Time to lighten up the Racing Leaf

[etracing]

Ok folks, time to show your knowledge on these cool cars.

We want to lighten up the drag racing Leaf for several reasons.
1-We can to go faster with No motor, controller or battery mods. We may do that some day, but not right now.
2-This is the cheapest (um.... least expensive) way to go faster and to put less stress on the battery pack and drive train.
3-Since we have a street 2012 Leaf it gives us spare parts to keep or sell.

Sooooo, any suggestions we use with viable knowledge on the removal process will get your name (if you want it on there)
on the web site we are working on now and the Race car display board that will be at the track with us. I have an example
of our Cafe racer display board below.

Example -"Removal of the AC system" is an obvious choice. If you can tell us what in particular needs to be done to safely
remove it and not affect the cars operation, that is a winner!

We DO NOT CARE if the dash has warning lights. If the car still runs fast...we want it off the car.

I do speak "Racer and Geek". We have build race cars and have been racing for years, but this is not a blown Small block.
I have also built several electric motorcycles so you will not have to dumb it down for me.

So far we have taken off...
One Front seat.
Rear seat and seat belts for that seat.
Rear Windshield wiper and motor (and plugged the hole)
The passenger side windshield wiper.
One rear tow strap mount.
The rear compartment flip up cover.
All tools and books that came with the car.
Rear view mirror.

All suggestions will be graciously accepted. No idea is off the table. Even if we do not use that particular suggestion it may lead
me to investigate something else it triggered in my evil brain.

Thanks!

E&T

 

[Smidge204]

Might want to start by removing the power window motors. Maybe you want to leave the driver's side intact, but I'm guessing the other three can go. You can weld/brace the mechanism to lock the windows in the closed position. Replacing the side and rear windows with polycarbonate might be a more extreme mod along those lines.

Since you'll have the doors apart for that, may as well remove the power lock solenoids and speakers. Every ounce counts, right? Stereo system goes as well.

From the pics in the other thread it looks like you're running stock wheels. You cam probably change those out for something lighter and use a low profile tire to decrease both weight and inertia.

Stock lead-acid 12v battery goes in favor of a 12v lithium-ion pack. That's worth a few pounds.

If you're considering removing the AC system (you'd need to recover the refrigerant to do so "properly"...) what about heat? You can remove the entire ventilation system for that matter. Blower, ducts, controls...

Lowering the ride height should improve aerodynamics a bit.

That about covers the obvious stuff. I'm not sure how you feel about preserving the interior finish - I know some people strip the interior down to the metal.
=Smidge=

 

[etracing]

Stock lead-acid 12v battery goes in favor of a 12v lithium-ion pack. That's worth a few pounds.

=Smidge=

Thank for for the suggestions. The windows have been a consideration... I will have to tear one down to see how much all that weighs.

On the 12v battery, I have LiFePO4s (Headways) sitting here and was considering building a 12v Pack. My concern was how the Leaf deals with the different chemistry and charging.

I will do search and see what others are using.

Thanks!

Ed

 

[LeftieBiker]

Not to be a dick, but do you really need a new topic for this? The topic on racing your Leaf should be fine for this question.

 

[etracing]

Not to be a dick, but do you really need a new topic for this? The topic on racing your Leaf should be fine for this question.

Yes I do. That is for updates to the racing. This is in the Mods section for a reason.......

Are we running out of topic space?

 

[LeftieBiker]

Not that I know of. Anyway, if you build a lithium pack, just use an external charger for it, as the Leaf's charging system wouldn't work. A 20AH LiFePo-4 pack would weight about 10lbs and provide enough juice for several hours' worth of racing, I should think. Mine provides 30+ miles' worth of power assist to a heavy steel bicycle.

 

[etracing]

Not that I know of. Anyway, if you build a lithium pack, just use an external charger for it, as the Leaf's charging system wouldn't work. A 20AH LiFePo-4 pack would weight about 10lbs and provide enough juice for several hours' worth of racing, I should think. Mine provides 30+ miles' worth of power assist to a heavy steel bicycle.

Thanks for the info. That is what I am concerned with. There are some light weight racing batteries that may work with the
Leaf system and cut the weight in half.

30+ Miles ...that is some good range.

Later!

 

[MechanicDan]

I'll throw some ideas out - but what class is it racing in btw? I'm guessing this is NOT returning to the street?

