delete panel with some sound insulation under it

 

[TrackScotland]

some comments

My R53 race car is ~990kg whilst still retaining the metal panels and a full cage

R56 rear arms - about 15kg saving
LiPO4 battery - about 10kg
remove battery box in boot (plate), single silencer out rear centre - 5kg
steel in the rear crash bar - 3-5kg
AC - 5kg

interior and soud-deadning/seam sealer - fine removing that on a race car, but may not be practical on road car - big savings, prob 50kg or so

 

[docklander]

I have a 2006 Cooper S that my son and I are using for Sprint events.

R56 rear arms - about 15kg saving - do you have a part number or image TrackScotland ·?

 

[CarsOrBikes]

I honestly wouldn't consider the arm difference as 15kg, having not weighted them but picked quite a few up, a few kg perhaps, still worth fitting regardless

 

[moxyr53]

honestly stripping it will do nothing. Apart from do your head in and ruin the car, you mentioned your first track day ? you instantly dont need a fully stripped car to go on the track. If you intend to use it still on the road go the clubsport route so its not a shit can

 

[Alan16ac]

honestly stripping it will do nothing. Apart from do your head in and ruin the car, you mentioned your first track day ? you instantly dont need a fully stripped car to go on the track. If you intend to use it still on the road go the clubsport route so its not a shit can

Current date - 18th of September 2023
Date I posted this - 26th of April 2012

I can’t believe how often this thread is being resurrected and answered. I asked this over 11 years ago! I’ve been through about 20 cars since! And currently have 3 cars, one if which is my 8th first gen MINI. This post was about my 2nd R53. I’m on my 5th now 😁

FWIW, my current R53 is a track only car, I have gone probably way overkill in preparing it for track and it has had some interior bits stripped, and it’s far from a shit can 😉 Nobody needs to do anything to take a car on track. But saving some weight is a cheap and easy way to improve handling. I use my Audi S3 as my daily now and my Lexus SC430 for wafting about when a bit of comfort and lazy V8 is desired. So a stripped interior on my track only R53 isn’t an issue anymore. But weight saving really will transform a car, although granted, I would not want to use a fully stripped car on the road.

 

[JKo]

I honestly wouldn't consider the arm difference as 15kg, having not weighted them but picked quite a few up, a few kg perhaps, still worth fitting regardless

I weighed them when I did the conversion, total difference to R53 arms is 6kg.

There's a thread here somewhere with quite a few weights listed, I added a lot of parts there when doing the rear seat delete.

 

[JKo]

Even though this is an old thread and Alan no longer needs help with this, there's still good info here and ppl will have opinions.

 

[Micke]

Even though this is an old thread and Alan is sane, there are still retards that fiddle with these shitboxes

There, fixed it for you 👌🏻

 

[CarsOrBikes]

I weighed them when I did the conversion, total difference to R53 arms is 6kg.

There's a thread here somewhere with quite a few weights listed, I added a lot of parts there when doing the rear seat delete.

across the pair?

 

[JKo]

across the pair?

Yup. 3kg difference per arm.

 

[CarsOrBikes]

Yup. 3kg difference per arm.

more like it than 15 total
doesn't feel that much really when lifting the things
there are a couple of variants though, iirc one is shown as lighter, think I might have used them on mine actually, can't remember

 

[sebsand09]

Gentlemen, it is nice to see there are still some r53‘s on the road. I’ve already swapped in coilovers, wheels, and lighter brakes. Doing a rear seat delete and r56 control arms to start. Next will be some lighter front buckets and a carbon bonnet and front fenders. Any other suggestions besides a full strip? I’m shooting for clubsport to retain streetability as I do enjoy attending the local cars and coffee from time to time.

 

[JKo]

OEM type battery is about 15kg, and the lightest you can get these days is around 1kg I think. Won't be cheap tho. Braille B2015 was about 7kg IIRC, and it was only like four times the price of a normal one...

I have seen hollow anti-rollbars too, those are sligthly lighter. Speakers and headunit already gone? Delete A/C and power steering. Halogen headlights are lighter than HID's. There were lightweight door cards available from Lohen at some point, might still be. Carbon steering wheel is always an option, if you don't care about losing the airbag.

With a lighter flywheel you can lose 6-8kg easily.

 

[tcbw]

If you're adding a lighter flywheel, an LSD can be lighter than the stock diff, for maybe 1kg. And my Öhlins were about 10kg lighter than the Bilstein B14s that came before them. Some of that weight is hidden.