12 replies to this topic

[Nev]

Behind both the driver’s sear and the passenger’s seat is a rather unnecessary downward projecting ‘headrest protector’, made of a sheet of steel, clad with a front and rear plastic trim. These not only obscure rearward peripheral vision (rather important for driving in my opinion), but are also a combined 2.2 Kg of useless weight (high up above the centre of mass of the car).

To remove these (without interfering with the integrity of the roll bar) took me approx 4 hours of which at least 1.5 was getting the seat out and then back in!

Part 1 - Headrest removal

1/ Remove driver and passenger seats (see elsewhere for a guide to this).

2/ Remove the plastic covers from the headrest by using a screwdriver to lever them off (they have Velcro patches at the back holding them on (rather securely!)). Take care to trim off the rubber surround with a sharp knife:

3/ Using your fingers to note the lower edge of the roll bar (feel behind the plate), score a line on the front of the headrest to indicate your intended line to cut along:

4/ Shield the Perspex glass of the rear window with a ceramic tile or some such other non flammable guard, to protect against the burning swarf/sparks:

5/ Get your angle grinder ready with a thin metal cutting disk. I tried a 4.5 inch grinder initially, but this was a bit puny, so I used a 9 inch grinder. Carefully cut along your intended line, taking care to check where the sparks go – I set fire to a towel I was using as a protection!

6/ Repeat for the second headrest.

7/ Check the cut line for sharp edges/burrs and trim appropriately.

8/ Buy some matt black paint. Paint the edges of the cut to leave a professional finish )


Part 2 (Optional) - Removing another 6 Kg of useless soundproofing

9/ Remove your speakers (approx 2 Kg combined).

10/ Remove the 4 locating screws in the black plastic trim that the speakers were mounted on. Prise the trim off carefully (approx 1 Kg)

11/ Remove the large foam noise insulation padding (approx 3 Kg).


Part 3 - Finishing off

12/ Hoover up !

13/ Install the seats.


Hoorah, you have now eliminated approx 8 Kg of needless weight out of your car and it should now accelerate and brake approximately 1% faster, as well as pull more G round corners.

PS: If you want a copy of this document as a Word document with added pictures, then email email me directly: nevillecontractorXXX@hotmail.com (remove the XXX chars when you email me (I have inserted them to stop me recieving spam from internet bots)).

[slindborg]

good guide. cue the utter bollocks comments about that thing stopping you from breaking your back should you get rear ended.... so if you are a midget and have the seat far forwards its not going to help, and if you are tall the headrest is PERFECT height to fracture the top half of your skull

[Karlosfandango]

Got any pics? I think this might be a job I might do over christmas, they never seem to be in a very favourable place if you are tall and have the seat fully back.

[Arno]

Some here:

http://www.verboom.n...1129/index.html

Bye, Arno.

[cheeky_chops]

Part 2 (Optional) - Removing another 6 Kg of useless soundproofing

9/ Remove your speakers (approx 2 Kg combined).

10/ Remove the 4 locating screws in the black plastic trim that the speakers were mounted on. Prise the trim off carefully (approx 1 Kg)

11/ Remove the large foam noise insulation padding (approx 3 Kg).

I think you need to guess better or get some more accurate scales! The speakers are 500g each!

[Nev]

You are perceptive Cheeky, I am currently buying some scales off eBay !

[cheeky_chops]

Whats your tophat mod btw?

[Duncan VXR]

Whats your tophat mod btw?

Paul, Nev has done a bit of work on the std top hat to help with the reduction in size and smoothed things out a bit

He will be trying one of the ones I am getting made up (when I get it done lol)

[Nev]

Went for my first blap round the ringroad today since taking my sound-proofing out (though I couldn't give it full beans cos of traffic and damp salty roads). To be honest sounds levels are not that greatly increased in the cabin. I can clearly hear what the engine is doing a bit more (in particular a squeeky belt!), but its not massively more noisy than before. If anything, hearing whats going on in the engine is a GOOD thing if you are a mechanically aware person. The next step is to whip out the 'felt' like material in the engine bay that is vertically mounted on the bulkhead - apparently its a few Kg more to shed. The tophat mod I did was a partial dremmel operation to smooth the top hat out. I say partial, as my dremmel gave up half way through!! I stuck the tophat back on in its partially done mode and it doesnt seem to have made any noticable diff. Having looked at the design of it, I can clearly see it as being a bottleneck, and just some polishing of it is not really gonna make much difference. It simply needs binning and replacing with a much larger bore. Thus, I have solicited a metal fabricator in Cambridgeshire to make me one up to spec on Dec 27th (with my VX on site). He intends to use 3 inch tube and make them for eBay. I expect you will see them for sale on ebay soon enough. Additionally I am waiting for DuncanVxr to make his/mine up, we can then take them all off to a RR and see which is best (scientifically!). BTW, I have added activ8 to my engine and gearbox now, after the distinct and noticably positive effect it had on my Pug HDi, I am expecting this to help release quite a few BHP/Torques. I have a list of 6 other minor tuning things I am in the process of doing as well. When I go to Courtenays in March, hopefully I will be pulling another 5 to 10 BHP - *pray* !! Nev.

[tangerine_sedge]

Behind both the driver’s sear and the passenger’s seat is a rather unnecessary downward projecting ‘headrest protector’, made of a sheet of steel, clad with a front and rear plastic trim.

Gosh! The VX has an armoured seat just like a spitfire! Chocks away! Pip Pip!

[mcewanslager]

anyone who does this can you sell me your drivers side cover if its in good nick

[ollster]

anyone who does this can you sell me your drivers side cover if its in good nick

and i will have the passenger one too if its in good condition (mine has bubbled up!)

[Duncan VXR]

Taking mine out this weekend, both are in A1 condition and happy to let them go. Will stick them in the classified section with pics once out. Think Nev is on a serious weight loss journey with the vx watch this space for some good products from us My goal is <900kg and 305bhp / 350lbs torque min! Maybe a bit more but would settle for that and then play with some decent components for front splitter and removing weight where it matters. 2009 will be a good year for the vx going faster than before