Are you asking a question, or is yours also a subtle pun?

Have you done all that cutting as a weight saving exercise?

How did you decide it would still be strong enough to handle the load of the engine?

what is the main advantage of this?

1/3 less weight, and still the same strength. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out where to cut, this is old procedure and well known in racing community.

it does have additional bracing added to it to make up for some loss of strength from the holes

Quote:

it does on the ends (see pic), i no what you mean by adding braces.....but whats the point there trying to lose weight,..lol

my opinion is why why they weigh nothing anyways...

working on "every little bit counts" no doubt

looks pretty cool though

EDIT, just found more bracing

has the extra bits underneath, has the braces inside the crossmember near the ends and has bracing at the back of the mounts

This full-on Datsun 1200 racing coupe weighs less than a stocker. The best ones can do 210 kph with 1300cc.

CRIKEY...it be floating at that speed

i've got a good one for you thinkers...

decreasing the weight of components that are below the centre of gravity of your car actually increases the height of the centre gravity of your car..

im sure that effect is cancelled by the weight reduction itself buts its kind of an oxymoron

probably more something to worry about when building a 4x4 and worrying about it rolling over

Interesting comment, and I'm sure you're right.

One of these Coupes has the battery in the regular place, but right down on the frame horn, about 6" lower than normal position -- which makes sense if you want lower CG. Awesome, most awesome photo gallery: http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp - sato

so dd you don't think this will lose any of the strength by cutting these holes? why would datsun have left them there then? and why is there still metal in there? why didn't they just cut whole sections out encompassing where the holes are and also the metal that's between the circles?

re reading my post it sounds very much like i'm having a massive dig at you but please understand that i'm genuinely interested as to why? no hard feelings

there can be a fair bit of engineering behind these things...

they have increased stiffness in many places and probably not weakend it too much with the holes (although many small can be better than a few large like this)

a circular hole does not concentrate stresses as it has no corners, so they can be quite effective

as for datsun.... the additional machining costs would probably rule it out (although maybe they wouldnt be very high in mass production situation if included in design from start).. and why take any risks like that when building a cheap economy box

they wouldnt have been there from factory as they had no real need to make the car lighter. where as in a race car you want to do everything you can to make the car more competitive

Yes, exactly. Instead of $5 to make a crossmember, if Nissan drilled all those holes it would be $20 per crossmember -- or some such similar figures. Then the Datsun 1200 would not have been the least-expensive car on the market 1971.

just looked through the link you posted dd, i wish i had a race car like that
pitty the time line is backwards though, the car started off all finished and nice then kept getting worse. i ddnt know what was going on

It may alter the centre of gravity, but if you concentrate your "weight reduction" to specific locations of the vehicle wouldn't you also concentrate the centre of gravity at the same time?

Or put the centre of gravity to a more specific axis? Making the car behave in a manner that the driver would prefer. Or put the CG in a position easier for the driver to work with?

Had a look through that link DD and farout! that thing is amaseing!!! Fill'n my head full of Ideas!

Finally, I was imaging what it'd be like to raise the exhaust in line with the floor

edit: just figured out why I cant load the pic, it's got some sneaky racer anti-hotlinking stuuff on it

Peter Brock did the same thing in the late 1960's in his Austin A40 powered up with a holden 6. 50mm holes all over the car which stood up to many hillclimbs and races over a couple of seasons.

hey just looking through that link, is that big cut and remodeling of the left strut tower just to clear that big airbox?