Replacing driver's seat with a racing bucket (I feel silly but just in the interest of the exercise) remove: dash cover, airbags, airbag module(s),headliner, carpet, center console/telematics, seatbelts, all hard plastic trim pieces, scrape all sound deadening, side view mirrors.

This will depend on class: ALL windows on the car except windshield out. door net for driver, rear sway bar.

This is a wild guess: When I worked at Toyota as a tech the prius had a manual steering rack with a steering assist motor on the steering column for assist. You just need a standard column from something else nissan makes.

 

[etracing]

I'll throw some ideas out - but what class is it racing in btw? I'm guessing this is NOT returning to the street?

Replacing driver's seat with a racing bucket (I feel silly but just in the interest of the exercise) remove: dash cover, airbags, airbag module(s),headliner, carpet, center console/telematics, seatbelts, all hard plastic trim pieces, scrape all sound deadening, side view mirrors.

This will depend on class: ALL windows on the car except windshield out. door net for driver, rear sway bar.

This is a wild guess: When I worked at Toyota as a tech the prius had a manual steering rack with a steering assist motor on the steering column for assist. You just need a standard column from something else nissan makes.

This IS extreme info! This is Bracket drag racing. It may or may not return to the street so we are looking at all items.

We were going to remove both front seats, but the wife (an accomplished racer) liked its "Comfortability" so the drivers side stays for now. As we get closer to the 9 second mark (1/8 mile), that will most likely change. The side mirrors will most likely go...

Thanks!

Ed

 

[LeftieBiker]

Anyone mention the rear hatch wiper assembly?

 

[johnrhansen]

Take out the 12 v battery completely as well as all the heavy cables going to it, and don't replace it with anything. The only thing its for is to get the car started, and you can jump start it with an external battery. You might put a big car stereo capacitor in to smooth out the power pulses from the dc to dc converter, but they are pretty light.

 

[etracing]

Anyone mention the rear hatch wiper assembly?

Already gone! 3 pounds of uselessness!

 

[etracing]

Take out the 12 v battery completely as well as all the heavy cables going to it, and don't replace it with anything. The only thing its for is to get the car started, and you can jump start it with an external battery. You might put a big car stereo capacitor in to smooth out the power pulses from the dc to dc converter, but they are pretty light.

Interesting Idea... I will have to take a look at this one as well.

Thanks!

Ed

 

[knightarmor]

Headliner, door panels (all interior panels for that matter), electric window motors and glass to be replaced with lexan, carpet, all sound damping material on the interior, aluminum/steel plates under dashboard not required, air bags (all air bags and associated wiring), stereo speakers (and associated wiring), modify front and rear aluminum bumper reinforcement for lightness, replace factory suspension with a light coilover setup, step up to forged 17" wheels with race rubber, remove front sway bar.

Any lights not required, the little red reflectors in the rear bumper, fender well liners.

As for the A/C system if you're going to remove it remove it all, including all A/C lines, condensor, evaporator, drier, all associated wiring, etc...

Just drop a light Braille battery in and be done with it. Not sure why everyone is so into swapping the lead acid for a lithium.

Those are my few suggestions.

 

[ElectricEddy]

VSP speaker

 

[JeremyW]

I'm willing to buy the telematics module from you as long as you have the carwings username/password!

 

[johnrhansen]

Take out the 12 v battery completely as well as all the heavy cables going to it, and don't replace it with anything. The only thing its for is to get the car started, and you can jump start it with an external battery. You might put a big car stereo capacitor in to smooth out the power pulses from the dc to dc converter, but they are pretty light.

Interesting Idea... I will have to take a look at this one as well.

Thanks!

Ed

I got to thinking. Can you take out the dc dc converter? I bet that weighs a lot. You only need enough 12 v power to run the computer. You could even eliminate the aux battery if you tapped off the traction pack.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Just drop a light Braille battery in and be done with it. Not sure why everyone is so into swapping the lead acid for a lithium.

Does that battery weigh 10lbs and provide 20AH? A 15AH LiFePo4 battery would weigh about 7lbs.

 

[JeremyW]

I got to thinking. Can you take out the dc dc converter? I bet that weighs a lot. You only need enough 12 v power to run the computer. You could even eliminate the aux battery if you tapped off the traction pack.

No. In 2011-2012's its combined with the HV junction box. In 2013+ it's combined with the charger.