Light Weight, High Speed Jato

[Buckshot]

In the quest for speed what steps have people taken to lighten their Jato, and how much weight was lost?

[RobF353]

I have removed my EZ Start, dirt guards, roll bar, bumpers and probably other parts I cant recall now. I have added carbon fiber hinge pins and turnbuckles as well as other light weight parts.

I cant recall what it weighs now, but I can find out it you really want me to. I know I dropped a decent amount of weight though.

[Buckshot]

Thanks for the advice RobF353, I'll start by removing those parts. My goal is to halve the weight of the jato, or at least get as close to it as possible.

[RobF353]

You can't get rid of that much weight on a Jato.

I will weigh my Jato and post the weight later.

A stock Jato weighs 83.03oz (5.19lb) without fuel.

My Jato weighs 3lbs 8.8oz, without fuel, tires or a body. With tires on it is a little over 4lbs.

[Buckshot]

Hmmm.... you think halving the weight is impossible? If I can't halve it I would at least like to loose a quarter of it. Well I'll get to stripping parts off and I'll see how much weight I can get rid of.

[Pheenomx]

carbon fiber chassis plate will shed the pounds

[RobF353]

carbon fiber chassis plate will shed the pounds

Not by much and carbon fiber isnt a good chassis material.

[Buckshot]

Well I think I got a bit carried away with it. At the moment I'm still missing the exhaust coupling, some fuel hose and air filter. But anyways onto the pics

Before: Weighing in at 5lbs 12.9oz




After: Weighing in at 2lbs 10oz (Ignore the gearing I have, I was just messing around with it)

[RobF353]

That isn't good. The chassis has no support and probably has a lot of flex now since you have no upper tray. I don't think losing all that weight is necessary. Getting rid of weight is fine, but you don't want to do it to the poibt of your chassis being flexible. I think you should put the truck back together and slowly get rid of parts.

[Buckshot]

Yes the chassis has some flex to it now, but that was the plan. With no shock the chassis flexes absorbing the shocks/bumps.

[RobF353]

What kind of running will you do with this Jato?

[Wheelstand]

Wow....I'd like to see some video of that thing in action....On a flat surface with enough room, it should run well.
The spur-to-spur gearing should be interesting as well...

[Buckshot]

What kind of running will you do with this Jato?

Its strictly on-road, Drag racing and high speed passes.

Wow....I'd like to see some video of that thing in action....On a flat surface with enough room, it should run well.
The spur-to-spur gearing should be interesting as well...

I should have some video of it in about 2-3 weeks I'd say, I still need to get a radar gun. With that gearing (40:40 = 1.1) @ 30,000rpm it should be doing 120mph, But I think it would take a fair distance to reach that speed if it even could.

[dkrhardy]

You have drag to figure in. Also when it is at speed with no shocks it may well launch into the air. Even a bit of a bump ............. oh just too many "what ifs" to write about. Just good luck to you and if anyone may go fast, it may be you.

[RobF353]

Is the only thing securing the motor that think metal strip?

[duramaxin]

just run that bad boy on flat road with no bumps

[JohnBalz]

Have you run this yet? Let's see some stats!

[Buckshot]

I've done a few tuning runs, but no full throttle passes yet. Its been raining a lot here lately, so I haven't had good conditions to work with. I've added a front wing, changed the gearing (now 36:40) and also had to change the fuel tank after it ruptured. It's looks really promising from the few tuning runs, just waiting on the gyro and radar gun to turn up.

[JatoTheRipper]

Well I think I got a bit carried away with it. At the moment I'm still missing the exhaust coupling, some fuel hose and air filter. But anyways onto the pics

After: Weighing in at 2lbs 10oz (Ignore the gearing I have, I was just messing around with it)

That laydown engine setup is sick! Nice work!

That car would be useless for what I like to do, but I have to give you credit for "engineering" your own car to fit your needs!

[Sage2k2]

Any updates on this? we need to see a video of it running full throttle!

[Buckshot]

No real updates as yet. It's still raining, We've had 157inches of rain in December so far. The only changes I've done is putting on the anacondas and making a simple body for it. But I'll keep you posted, as soon as I get a fine day to work with I'll get some more runs in.

[cadmanslayer46]

just make sure you do that, some of the creations ive seen on here have been a little wild, thats one of the wildest, we gotta see that run!!!

[xxx8ight]

Thats pretty sick! I would get the cvds though... less rotating mass is faster

[tmaxxchump]

nice creativity. i haven't see anything that custom for a jato in a while. is that the factory chassis trimmed?