Metal removal at rear, opinions

[4000GT]

I am on holidays and looking for some more weight savings. This doesnt seem to be structural, quite thin, and now I cant recall if it was functional, but isnt doing anything functional now... grind off?

[Vaptor]

That part don't weigh that much 1kg perhaps, it does give the rear and boot section some strength. I personally wouldn't remove that part.

[PatrickAE86]

try to save weight at the front of the car..

[Ivan141]

As they say, it does not weigh much, I should know because I bought a new one once (they tend to do their own weight reduction, aka rust).
If you do decide to take it off, chop off the rear side pockets while you are at it.. those are only good for storing the jack and rusting anyway.

An ae86 is pretty light in the back, the only substantial bit of weight in the rear is the rear axle. To be honest, there is little weight to be saved outside of the interior, windows, and FRP body parts (if you do this, the doors are a great way to shave a lot of weight). Anything you do to reduce weight might bring structural rigidity (as far as there is any on these old cars) down or cause safety hazards (frp doors stop less than a metal one).

The plastic fuel tank might be a nice way to shave weight in the back, that's the second heavy part back there.

[4000GT]

Ah I didnt think about the rear pockets too, good thinking! Im running out of places to save weight now... I have lexan windows, and the front and rear bumpers, bonnet, hatch, fenders and doors are fibreglass, and thats an RCI fuel cell in the pic. It has a full roll cage so rigidity is not a major really.

Im just working on the TRD fenders now...

[Ivan141]

That's where I was heading with my story... once you have a caged racecar, the world is your oyster as far as weight reduction is concerned.
In that case: yes, chop the whole lower rear end off, it will shave a few kg's off. I would advise a rear undertray or at the very least some ventilation holes in the rear bumper. With the original fuel tank out of the way, you're left with a great big void with a bumper behind it (kind of like a parachute).

That still doesnt change the fact that you're better off shaving weight off the front of the car. The rear is always easier to lighten, but you end up with a big front weight bias (great for drifting though ;-))
The headlights are pretty heavy on a trueno, so that's another thing to consider for a race car (if you haven't gutted them already).

[Eircamae86]

Not worth the effort for the weight saved, that lower panel is extremely light as are the pockets.

[4000GT]

Ivan141 Wrote:That's where I was heading with my story... once you have a caged racecar, the world is your oyster as far as weight reduction is concerned.
In that case: yes, chop the whole lower rear end off, it will shave a few kg's off. I would advise a rear undertray or at the very least some ventilation holes in the rear bumper. With the original fuel tank out of the way, you're left with a great big void with a bumper behind it (kind of like a parachute).

That still doesnt change the fact that you're better off shaving weight off the front of the car. The rear is always easier to lighten, but you end up with a big front weight bias (great for drifting though ;-))
The headlights are pretty heavy on a trueno, so that's another thing to consider for a race car (if you haven't gutted them already).

Yeah a cage helps a lot, especially with it stitched into the car body.

I have a fibreglass bonnet and front bumper and guards, and everything is stripped off the motor and loom that practically can be. Next step for front end weight reduction would have to be space frame.

Its road registered So need the headlights, but wish someone would make a fibreglass version!

I do hear you about the parachute effect, some kind of rear diffuser would be worth a look, but so hard to design something without a wind tunnel!

Every single gram counts in class racing, not many people get that.

[Project D]

4000GT Wrote:Its road registered So need the headlights, but wish someone would make a fibreglass version!

I don't know if that's what you're looking for but you can get headlights cover here:
http://www.c7carbon.com/toyota-corolla-a...-fiber-142
(in carbon not FRP though)

[4000GT]

Nice piece, but I was more thinking the cage itself. I guess the motor is most of the weight though.