Mid-mount weight...

Gee.....

And I was hoping to see the "Holy Mount of ALB", too.

Seems like a lot to go through to save 1-1/2 lbs. on an 1800 lb. car, but go for it.

Won't some of those holes (in just the right places) weaken it somewhat?  I know you won't be torquing it with 300 hp but still....

It's the "Holy Mount of Al", Gordon; afterall, we are on a first name basis And you are right, it has been a lot of work, but I've had the free time, and once you get started...

As for the holes (and there's a lot of holes in this thing!), the idea is to take material off without compromising the strength of the part. And that mount is way, way over-engineered. If you want to see what some VW guys do to lighten their cars- 

http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,5293.0.html

I like the look of "lightening holes".  Been tempted to do the hood/engine lid hinges but they are cast aluminium so not that strong or heavy to begin with. 

Hi Al

Can't answer the weight questions you have. Although from what I've read across the web the flat steel plate used on the GB mount is really thick. Why not replace it with a thinner gauge steel to lighten it then drill the plate to lighten it further.

It's 3/8", Richard (I think I told you that). Eventually I'll make it out of aluminum, but I just wanted to see how far I could take it. I've still got a little bit more to do, and hopefully I'll get another 4 oz. out of it, but we'll see-

 PS- Greg- Don't make them that big, so the hinges have to the look without taking too much away. Polish them up and they'll look really cool!

I can tell you 1 thing guys- all those holes in a row in the tube are so much easier to do on a milling table!

And another PS- There you go Gordon!

So- anybody got 1 they can weigh?

You're a real metal termite!

Very cool and I know that sort of thing is not so easy to do.

Pete

mtflyr posted:

Very cool and I know that sort of thing is not so easy to do.

Pete

Thanks mtflyr (got a first name?). I have a small, bench size drill press at home and was really hesitant to try the holes in the tube, but the milling table at a friend's shop makes it so do-able! It's great to have access to nice equipment. 

Sooo...- nobody has a Berg mid-mount they can weigh? If someone were to take it off their car I'd be eternally grateful (and of course I'd buy the first couple beers should we ever meet). Al

Hey Al it's Pete... I know from when my buddy and fellow SOC 'er Syl M. helped me to drill holes in my 550 ebrake. Even that was not as easy as one would think.

Without his help it would have been a challenge and he had the right equipment.

Pete

Very cool, Pete! Drilling holes in the hand brake is of course an upcoming project. Have you done anything else?

OMG AL...  Too many things to list to get it the way I want. Short list installed a Fibersteel made aluminum half tonneau, hand made Chris Runge aluminum seats, Ivory pull knobs and banjo steering wheel, light weight Odyssey PC680 battery and aluminum battery box tray, LED lights a 3rd LED brake light, a Blaze Cut fire suppression tube, anodized studs for all wheels, leather spare tire straps etc . etc...

Like you and most guys here the list keeps going. The same for my 356 but it's all fun yet sometimes a challenge. I recently tuned, adjusted pulled out and reinstalled both carbs from my 550 about 4 times chasing down issues until with help of friends got everything going great. Now I want to change the venturis, idle jets and air correction jets etc for better low end driving. It's the madness....

Pete 

I know what you mean, Pete, about you saying it's not as easy as you'd think. There's a lot of measuring and preparation (and more measuring, and double checking and then measuring again!) to make sure the holes go exactly where you want them. It takes 3, 4 (and sometimes way more) time to set up than it does to actually drill the stupid holes. I've been drilling, grinding, and filing transaxle parts off and on for 8 or 9 months in preparation for my Berg 5 going back together. And I haven't ruined any parts yet with holes in the wrong place (yeah, I just knocked on wood!). Lots of measuring...

Not counting the mount I've removed a little over 2 lbs from shift forks, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and reverse gears, reverse idler shaft,  clutch cross shaft and arm, and a couple other small parts. This all started because lightening 1st and 2nd gear makes shifting slightly easier- a guy in town with a Berg 5 in a turboed street car found his ground ever so slightly going into 2nd when bracket racing (it doesn't do it on the street, even when shifting "enthusiastically", and yes, it has new synchros) and someone here figured out that if you reduced the mass of the shafts to closer to stock it didn't overpower the synchro rings. And that's why I learned how to drill gears.

Drilling holes and seeing how light we could make the rest of it has become a bit of an obsession; the idea now is to see how close to 4 speed weight I can make my Berg 5. And I don't use the word obsession lightly- I have 100 (or more) hours drilling (with my dinky little drill press), grinding and hand filing the clutch arm (20? hours and about 60 grams from 150 originally) and shift forks (80 grams) alone. Getting into my friend's shop has made it so much easier. I still have 4th gear, the ring gear, pinion and mainshafts (we'll see if we do anything there) and maybe the differential housing. And I'm sure I'll find a few more small things to drill holes in along the way.

A lot of transaxle parts have some sort of surface hardening; regular HSS drill bits (and even cobalt; the end just chipped) aren't hard enough and won't touch it. The investment I now have in carbide bits is getting quite sizeable. The carbide stuff is brittle, and if you're not careful, easy to break, and at $20 for a 1/8" (I've broken 2), upwards of $60 for a 14" bit (broken 1), and $125 for 7/16 (havent' broken that yet, knock on wood), you yell pretty loud when they break. And then you've gotta get the broken piece out. I've gotten surprisingly good at it...

Later guys! Al (time to go down into the garage before anybody gets up and do some more filing and grinding on that !@#$%!!! mount! There gotta be another 4 ozs somewhere!)

Al 

is this what your looking for.?

If so l'll claim those couple of beers if I'm ever in the neighbourhood ;-)

RichardMaxwell posted:

Al 

is this what your looking for.?

 

If so l'll claim those couple of beers if I'm ever in the neighbourhood ;-)

I got this for you Al:

Looking for the weight of an unmolested mount, Richard (that one has big holes in it) but if you ever drop by this neck of the woods I'll still buy a couple beers...

Absolutely CLASSIC, Richard!  

Why drill a whole lot of holes when a couple of BIG ASS holes will do!

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