I was asked in another thread how I got the weight of my 88 track car down to 2100# It has been both a labor of love and necessity. It started over 12 years ago. After buying and autocrossing the car for 5 years I thought it would be a great idea to see how far I could take this car. So the journey started. The car was relieved of everything not needed "totaly gutted" Nothing was overlooked, even down to removing any mounting tab for a wire. The only thing added later was a roll bar (required for track days) for about 37# All glass removed and Lexan windshield installed. I will try to post some interior pics ASAP but here is a pic of the car
The headlight covers have been removed and I made aluminum vents to save weight. Tires/rims are Maxxim Knight 17x7 front, 17x8 rear. Have the offests in a file and have to find it. Tires in that pic are Kuhmo Exsta V710, Have the funds to get a set of Hoosier A7 this season.
No-no-no! Not DE-weighting......The proper terminology is "UN-weighting"!!! Geez!
Just how big are you? I was able to get my 6'4" Cousin to fit in the car (Although with the seat all the way back and the back tilted his side visibility was a bit compromised!)
Any time I need to I can just remove 150 lbs of ugly fat from my Fiero........
I have 3 other Fieros here and the issue with the seat/fitting into this one is the roll bar. It is required for track days here and takes up a bit of space, limits the rearward travel of the seat as well as reclining. The Kirkey seat is an upright seat too on;ly 15 deg. layback, so my helmet sits a bit high but not through the sunroof.
I would suspect that the Fiero roll-over protection is better than just about ANY rollbar structure you could install.....Seems I read somewhere that someone was allowed to run a Fiero in a racing class WITHOUT the "Required" roll-bar structure because of it's strength......But I have been known to be wrong....once or twice.....
[This message has been edited by cvxjet (edited 01-16-2018).]
I researched that as well. I thought it was not needed but our sanctioning body said it did. I could remove it for autocrossing but for track days they want it there. I saw a Fiero without a roll bar flip and land on it's roof at Lime Rock Park here in CT about 10 years ago and the result was the A pillars bent a bit but the B pillars did not. I guess GM did an admiral job designing the space frame.
I use a 20 degree layback Kirkey with additional angle on the seat mounts but I still had to modify the floor a bit to get my 6'5" 280 lb co-driver in.
The General may have done an admirable job but a rollcage does a much better job.
[This message has been edited by mender (edited 01-16-2018).]
Alright....I guess I will cancel my attempt to roll my car and see if the roof holds up.....(I know it has better roll-over protection than just about ANY car ever made!)
Big reason GM eventually sold them. They wanted Saab to build them another car on the epsilon platform that had been developed by Opel. Gave Saab all the tooling and everything to do it, then Saab changed it all up to make it their way anyway which drove the price too high to really be competitive. Just like before they were owned by GM. Super strong structure was one of the things they changed. That's why the 9-3 is so much safer than other midsize GM cars even though they are all supposedly riding on the same epsilon platform. The Saab changed it so much, that while technically on the epsilon, is really on it's own design. Did the same with the 9-5. Since those were the two biggest sellers/most manufactured, they were the ones that needed to make the most money.
Swedes and their safety...
[This message has been edited by mr_corean (edited 01-17-2018).]
