Hi again.
I'm less than impressed with the Bricklin's 3500lb weight, and I'd
like to do whatever I can to lighten it up during my rebuild.
What I'm wondering is: What _can_ I do? I'd really like to get
it near or under 3000lbs, but short of an all-aluminum engine
and some kind of space-age frame, I don't see how I can cut that
much weight (I don't want to sacrifice the interior either).
I'm leaning towards aluminum intake and heads, and headers instead
of the cast-iron exhaust manifolds, but I don't see that saving
more than 100lbs.
I could probably save another easy 100 pounds by building some
lighter bumpers (I know, it seems a bit blasphemous, but so does
a car with the same outside dimensions as my RX-7 that outweighs it
by 800 pounds!), but if anyone has any suggestions for further
trimming, I'd like to hear it.
Of course, even if I build some lighter bumpers, I'd still need to
engineer air tanks to replace the integral ones in the bumpers, so
the savings might not be so great (but at least I could reduce the
car's polar moment by placing them near the centre of the car).
All of the body panels on the car right now are the original
acryllic ones. Many of them need lots of repair or replacement,
would going to the fibreglass replacements save any weight?
Again, any suggestions are welcomed,
Phil.
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