I was thinking of cutting it out, putting two bars going across underneath,
and then just a thin sheet of metal to cover the hole.

Not thin enough it would have no rigidity to it, but you get the point,
Plus it will have two bars underneath, such as the area the tire sat,
Probably chromoly tubing to keep stiffness and help stay put for the top sheet.

Has anyone done this, or heard of it being done?
I figured I never have the spare, and if need be,
I can make some kind of support underneath.

I'm sure it'd be some weight saving,
And I could always make up some thin type of material or fiberglass piece to act as a diffuser underneath.

Mostly it's to get rid of the sparetire spot, and for it to be flat inside,
Take off a little weight, and maybe add a little more stiffness to it.


Modified by FlatBlackTeg at 7:58 PM 1/26/2006

 

Is this for a track only car or not. I would think its kinda pointless, especially for a dd. It your looking for weight savings there are tons of other ways to do this besides cutting a piece of the floor out.

Ali

 

it's a dd, but I have some downtime til I get a new engine.
I always thought about it, and I never use my sparetire spot,
Plus I could add some more bars underneath and then have it covered.
Hopefully it would stiffen it up more.

I like the idea also of not having the sparetire well there inside too,
and just a Flat area in the back.

And no I'm not trying to be some weight shaving crazed person,
I just like the idea more of doing That then having the sparetire well.

 

bump?

 

eh. seems really pointless to me. all that effort for a little extra stiffness and a few pounds, each of which can be made up in other ways, but if you just need something to do, then go for it.

 

pointless, more trouble than its worth i say

 

pointless, but is there anything nessasary to that piece.
Like would I be doing more harm then good with taking it out.

I know some people would think it be pointless,
But it wouldn't really be that hard to do,
plus I have some time before I get the new engine.

 

put a sub there, lol

why would u do that?, u might save .0001 in ur 1/4 mile

 

I think its a very good Idea, dont listen to these people that say u can cut weight in other ways, the point is to cut weight in EVERY way u can for the most weight loss. (this is a track car right? if not I take back everything). yea if you want to do it than do it, just make sure you plan well and take your time, and brace it well or it will weaken the car, not help it. good idea.

 

why would u do that?, u might save .0001 in ur 1/4 mile

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by teg racer 877 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think its a very good Idea, dont listen to these people that say u can cut weight in other ways, the point is to cut weight in EVERY way u can for the most weight loss. (this is a track car right? if not I take back everything). yea if you want to do it than do it, just make sure you plan well and take your time, and brace it well or it will weaken the car, not help it. good idea.</TD></TR></TABLE>

you are so f ing right.. you know what, replace your climate control ***** with cork from a wine bottle. you can drop your 1/4 mile time by .0000000000000001

 

As that is part of the uni-body I dont think it would be a good idea, unless you do some serious cross bracing, but by the time you do all of that i doubt you would actually save any weight.

If you want ti flat why not get some thin sheet metal (12ga?) and cut it to fit the hole, run a couple of small angles uder it to add some strength, takc weld it in place and be done with it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Racermech &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As that is part of the uni-body I don't think it would be a good idea, unless you do some serious cross bracing, but by the time you do all of that i doubt you would actually save any weight.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Exactly, that's what I was looking for.
Not people crying about all the weight,
I know it probably wouldn't be saving any if I put enough bracing in it.

I'm not some strip my car to the bone *****,
I just wanted to know if it would hurt at all taking that out mostly.
I know you might save at the most, 200lbs with a LOT stripped,
I have full interior, it's nice Having some insides to your car.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ComptonsF1NEST &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">why would u do that?, u might save .0001 in ur 1/4 mile</TD></TR></TABLE>
And how exactly is this post useful?
I said in the first post, "some weight saving" ..
not Hey, can I cut the back out to save weight so I can cut a ton of time off my ets?

I know you don't save That much weight from most of the things you do,
and also it's not going to make the car a Ton faster,
That's why I'm not doing it entirely for some weight saving.
And either way, it's not like stripping the interior, it would be covered up,
and braced enough to be as strong, or stronger.

Either way, I wanted to know if it was Okay to do if braced enough,
and anyone that might have done it or knew about it.

