90 Laser RS-t drag build

[1SloEvo]

Another 115lb removed...and still haven't even started hacking or cutting anything. That will probably change soon.

 

[95DsManiac]

That's crazy . You got to show me how to put my car on a diet when you come get these pistons. I got them out for you today so let me know when you want to come snatch them. I might be able to meat you in vallejo or benecia tomorrow.

Anthony B.

 

[1SloEvo]

Well, for some people, they don't want to unbolt and remove everything from the inside of their car. Nor do they want to remove crash beams. And most people still run full exhaust. I probably saved 50lb or more on my exhaust from the factory exhaust. My exhaust exits the front bumper and only weighs about 8.5lb. Another thing is glass. You can remove glass and add lexan and save quite a bit of weight as well! Also, when you are removing a lot of these parts, the bolts alone can add up. I think the bag that I have right now of hardware, which isn't even all that I've removed, is probably 6-7lb...just in bolts, nuts, and washers. So the big thing is simply how far are you willing to go with it.

Hoping to get the car running by mid October or so and back to the track early November! Hope to hit up the track 1-2 more times if I can get it back to running strong!

 

[Boost Demon]

Good luck man!, hope you get'er back on the road soon, really like to see you move up the 14b time list

 

[1SloEvo]

Thanks Phil!

Got some solid parts coming together over the next month or so. Should make for a solid setup. Gotta fab some stuff up and get some parts ordered in the next couple of months. The other big thing is going to be the weight reduction. I've already pulled out over 165lb since my last outing and haven't cut anything from the car yet. I did remove the stock fuel tank and add a 1 gallon fuel cell!

 

[SBstar]

Get any numbers for the weight of the cell setup vs. the stock tank? What fuel pump did you go with?

 

[1SloEvo]

The empty fuel tank, with pump and with the filler neck was about 41lb. My fuel cell with the fuel pump and the hangars I made for it all weigh about 5lb. I'm going to be running an external Walbro 255. It will be more than enough for this turbo, up to probably a 20g or so, although I don't think the road with the little 14b that could is going to be a very short road!

I am hoping I can get at least another 100lb out of the car when I start gutting the doors and interior, cleaning off the sound deadening and cleaning up the engine bay some more.

 

[SBstar]

Thanks, that's about what I figured. I have the same plans for the 255 as well. Have you done the fuel lines yet and decided where you're mounting it? I was looking at a few setups at the shootout and I like having it mounted in the engine bay to cut down on how long the lines need to be, but it's tough to find space.

I bet you find more then 100 more lbs in there. But, I don't know what's already gone either. Good work man!

 

[1SloEvo]

I am mounting it up against the firewall where the battery normally would be. I am running a mini battery (the size of the PC680 from Odyssey, but not Odyssey brand). The mini battery is actually going to be mounted beside my half width radiator on the radiator support.

 

[SBstar]

I've seen that location used. I like it, but I wonder what the rules say about shielding. I'll have to look into it.

 

[1SloEvo]

1:5 FUEL SYSTEMS
Location: All fuel tanks, lines, pumps, valves, etc. must be outside
of the driver's compartment and within the confines of the frame
and/or steel body. Cool cans, fuel-distribution blocks, etc. must be
located at least 6 inches forward of the flywheel/bellhousing area on
rear-wheel-drive (RWD) vehicles, and on opposite side of
flywheel/housing area on front-wheel-drive (FWD) vehicles. Fuel
pressure gauge isolators, with steel braided line, may be mounted
on firewall.

This was found from a quick Google search and published in the NHRA handbook. That said, I'll probably move my fuel cell over on to the frame rail on the driver's side and mount it similar to Joe B's setup. For FWD, it can't be mounted on the same side as the flywheel/housing area, so I can't keep it there by NHRA rules. Might as well do it by the regs now instead of having to spend more money to change it later. Or, I might be able to just mount the fuel cell on my frame rail and keep the battery in the 'stock' location!

 

[1qkfwd]

Mines mounted on the pass side like joes was. Being where it's at though tech said it needed a cage around it. It's in the nhra rulebook on how it's suppose to be.

