Hi!

I'm new to the forum - been reading and catching up - Great discussions!

Anyway, I'm trying to put together a list of weight savings items for the Cooper that don't detract too much from a street driven car - as I understand it (please correct if you've heard different or had experience):

Wheels: going from 17" run flats to SSR/normal tires = 18lbs. per wheel = 72lbs.
Battery: Going from normal battery to a small drycell = 20 lbs.
Rear seat (I'm 6'3, so its useless): taking out the rear seat/cargo cover = 20 lbs.
Exhaust: Going to a lightweight exhaust (S) = 20 lbs.

Total of 132 lbs. without too much sacrifice.

Then,

more extreme measures:

Replace front airbag seats with competition seats: 10 lbs. each = 20lbs.?
Replace hood with carbon fiber piece: ~20 lbs.?

Total of additional 40 lbs.

Grand total of 172 lbs.

Anybody know what a Cooper S weighs? I've heard just under 2700 lbs. loaded with fuel, oil,etc. so that would get the total weight down to around 2500 lbs.

Wish it could be lower....

 

Don't forget the driver!

Seriously, that can be the easiest weight loss...that or shoving out your passenger.

R

 

Agreed. Replace your rotating parts with lighter ones, eg, clutch, tires, rims, driveshaft, flywheel, pulleys, etc. Depends on how much you really want to comprimise the appearance of the car. Thought about the seats as well, but usually use at least the two others. one behind me is rather useless with me being 6'2" and liking the true straight extension of the arms when driving feel to it.
Happy weight loss.
Cheers,

 

Eventually (when we get a third car, one that has 4 doors and actually seats 4 people in trip-length comfort; our current other car is a Z3 and can't even take our small family of 3 anywhere...), eventually we will probably remove the back seat and then sell our reclining Cobra Sidewinder seats and put in lightweight shell-type seats.

We've swapped the battery for an Optima ( http://www.optimabatteries.com/ ) because we've had problems with past BMW batteries (our Z3 had 3 BMW batteries and a DieHard... the last straw was when the battery was dead as we were trying to start the car to go to our wedding rehearsal! Since Optima, the battery has been perfect ever since, as it has with other Optima-equipped cars we've had)., but doubt that saved weight.

The exhaust? Well, I'm guessing our Supersprint has saved us about 10 pounds on our MCS. Didn't get a chance to weight it before it was put on, so we are looking for 3rd-party confirmation.

Wheels? Our 1st set was the 17" R85 Sport package wheels (S-Lite; at 25 pounds, hardly lite). Our 2nd set was the OE optional 17" R90 BBS wheels (down to 24 pounds, but still not anywhere close to non-MINI BBS wheels). Our 3rd set is now 18" forged multi-piece wheels at 21 pounds (actually not too bad for 18s).

What I am REALLY curious about is anyone that has experience going the other direction, down. As in down to 15" wheels-- SSR Competitions (see http://www.tirerack.com) in 15" fitments are in the 8-9 pounds per wheel range. That would make a huge difference in unsprung weight and reciprocating mass and depending on who you believe each pound taken off unsprung weight is like taking 2 or 4 or 10 pounds off the regular vehicle weight.

I know it's fashionable to "go big" (one need only to look at pimped-out SUVs with 24" wheels to see this)... and I know there are already people stuffing 19" wheels into MINIs... but are there ANY contrarians out there thinking of going the other way?

Anyone?

http://home.earthlink.net/~bmwmini

tom@wigginsassociates.com

 

Speedo becomes wildly inaccurate. Gotta fit over the brakes.

 

My MCS is on order, and I kept the basic 16in wheels, and if I upgrade those for AutoX purposes, I am sticking with 16in wheels or even going down to 15in SSR wheels. If you read the January 2003 Sport Compact Car issue, their top item on their wishlist for the MCS:

1. 15-inch wheels and a AAA card

They actually tested two cars, an MCS with the 17in S-lite wheels and one with the standard 16 in wheels. Just switching wheels made them move the MCS up a spot. It makes a BIG difference (they called it a "dramatic difference&quot. A similar opinion was voiced in Grassroots Motorsports.

I've also seen someplace that more tire choices are available for the 16in rims, but don't quote me on that.

Big wheels might look good, but they harm the MCS in ways it matters more to me.

And just in case you can't get the magazine, the second and third items they wanted to improve the MCS were an intercooler sprayer water injection system and a limited slip differential. I totally agree with the differtial, especially when you're in to road racing. I've helped design and build some basic open wheeled race cars, and a limited slip differential makes a world of difference.