lightweight alternator

[buddyjim]

Has anyone looked into shaving a couple pounds by replacing the stock alternator with a lightweight one? Any clue as to how much the stock weighs? I've found a couple 80-120 amp models that weigh in at about 11-12 lbs. I'm looking into finding some weight savings in less thought about areas, alternator, electric wp etc. I think garm and another fellow have gone down the electric water pump route already. Any other novel ideas of shedding some weight from the yaris short of dieting, swiss cheesing the frame, and the like?

[whooppee777]

good idea i have no clue

[NonStopTuning]

Here's another good way to shed about 20lbs from the front of a Yaris. And it's relatively inexpensive...

http://www.yarisworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13281

[Nexus1155]

LOL the frame on these cars seem brittle as it is i wouldn't push it, I'm all for saving weight, but i can honestly recommend the money is better spent on lightweight wheels/battery/etc... The alternator in there is already low powered enough as it is, and I've never studied the effects on removing weight from the engine, might allow for more free movement during accel/braking.

What I'm trying to say is don't bust ass with weight savings unless you've done the basic rip your whole interior out deally

[severous01]

i got an idea. learn how to fabricate carbon fiber and make the alt cage n anything else out of CF. cf is stronger than steel and light as plastic. military uses it for panels and wings on planes......as well as just about anything else since u can countersink a bolt in the middle of it and then have it as a anchor.

so......anything u can fab out of CF will be much stronger than aluminum and lighter than plastic...best of bot worlds. but it's expensive.

i've even seen a sheet of 1/100 aluminum with a bolt mounted to it....covered in CF hold 10000 lbs of weight. the sheet was 11x11 inches, wraped in 1/4" CF.






or, u can take every nut/bolt or stud and cut the extra threads off...the entire car. i drive a camaro and if u do it right on a cammy u can shave about 250 lbs off the car just with extra threads.

[buddyjim]

I've seen the braille battery and actually posted about a lighter weight battery previously. I guess my aim is to generate a plan of attack as far as shedding the extra poundage from my yaris and I want to explore every option. I'd like to do as much all at once as soon as I have gathered all the necessary schwag to do so. So most of the obvious things have been considered already such as ripping out the interior, removing the spare, cf hood and hatch, lighter wheels, etc. Though cutting off all the extra threads from all the bolts was something I had not considered though it may be a bit more labor than I would want to endure, though it is along the lines of the creative methods I was looking for. As far as fabbing up cf parts that may be an option for things that don't require alot of engineering. While cf is strong it has to be properly laid up, probably vacuum bagged to remove any air bubbles and likely cured in a oven to achieve it's maximum strength. I happen to have none of the equipment on hand to do a proper job of it though I may look into hacking together a ghetto setup for laying up fiber properly if it comes to it. Are there any manufacturers that are making lightened control arms similar to skunk2? Feel free to throw out any ideas to help me on my quest.

[Nexus1155]

you might as well do fiberglass rather than carbon fiber, its not like your making a car frame or anything and fiberglass will give you the same result you are looking for but for MUCH cheaper....

Other than that after ripping out your interior, look at the ecu on the car get rid of the wires that aren't needed and all over the car as well... get rid of AC /heater etc... after all this weight is removed you will need a custom suspension setup (shocks/spring combo)because the whole entire car will change drastically....

The thread thing i mean you can do that if you are down to the nitttttty gritttty, also remove all the sound deadening crap if there is any

[ka0sx]

actualy if you buy raw CF 2x2 or 1x1 or whatever weave, you can get it as cheep as 16$ a square yard.
Fiberglass is about 12$ a square yard.
and if you realy want to get fancy
there is CF+Kevlar Weave for 19$ a square yard. I have worked with CF quite a bit and if you have anything that has crevices or indentations you would need a vacuum kit. or just use CF pulp and mix it with epoxy, wont be quite as strong as weave is, but you can easily machine it to any shape.

[Nexus1155]

damn cf has gotten cheap then I remember picking it up for around $33/yd Aerospace Cert Twill

[botchilah]

CF panels all around, plus CF front and rear bumpers and a fully-sealed under-panel will help. Lexan for the non-moving windows and get radical with the roof! CF roof panel!

[CtrlAltDefeat]

I wonder who here has the best power to weight ratio Yaris... basically every mod that actually does something for the hp and every mod to lighten it up... (of course some mods will add hp but also add weight) Of course you can't leave out the suspension parts to make it lighter, because what's the point of having a light car if it can't corner??