 

[Pipnorcali]

It's coming along nicely ...we just need some pics here

 

[1qkfwd]

It's coming along nicely ...we just need some pics here

This!!!!

 

[Phil1320]

Sounds cool. Will be cool to see it all when it's done.

 

[1SloEvo]

Here are some pics for those interested. For those who may remember or know, please remind me what these controllers/relays do, that would be great. I forgot since I haven't had to remove them for a while.

I removed a few more things today and pulled another 35lb out. A few lb of that is from the stock flywheel to my aftermarket flywheel I will be running. I only calculated 5lb for that because I will probably go with an 11lb flywheel. I doubt I'll drop all the way down to a 7 or 8 lb flywheel.

 

[1SloEvo]

Pulled out another 12lb with some wiring and associated relays/controllers, including those I asked about in the previous post. There will be a lot more in wiring. For now, I'm just cutting the 'strands' of smaller wiring that I don't need down to the main 'body' of wiring it extends from. I will eventually pull all the tape and wrap of the wires and cut them back as far as I can. I did it on one a few years ago and I think I shaved somewhere in the range of 30-35lb in wire, tape and heat shielding.

Also, the motor is torn down and ready for machine work. Hope to be dropping that off within the next week!!

 

[turbotom]

Awesome, clean 1g and glad there is another FWD drag being formed!! A++ on this build

 

[Phil1320]

Nothing like weight reduction while the car is down.

 

[SBstar]

I definitely didn't find 30-35 lbs in the wiring harness, considering that is about what they weighed all together anyways. But, with a very simple drag race only wiring I could see 20+ coming out. If you shortened the way the wiring is run and simplified everything it could get extremely light. Good work Brandon! This thing is going to fly once you get it lightened and that new motor is planted in it!

 

[1SloEvo]

Thanks for the replies. Agreed Phil. Why take the car down any longer than it has to be? I am hoping to get out any wiring I want and clean up the engine bay while the motor is out.

As for the wiring, I have removed 11.5lb and that's just the two doors and the wires that go to the back. Any wiring for lights, fans, a/c, speakers, etc will come out. I will get a weight on it all once finished.

 

[1SloEvo]

A little more wiring work done last night. All I've done is interior wiring and control boxes and I have removed just over 15lb of wiring, tape, controllers and relays. Now to start on the A/C wiring and lights from the engine bay!

 

[1SloEvo]

Done with wiring...for now. I basically just traced everything to where it terminated and removed it. I didn't chase the wires through the fuse blocks, so there could be more that could be removed, but at this point, I think I've done enough. 22lb removed altogether! NO idea what my total is.

Motor should be headed to the machine shop in the next few weeks.

 

[1SloEvo]

I actually pulled a little more wiring out. Total is just under 25lb...and I might end up pulling more out of the engine fuse box harness!!

I'm also shaving some more weight with lexan and fiberglass components. I will post more once i get the products!

Probably going to drop the motor/head off for it's machine work and build this coming week!!

 

[1SloEvo]

With the gov't shutdown, things are going to slow down...at least until they get a new budget passed and I get my annual bonus (which normally comes around the 2nd or 3rd of October). At any rate, I did get some work finished and dropped a nice chunk of weight.

Earlier last week I pulled a few random small items and pulled the center bars that hold the ECU and MPI relay in place. Those things were 10lb.

A couple days ago I pulled the factory hatch, sound deadening from the trunk area (not in the spare tire valley, just on the top area), the rear triangle windows and a few more little things. The total removed (not including the hatch) was 42lb. I'll be adding back a couple lb for the lexan rear windows, so total removed from that is 40lb. So that's a total of 50lb reduction.

Now onto the hatch. My rear hatch without the spoiler and without the wiper or motor was 46lb. I picked up a carbon fiber hatch with lexan already installed. It weighs 19lb. So that's another 27lb...for a total of 77lb removed this week. I still have the entire rest of the car that still has sound deadening. I'll be working on that this week.