My official carbon fiber makings

[Wergen7]

So some people have seen my other project thread. http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=339058

I'm starting a new page for all other composites related projects I'm going to make from here on out. Progress will be slow it's just a free time thing for now. It will be picture heavy so you don't have to read a damn thing! Mostly car stuff but some non-car stuff will appear here as well.

To kick this off I'm starting with my '88 bumpers. Starting with the rear since it's probably the world's most straight forward composites project and moving to the front later on since there's a tiny bit more going on with that one in terms of attachment. Planning on infusing these.

So, here I've added a good size flange, plugged all the holes, and applied some release wax. A few more wax coats and its ready for gelcoat.

[IMG][/IMG]

[LJ851]

Aaaaahh, yeah. Looking forward to awesomeness.

[318aye]

Cool previous thread, interested to see what you come up with.

[Wergen7]

So work on the rear bumper came to a halt to make the front "splitter" for this 2002..thing. I'll get some better photos in the next few days here.

[IMG][/IMG]
Cool

[2mAn]

that thing looks like its powered by a M12/7 or maybe an M42, or maybe a special cylinder head on a m10 block made by some aftermarket company, cant put my finger the on the name of that company though, maybe someone can help

[Wergen7]

You are correct! Schnitzer head.

Ok so more photos of the work:

I don't have any photos of it on the car but here are a few of the piece I'm going to replicate out of carbon fiber. This thing weighs in at 19 pounds. Thats insane. Upon closer inspection I found that it was essentially made of bondo. As per the customers request I could not harm this original in any way during the making of the mold. As you can see from the following photos, this thing was messed up. I would have rather cannibalized it.

[IMG][/IMG]
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I took the mold while the plug was mounted to assure fitment. You can also see a piece of string pulling one half down while the other is being held up. It was really warped so that was an attempt to set things a little straighter from the get go.

[IMG][/IMG]


I don't have any photos of the process but I ended up covering it in masking tape then packing tape for a good release surface and approximately 3 dollars. I wasn't worried about the minor imperfections this would create because of the amount of fairing involved anyway. Nonetheless, the mold is a nightmare now.

I don't have any photos of the mold when it was first released but now it's looking (feeling) much better despite how it looks. It's all about the feels.

[IMG][/IMG]
[IMG][/IMG]

A few more hours and it will be all set.

Thanks for lookin'. Pretty stuff coming soon.

[BraveUlysses]

sub'd

[Wergen7]

Made a lot of progress recently and the part is almost done! Spent so many hours fixing up the mold to be nice, making some tweaks to the lip so it's level all the way across. Filled pinholes and air voids. It was a lot. I finally started the lay up of carbon this week. Its a 3 step process where I have to make the bottom layer, the top layer with a space for the aluminum honeycomb core, then bond the two together with the core inside.

Some photos of the process:

Here is the fist layer down and cured with an end grain balsa spacer on top. The silver stuff is actually foil believe it or not. I used that to guarantee release between the two layers.

[IMG][/IMG]

Now we're looking at the second layer under vacuum and curing.

[IMG][/IMG]

Now we're looking at the two halves separated. You can see the space for the honeycomb and how that works now. Had some issues with vacuum on the first layer which is all those imperfections you see in it. No worries, it'll all be covered up and it's not being shot into space. Just 150mph :up:

[IMG][/IMG]

Closeup

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And finally both layers bonded together with the core piece inside. Just used some seriously heavy steel bars to weight it down while it cures.

[IMG][/IMG]


I should be finishing up in a couple days. I'm going to need to add a few more layers of laminate on the lip so there's material to be scraped off at speed.

Almost forgot another shot of the car. I wish the trunk/ wing was on for this one.

[IMG][/IMG]

[george graves]

sub'ed!

[Wergen7]

I finished the lay up and released it from the mold no problem. It looked ok out of the mold. Not worth taking pictures of apparently since I don't have any. Basically a little bondo from the mold pulled out and stayed on the part but it came right off. The worst part was the pin holes in the top layer from "pressure issues" on the first layup. But the fibers and seams we're straight so I'm cool with that. I ended up sanding it pretty quick and filled the pinholes with some resin. It was getting painted anyway.

Filled the pinholes and trimmed the flanges and it started looking like this:

[IMG][/IMG]

So that looked cool. Makes me wish it was just left it like that. But it headed to the paint shop and came back looking like this:

[IMG][/IMG]

So that's it! Done. All the fittings are on and its solid is hell. Too solid actually it came out a bit heavier than I would have liked. I could have sacrificed some structure for weight easy.

The car is now off the Monterey Motor Sports Reunion. In fact it's there right now so if you see it check it out! :up:

If you don't see it then listen for it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmvc...ature=youtu.be
Sorry, still don't know how to make youtubes show up as a video.

[BraveUlysses]

looks great! how much did it weigh?

[jdance30]

looks great! how much did it weigh?

+1 for weight

[Farbin Kaiber]

My guess is 11 lbs.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

All these awesome 2002's are really making need to get mine done.

[gart]

Cool stuff here. Subd for more