Vehicle & Technical > Defender
Defender on a Diet
Xtremeteam:
--- Quote from: "smo" ---Currently i get 25ish local, 28combined and about 32-35 motorway...but this isnt about saving on my MPG, this is about making the (new) truck lighter because heavy doesnt always = good, in fact in most cases lichter is better.
Light vehicles manover better, dont sink so much in mud, and give better power to weight ratios which is good both on and off road.
I'm thinking i might have to do some analysis of box section chassis to see how big and how many holes i can cut in it without loosing too much strength, i think it might be a supprising ammount :)
As for IBEX's, i'm not overly keen on the "look" to be honest, so shant be doing that. Also fibreglass by its nature is quite heavy, either that or really weak, aluminium panel is probably just as light for this kind of application and as such might as well stick with almost standard body panels for ease as much as anything.
--- End quote ---
Regarding the analaysis o the chassis,take a tape measure to a disco chassis & then measure your defender chassis (depth wise) & you will then see why folk are building racers out disco chassis rather than defender ones :wink:
smo:
--- Quote from: "RedlineMike" ---
--- Quote from: "smo" ---Currently i get 25ish local, 28combined and about 32-35 motorway...but this isnt about saving on my MPG, this is about making the (new) truck lighter because heavy doesnt always = good, in fact in most cases lichter is better.
Light vehicles manover better, dont sink so much in mud, and give better power to weight ratios which is good both on and off road.
I'm thinking i might have to do some analysis of box section chassis to see how big and how many holes i can cut in it without loosing too much strength, i think it might be a supprising ammount :)
As for IBEX's, i'm not overly keen on the "look" to be honest, so shant be doing that. Also fibreglass by its nature is quite heavy, either that or really weak, aluminium panel is probably just as light for this kind of application and as such might as well stick with almost standard body panels for ease as much as anything.
--- End quote ---
Regarding the analaysis o the chassis,take a tape measure to a disco chassis & then measure your defender chassis (depth wise) & you will then see why folk are building racers out disco chassis rather than defender ones :wink:
--- End quote ---
I dont have a disco chassis to hand but i take it the box seciton is much smaller...??
Anyone know what the weights of a 90 chassis compared to a disco one is?
SteveG:
--- Quote from: "smo" ---
I'm thinking i might have to do some analysis of box section chassis to see how big and how many holes i can cut in it without loosing too much strength, i think it might be a supprising ammount :)
--- End quote ---
If you want to keep it on the road then you can forget this. Start altering the structural integrity of the chassis and you'll need an SVA. Also explanation to insurance company of this kind of mod would be interesting.
If you really want lightweight off road truck then I'm afraid you'll have to forget Landrovers and buy a suzuki. Even tray backed truck cabs come in at 2000-2100kg
Rich, Dlander, on lr4x4.com has just bought the first disco chassis freelander carbon fibre bodied special that North Off-road built. He's going to weigh it soon, so it will be interesting to see what he gets.
Cheers
Steve
Thrasher:
Find a Ford Explorer chassis. They use C-section ;-) Easy to clean too!
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[*] Previous page
Go to full version