Wanted: Track Day Car

[Scott Farquharson]

Congrats John, I'm sure you will have a lot of fun!

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Nice one John, that'll be lots of fun.

What have you removed for the 90kg?  It adds up pretty quickly doesn't it.

[alfagtv58]

Great stuff John, 75's seem to be the go at our sprints of late.  So super modified over 2L then?  I know of a 3L 24V engine ready to bolt in if the budget will stretch (I was thinking of putting it into my 75, then reality set in!).

[John Toomath]

In terms of weight reductions the biggest items have been:

Aircon pump and radiator     14 kg
Spare Wheel                      15 kg
Passenger Seat                  15 kg
Door Cards                        10 kg
Carpet                               9 kg
Rear Seat Back                    8 kg
Rear Seat Base                    6 kg
Felt and tar from firewall       3 kg
Boot carpet and linings         6 kg
Stereo and speakers            5 kg
Jack and Wheel Brace          4 kg

I gather there is about 10 kg of tar-like sound deadening stuck to the shell if you can be bothered with the arduous task of chipping it off. I have heard that dry ice helps make it brittle but would welcome any techniques people have discovered to make its removal easier.

Offsetting this is the increase of 3.5 kg per wheel in moving up from 14 x 6s to 16 x 6.5s, which adds 14 kg.

The goal of 100 kg looks within reach, which represents approximately 8.5% of the starting weight.  Now if the engine was producing anything like its original 110kW (which it isnt) the power to weight ratio would have improved from 10.6 kg per kW to 9.6 kg per kW. With the weight savings retained, a switch to a 12V 3.0 motor instantly gets you to 7.7 kg per kW, which produces a pretty quick machine in skilled hands. (Not mine at this stage) For comparison, a standard 156 GTA comes in at 7.9 kg per kW.

A 24V 3.0 would be wonderful (and continuing my datafest above gets you to 6.5 kg per kW !!!), but with it would need to come things like a LSD and bigger brakes, so not this year.  Its a fantastic engine in my GTV, especially now that a couple of mufflers have been removed.  Of course, in an exercise in value destruction I could always swap the 24V 3.0, brembos and wheels out of my GTV ! Would the rarity of a 12V 2.5 2001 GTV make it a collectors item??  I think not.

[Sheldon McIntosh]

I know I'm gonna regret this, since it looks like we'll be in the same class this year, but you should check out this thread on the BB......http://www.alfabb.com/bb/forums/milano-75-1987-1989/27358-roxanne-budget-milano-75-track-car.html

[John Toomath]

Oh yes , I know this well.  It made pretty gripping reading for about the first 1,000 posts.  It has been so tempting to name my car Roxanne II, but other than the colour and interior stripping, I cant even vaguely compare to the mechanical feats achieved in his garage on Roxanne.

[Sheldon McIntosh]

Yeah, I love how it started out as a 'budget' race car!!   Didn't stay that way for long.  I guess it's all relative though. 

Can't wait to see you out there in a car you're not (so) scared of scratching.  Wasn't going to go to Winton in March, but I may have to now.....

[hammer]

John,

I chipped out 14kg of that hard black crap from teh interior of my 75 Twinspark. I actually took my time and did it whenever I had a spare half hour. I used a chisel and mostly just pushed it by hand. I then cleaned it up with a wire brush on my grinder. My brother then gave it a quick spray with red killrust and she's come up a treat - well, almost.

I'm even considering chipping away at the black tar under the car and then just giving it a spray with chassis black for rust protection.

If you don't need your rear electric windows, pull the motors, wiring and mechinism out and save a further 4kg. I adapted the existing bracket and bolted it in place to hold the window up.

I also ditched my power steering to save a bit of weight and a bit of power drain. Had to have the rack adapted slightly but it now feels great on the track.

You're definitely right about weight being the king when you don't have a lot of power.

Good luck with it.

Brent

[alfagtv58]

To quote Jim Nielson

Aerodynamics is the poor sister of weight reduction

[AndrewO]

Hi John,

I chipped the tar of my car with a screwdriver and hammer.  I did the boot with a heat gun and paint scraper but the fumes were horrible even with a mask.

I'd wait till winter, or I did mine in the early mornings when it is hard and brittle and just hit a bit off at a time.  I'm sure the dry ice would work really well to harden it and make it come off.

After I got it to the stage of the first photo (you can see the individual chips where they came off) I just use prep-sol or any old pre painting oil and grease remover and the bits that were left over just dissolved.

The second photo is the finished result.

[Scott Farquharson]

To quote Jim Nielson

Aerodynamics is the poor sister of weight reduction

reducing weight = cheap horsepower

[Scott Farquharson]

I have chipped black deadener crap from many cars, the best way is with a chisel and hammer trying to get right under it and break off large chunks at a time, the cooler and hence the more brittle the better.  Clean up with wire brush on a grinder or drill.  Maybe a little solvent to get the last little bit of residue off.

The Alfetta/GTV/75 etc based chassis's are heavy and there is lots of metal that can be cut out - depends how far you want to go.  Cutting wheel, grinder and off you go.  Inside doors, rear fire wall (between boot and cabin - cut out and then replace with ally), are all fair game.  If you ever put in a roll cage then the intrusion bars inside the doors weigh a ton.  Cut them out!  And don't forget under bonnet and boot deadening.  Also (maybe further down the track) removing the brake booster and all the crap that goes with it, and replacing with pedal box and twin masters also saves a heap plus gives better brake feel.

Go nuts!

[Mat Francis]

probably a little late now, but it might be good for future reference. i got all the sound deadening crap out of an alfetta using what dad called the air chisel. dunno if thats the official name or not. its a chisel that vaguely resembles a jackhammer the size of your hand. like a rattle gun with a blade in the end of it that goes backwards and forwards rather than in circles. anyway took no time at all, it cuts about as fast as you can move your hand. definately a huge time and grief saver if you can get your hands on one.