 

i actully am going to do this to my DD. as soon as my car gets its motor and outa my garage its going straight to my shop to get alot cut out and that is one thing. with an X brace and sum other custom braces it will be just fine, but im actully replacing the floor with alum. sheeting rivited in with silicone to seal up. theres also your bumper supports that can be unbolted and save you alot of weight with out even cuting a thing.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by unrealtrendz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">theres also your bumper supports that can be unbolted and save you alot of weight with out even cuting a thing.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Now that is just retarded! What happens if you get in an accident, now you have no support and will ruin lots of other stuff. Not to mention that if the insurance company finds out you removed the support i bet they will deny your claim do to modifing the saftey system of the car.

You could make an entire rear pan that would fit right over the entire turnk area. If you find a good local machine shop they could plasma cut it to fit, something like 10 or 12ga plate, you could even do stainless to make it look good.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ComptonsF1NEST &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">put a sub there, lol

why would u do that?, u might save .0001 in ur 1/4 mile</TD></TR></TABLE>

learn to use an IMG tag before bashing someones original idea...

 

It seems to me that by cutting out some large chassis sections like this, and welding in tubing, you could increase chassis stiffness significantly, if you do it right. What'd be interesting would be to remove as much of the chassis as possible and replace it with tube-framing.

As for the "it's pointless" crowd, if no one ever tried out crazy ideas, we'd never have any progress. People thought the Wright Brothers were crazy. Of course, there were also a lot of people in that time making airplanes that never got them to fly.

 

OK I have seen this on race cars a good bit, I can also appreciate the value of removing it for weight savings as well as for the potential of customizing our own undercar diffuser/spoiler system which that would allow for, and I've done some fiberglass work, and I think that would be an awesome idea because you could get more downforce than most people would believe (for instance the exige, makes 100 more pounds of downforce than the elise all because of the diffusers/spoilers under the car). However if you get caught in the bumfucked middle of nowhere with a flat tire and don't have a spare or cell service you're going to hate yourself for doing it. I'd put a spare in there and save the experiment for a track car, if you insist on doing it, see if you can check out the underside of the exige and skyline when it comes out and see if you can come up with ideas for an undercar spoiler/diffuser system so you can make the most of it. As for the structure, weld in a flat piece of 12gauge and brace it underneath with two triangulated bars that go from corner to corner so you don't lose structural strenght, and good luck on that not having flat tires thing man.

 

well for one the ~5 pounds you save from cutting that out would be replaced and maybe even add more weight with the extra bars/sheet metal. there fore its not neccessary, and if its just for looks then why do it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by dumped_ej1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well for one the ~5 pounds you save from cutting that out would be replaced and maybe even add more weight with the extra bars/sheet metal. there fore its not neccessary, and if its just for looks then why do it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

For one thing, some previous posters remarked that it allows you to make custom underbody diffusers, which could be very useful if you're going fast enough.

However, if this guy has enough time and skill, I personally think it'd be a pretty interesting project if he went a little beyond just the spare tire well, and removed much of the sheet metal structure from the rear of the car, and replaced it with tube-framing (with attachment points and whatever else so that the OEM body panels, seats, interior plastic parts, etc. can all be kept in place). Tube-framing is known to be much lighter than sheetmetal chasses, and much stiffer/stronger too, but I think he'd have to replace more than just the spare tire well to see any savings from this.

 

Looking at it some more, it looks really easy to do.
I have all the materials already, so it might be something I do over the weekend,
Along with the new engine I have to put in, lol hopefully both will go good.

I'll make sure I get plenty of pictures when I do it,
and post up some kind of topic on it.

 

Sounds like a easy way to fock up a perfectly good car, but if you think you have the skills to do it goodluck.

 

so do you not care for having the security of a spare tire?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by -Todd- &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sounds like a easy way to fock up a perfectly good car, but if you think you have the skills to do it goodluck. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Hahah, you sound confident of this, it's not like it's really that hard.
Cut out the sparetire well, mig in the round tubing, put some sheet metal over top and it's done.

Looking at the frame underneath, it's really simple.

I'm going to make a box going across, and an X-beam inside that.
And with how close the frame is, it's really simple.

As of right now, I never carry my spare around so it's not that big of a deal.
Seriously though if I still want a spare, i could just cut out the piece it bolts to,
and reweld it underneath and just have it there in case.

Also for the bottom, I can make some kind of diffuser, with dimples through out it,
or some kind of design to help airflow underneath.
but for now I'll probably just get the frame setup right.

 

why not cut the rear secton of the car off and just bolt some bike tires to the door so u can have all 4 tires