Has anyone stripped out weight from their Vantage

[stanwan]

eh? now you've lost me completely.......

[XXXAngelXXX]

i never saw backseats before in the Vantage ....

[ariel]

no rear seats in mine but the parcel shelf can be folded forward and obviously releases the extra power you crave.

[Pugsey]

It'll probably have the same effect as when you took the back seats out of that 360 you own.......................;)

[XXXAngelXXX]

hmm i could throw out the passengers seat but wife 1.0 will moan.....

[mikial]

Pugsey said:

It'll probably have the same effect as when you took the back seats out of that 360 you own.......................;)

I removed the back seats from a 360,an sl55 and my first car , an A/H Sprite Mk 1 , all were faster but it upset the weight distributation leading to terminal understeer on all three .

[whoami]

Vorland said:

Seeing that there is back seats etc and I only need the front seats has anyone taken them out in a bid to reduce weight and increase performance.

I am thinking that once removed you could cover it with a light carpet material matched to the interior so it would look more presentable.

Surely the most effective way to reduce weight would be to take the engine out?

Being the heaviest component, surely that would make the most difference.

Let us know how it goes.

HTH

[75nuggett]

The DB7 "VANTAGE" (a.k.a. V12) has rear seats - you mean this? Answer is Yes, you will save weight and improve the car although finishing off the gap neatly is difficult, more work for the girl rather than boy. Historically the AM DB4 did just this to become the, now soooo valuabel, lighter DB4GT; of course the chassis was also shortened so leg room ceased to be for the rear unfortunates.

[williamp]

Very funny you lot.

Sriosuly: there are a number of ways you can make the car lighter and therefore faster.

First, Remove rear seats, rear seat belts, rear centre armrests with drinks cooler and seat controls, and remove the rear doors too

-Remove glass front and rear. The weight saving will surprise you, and the drag will drop too. Remove the headlining and replace with an alloy panel, curved so the roof becomes a full groudn effect wing, F1 style. Maximim downforce over the centre of the car. Perfect

-Weld the doors shut, and remove all door internals. More weight saving. If its good enough for the General lee its good enough for you

-The tyres are heavy and their width gives a lot of drap. You can replace them with 6.70x15 crossplies. The DB6 had them, and that car can do 150mph. Low drag, you see

-Run the engine without any oil or water. This will save a lot of weight.

-Replace the gearbox with a direct driveshaft. The gearbox is really dead weight in a car anyhow, and a direct drive will make the car lighter (also remove 3rd pedal, gearbox lever etc). Starting maybe a problem, though...

-Engine. With no fluids, you can remove the sump. And radiator. And oil coolers.

-You yourself are a lot of weight. So, by not driving it, the car will remain light.

There. You should now be looking at a car not much heavier then a Caterham. And its still an Aston!

[stanwan]

Oh go easy on him. I think he's talking about his LWB db9vantage

[whoami]

williamp said:

Very funny you lot.

Sriosuly: there are a number of ways you can make the car lighter and therefore faster.

First, Remove rear seats, rear seat belts, rear centre armrests with drinks cooler and seat controls, and remove the rear doors too

-Remove glass front and rear. The weight saving will surprise you, and the drag will drop too. Remove the headlining and replace with an alloy panel, curved so the roof becomes a full groudn effect wing, F1 style. Maximim downforce over the centre of the car. Perfect

-Weld the doors shut, and remove all door internals. More weight saving. If its good enough for the General lee its good enough for you

-The tyres are heavy and their width gives a lot of drap. You can replace them with 6.70x15 crossplies. The DB6 had them, and that car can do 150mph. Low drag, you see

-Run the engine without any oil or water. This will save a lot of weight.

-Replace the gearbox with a direct driveshaft. The gearbox is really dead weight in a car anyhow, and a direct drive will make the car lighter (also remove 3rd pedal, gearbox lever etc). Starting maybe a problem, though...

-Engine. With no fluids, you can remove the sump. And radiator. And oil coolers.

-You yourself are a lot of weight. So, by not driving it, the car will remain light.

There. You should now be looking at a car not much heavier then a Caterham. And its still an Aston!

Lateral thinking. I like it.

[Pugsey]

Get home from school. Sit on kitchen floor while mum makes tea and make brmm, BRMM! noises while manipulating imaginary pedals etc. That's one very light - if slightly imaginary - car.

With profuse apologies if I've been a bit beastly.

[matc]

Pugsey said:

Get home from school. Sit on kitchen floor while mum makes tea and make brmm, BRMM! noises while manipulating imaginary pedals etc. That's one very light - if slightly imaginary - car.

With profuse apologies if I've been a bit beastly.

Talking of actually stripping weight from a V8V, how are you and your neighbour getting on with your project?

[Pugsey]

matc said:

Pugsey said:

Get home from school. Sit on kitchen floor while mum makes tea and make brmm, BRMM! noises while manipulating imaginary pedals etc. That's one very light - if slightly imaginary - car.

With profuse apologies if I've been a bit beastly.

Talking of actually stripping weight from a V8V, how are you and your neighbour getting on with your project?

Hi. We've done the easy - and fun bits - but we're waiting while someone who knows what they're doing looks into the dash, elecs etc., as we'd like to rip it all out and stick a Stack system in but obviously don't want to run into electronic 'brain' probs. Foreign travels - and the fact that it's blxxdy cold in the barn have held things up a bit too!

[carryondentist]

How much did the front seats weigh...? I would imagine you could save a load by swapping those for some carbon shell items.

[s.m.h.]

Pugsey said:

matc said:

Pugsey said:

Get home from school. Sit on kitchen floor while mum makes tea and make brmm, BRMM! noises while manipulating imaginary pedals etc. That's one very light - if slightly imaginary - car.

With profuse apologies if I've been a bit beastly.

Talking of actually stripping weight from a V8V, how are you and your neighbour getting on with your project?

Hi. We've done the easy - and fun bits - but we're waiting while someone who knows what they're doing looks into the dash, elecs etc., as we'd like to rip it all out and stick a Stack system in but obviously don't want to run into electronic 'brain' probs. Foreign travels - and the fact that it's blxxdy cold in the barn have held things up a bit too!

PI are the only people that make a system that works with the existing elctronics. IIRC its circa £5/6k....though its as close to plug and play as you'd get...
There are still codes left in the N24 due to certain bits being removed when plugging the computer in. You just ignore them!