Hyperlight-kit weight differences original Tillet seats and carbon parts

[SUPERLIGHT91]

I'm curious on potential weight savings again and .. does anyone know the weight difference between a single standard S3 Tillet GRP seats and the Kevlar ones. Also the difference between the alloy fixed rails and the adjustable.

 

On carbon parts... does anyone know who makes 5" carbon headlight bowls, and whether you can still get the rear fog/reversing light surrounds in carbon to replace the plastic ones, and what sort of weight difference there is there (if any). I appriate one of the best weight savings on lighting - is replacing the rubber blocks on the standard rear lights with carbon version, but I've not seen anyone making these anymore.

 

 

 

 

 

[SLR No.77]

I don't know the actually weight but my Carbon/Kevlar Tilletts are extremely light, and likewise there's a massive difference between the fixed runners (nothing more than ally section and a few rivnuts) and the heavy steel adjustable jobbies.

 

I have the carbon headlights from Fluke/Mog and they're very light. As for the fog/reverse lights, carbon casings are unlikely to be any lighter than the thin plastic versions, you'd probably save more by swapping to rivets if currently they're bolted on 😬

 

Stu.

[Lee Fowler]

YHM.

 

Lee

[myothercarsa2cv]

No weights as I didn't weigh anything but these are my experiences.

 

Good few grammes saved by switching out rubber blocks to carbon, they are considerably lighter (I have RiF's, but Carbon Mods make something similar).

 

The fog/reverse boxes in carbon are themselves a touch lighter but not much, and the extra metal fixings (for the lens to screw in to) probably make them slightly heavier if anything. Better gains might be had by swapping to slimline LED lights.

 

I swapped my adjustable runners for fixed runners on my Tillett and I reckon the difference was over a pound a seat. The adjustable runners were seriously heavy in comparison.

 

Also, Carsten's carbon handbrake lever is 29g lighter than the rubber grip 😬

 

Having looked under the scuttle, I reckon you could shave off a kilo or two just by removing the millions of cable ties holding the loom together and replacing them with the odd one in strategic places

 

I reckon there are better weight savings per £ to be had with a hand drill though

[CharlesElliott]

I don't believe a reversing light is required at all.

[jchasey]

That's correct, reversing light not required for MOT, but if fitted needs to work.

 

Prior to removing them altogether (car is setup for track only now) I had the LED rear lights and they work a treat, much more compact and lighter. Think I still have them in the garage somewhere...

 

John

[SUPERLIGHT91]

Sounds sensible. I was surprised how heavy the rubber blocks were on standard rear lights, I like the shape though so the thing to do has to be carbon block conversion on these (expensive job though, expecially if converting to clear lenses and LED bulbs at the same time).

 

Thanks also I like the idea of running a single fog light only on the back and I saw the slim LED units fitted to a car a while back, probably not such a good weight saving to be made here, but interesting to see what's about that looks right.

 

Number-plates - not very heavy but its a shame the stick on film ones aren't MOT legal these days as there's another saving of a couple of bits of unnecessary perspex.

 

I was reading the article about the guy in Low Flying who did an awesome job of machining Titanium parts. I'd love a pair of his front wing stays, and his dedion tube and rear wheel hubs were a work of art, that reminded me of the early days of exotic Titanium MTBs in the cycling world.

 

regards and keep those lightweight ideas coming. Carbon headlights are nice to have but antother quite costly upgrade, as are most things Carbon. I have been surprised on previous cars just how much lighter the carbon nose and rear wings are - another costly conversion to do properly these days, although sometimes get 2nd hand painted ones on here that migth be worth repainting if they are for sale at a good price (but then that paint work can add a few hundred grams! I am always amazed to hear how many kg's of primer paint and lacquer are actually on completely painted cars too. Between 2 and 5kg of paint is considerable.

 

I would still be interested to know what the S3 GRP tillet seat weights compared to the kevlar one, and I appreciated fixed runners are the way to go - much much lighter.

[myothercarsa2cv]

I'll try to remember to weigh a GRP seat at some point when I take one out, but I seem to remember they are 3.5kg.

 

There's a great thread from way back on weight saving, everything you can possibly think of is in it but the gist is basically drill holes in everything and carbon fibre everything else!

 

Anyone fancy having alloy pedals made up? 😬

 

Edit: here are light blocks in the right shape.

 

Edited by - myothercarsa2cv on 3 Feb 2014 14:59:57

[SUPERLIGHT91]

Thanks - those light block look just the ticket (so nice in fact it seems a shame to cover the face of them in clear plastic), would look good though.

 

Also thanks for the Tillet weight, I will try to find out what the Kevlar ones are - I think supplies of these are drying up as Tillet don't list them anymore and Caterham have them going out of stock - I'll probably try to snap up the first used Kevlar one that comes on Blatchat For Sale section 2nd hand.

 

I will search for the lightweight thread.

Speaking of titanium - I'd love someone to build an S3 chassis in ti. It might have some strange properties compared to steel, but would look good, and you could stiffen-up the suspension a bit, as its quite forgiving and deals with shock and buzz and stress well (and I recall ti can be formed to be as strong as steel and half the weight or twice the strength of steel and the same weight, from my cycle building days). Of course it also has the same properties as my other favourite material Stainless Steel, in that it does not rust or need painting (is a bu66er to weld and polish though).

[myothercarsa2cv]

Here is the ultimate thread 😬

[SUPERLIGHT91]

Thanks fot that my..2cv - great thread that one, and I'm liking the idea of pedalbox weight savings (or should that be shavings) :)

[CharlesElliott]

What is the target in terms of the car you want to end up with? I assume from the questions you want it to be road legal?

 

How about night vs day running? You could save a lot of weight by removing most of the lights and still being road legal (during daylight hours at least).

[SUPERLIGHT91]

Daylight running is an interesting idea - as I know from the bike world you can get a "Daylight MOT", but that would leave me a little nervous venturing out at times.

 

I was looking in terms of coverting an existing bike engined car to single seat an reducing it down from 395kg with full weather gear and standard spec. to something a bit closer to 360kg without spending silly money. As it has GRP wings and nose - there is an obvious saving in weight there (but this itself is an expensive exercise, unless I can find all the parts 2nd hand, buying a wing here, a nose there, and paint them all to match).

[myothercarsa2cv]

PAINT?!!!

 

I'd be absolutely fine with mismatched carbon wings etc if I could get them cheap enough but I'm sure there's still a lot you could do with the GRP. Like drill holes along the length of the nosecone where the bonnet sits, and showing the bottom of the nose cone a hole saw, and drilling extra holes in the flange between rear wing and body. You could also relieve the piping a lot more than it has been already. The ABS front wings would probably be slightly lighter than the GRP ones, and a lot cheaper than CF. Alloy wingstays would be nice too... You could go a little bit silly!

[elie boone]

The Tillet B3.5 is the lightest you can have at 1.5kg

[chris perry 1]

Superlight 91,

 

I am the club member who built the titanium parts you have read about in Low Flying…….and i have been working on more titanium parts since that article was published.

 

I can make these bits for you and other club members but they would not be cheap.

 

If you are interested blatmail me.

 

Regards,

 

Chris Perry

[SUPERLIGHT91]

Hi Chris - I loved your article and your parts, some fantastic engineering/creations/ti-replicated parts there.

 

If I end up with a hyperlight bike engined car in the future I will see what you can do (appreciate they won't be cheap).

 

Thanks again and all the best