Lightweight tekkers?


jesse888

Ek9+Turbo+Nurburgring= Heaven
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so I'm on abit of a weight saving mission ATM(trying to offset cage weight)
The car looks like this ATM

I plan to get something done about the heavy ass metal that makes up the dash skeleton and I will be having a dashboard, this is just to get it to cage fabricators.


Now I'm on the dashboard itself, removed all the obvious crap like heater ducts etc but there is still a real heavy portion to this dash, the black strip up along the left.


So what can we do about this? Has anyone just removed it before? There must be about 25kg in screws in this dash lol
Problem with just removing it/cutting it is the dash mounts in the centre to the chassis, I want to keep this central mount really.


Also anything else I can do that anyone can see to shed some weight around the dash area? Obviously heater matrix and some wiring but think creative.... Needs to look semi respectable really just to make it more difficult lol
 
Thinking a bit out there.... And no idea if it's possible! But could you make a dash out of fibreglass using the oem one as a mould/cast?
Or even better carbon fibre
:drool:
That way you'd have an oem looking dash with next to no weight....

You could fill in the vent holes too
 
Anyway to make up a piece to use instead of the black plastic portion that has all the heater vents in it. Or a way to mount tge rest of the dash without it?
 
I've chopped the black plastic out. It will be fine. It does leave a big gap though...surprisingly big!! The vents in the body direct the air anyway so it's really only needed for the side vents.

Mines completely chopped out throughout, and I've also got rid of the metal skeleton in the centre. It bolts either side of the dash, behind the clocks, and then from the lower portion of the dash I have 2 big cable ties that go around the metal strut bar behind the dash. Sturdy as anything.

Do you want me to take a photo of the gap as it really is big!
 
it looks like the black plastic splits into two pieces, like an inner and outer skin?
I'd be happier if I didn't have a massive gap tbh so I'll see if I can rip the inner skin out of it.
Seems like you can chop a fair bit of weight out from the dash area of the car.
I'd like to leave fancy materials out of it for now, budget isn't the best due to the impulsive turbo purchase lol
 
Thinking a bit out there.... And no idea if it's possible! But could you make a dash out of fibreglass using the oem one as a mould/cast?
Or even better carbon fibre
:drool:
That way you'd have an oem looking dash with next to no weight....

You could fill in the vent holes too

If only carbon fibre dash was in the budget!
I'll probably use the drivers side vent for another gauge.
 
Haha yeah I think I'll keep the black bit and try chopping the inner skin out.
What I said about the gauge is pretty much exactly that picture in my head.
You just screwed in into the dash?
 
Yes. I tried using hotglue, but in the end just whacked some self tappers into it.
The carbon is fake abs plastic, about a tenner for a square foot ha ha
 
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You can strip the dash naked I did mine in the race car and it's handsome I kept the left and right tabs that support the dash and tacked them to door shut .also removed all center dash cage area along with most of the frame that supports the steering collum . Plasma cut the frame for the roll cage leg to pass . Looks good and works well if you need pics email me tbp.paintshop@gmail.com
 
That's a good idea to tac the side supports for dash.
 
Works well for side support of the dash I trimmed them down to a minimum I post a pic but it's says it's to large of a file ha
 
Can't you bin it altogether but have something fabricated to cover the wires?
 
Possibly, would need to house afew gauges/controls aswell
 
That would only require a sheet of plastic, surely? Wouldn't look very attractive mind you!
 
Yeah I see a picture today with basically just a board along the front of the car.
Tbf I think once I've chopped the skeleton to a minimum I'll be happy with the reduction in that area and the stock dash keeps it neat.
 
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