RBM have you ever weighed your Scud ?
Battery charger/maintainer - here are some photos of the battery charger that comes with the Lithium battery. It's fully automatic, and has three banks of lights for three sets of functions. The bank on the left is for charger diagnostics. It let's you know that the charger is working properly, and is properly connected to the battery (polarity is not backwards). Image Unavailable, Please Login
The bank on the right is for battery diagnostics. It checks the health of the battery. If the battery checks out good, the charger switches into one of its three charge modes. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The bank at the bottom tells you what charge mode the charger is in, based on your battery's condition. If the battery is really low, it goes into save mode. Normal mode is charge mode (shown). When the battery is nearly charged, it switches to optimize mode to balance the cells and maintain the optimum charge. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here's a look at the inside of the stock US Scud rear bumper. Note the ribbed reinforcement structure. It's bonded to the rear bumper cover with epoxy. Both the cover and the reinforcement are made of fiberglass. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here's the rest of the bumper. All of the trim has been removed from the bumper, until it is down to a single 'part'. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here's the exterior of the stock US rear bumper. The US cars have side marker lights and rear reflectors, both red in the rear and both the same size (actually made from the same part, with the marker light having a light bulb installed). Image Unavailable, Please Login
The side marker slot is open on the inside, while the rear reflector slot is closed because of the reinforcement structure inside the bumper cover. There are two small holes in the reinforcement panel, just big enough to get an extended socket through to tighten the fasteners on the back of the reflector. This is the best position for the bumper when you install the reflectors, so that if the nuts fall off the studs, they fall out of the bumper, rather than into the void between the bumper cover and the reinforcement. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here's the inside of a Euro Scud rear bumper. It uses the same fiberglass reinforcement bonded to the cover, but the lower corner section is trimmed away, revealing the inset for the rear reflector/marker light. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The other big difference between the US and the Euro rear bumper is the deletion of the side marker light. You can see there is no oval inset in the upper corner of the cover, above the mounting bracket. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here's the exterior of the Euro Scud rear bumper. No side markers for a cleaner look. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Another shot of the other side. No reinforcement panel behind the rear light inset. Image Unavailable, Please Login
One more interesting difference between the US rear bumper and the Euro rear bumper is the license plate light placement. The two lights are placed a couple inches farther apart on the Euro bumper, in order to illuminate the larger Euro license plates. Not obvious unless you are literally beneath the car, looking up. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The Euro rear bumper weighed 8.930 kg, similar to the 9.1 kg reported by mwstewart. Image Unavailable, Please Login
8.930 kg converts to 19.68 lbs, for a savings of 2.86 lbs over the 22.54 lbs of the US bumper, for a 12.7% weight reduction. It's notable that the reduction is all attributable to design and not to a change to a higher performance material. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Freaking love this thread! I try to reduce the weight on every “fun” car I own. It’s fun, and if you are like me and value the “feel” of how a car drives, all these little improvements really do enhance the enjoyment and overall experience. Keep the updates coming and thanks for the inspiration!
The Euro rear bumper with the marker lights, upper valance/grill, and lower grill installed. Everything is intended to bolt up, although I encountered some bolt/stud holes on the bumper for the lower grill out of tolerance. Nothing new in this thread. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I wonder if there’s any weight to be saved from sealing/bondo’ing over those rear reflectors as well or would it net out to be the same as w reflectors+hardware+electrical. Will look super clean for sure. I might take up this mod if I find a deal on an oem euro bumpers...never liked the reflectors and side markers.