Howdy,

Does anybody know of any useful websites or books concerning carbon fiber or fiberglass diy? After a few more seasons of snow/salt my fenders will show noticable rust and i'm gathering info on making new ones from carbon fiber.

Dan

hello
i went to design school and also studied engineering. at school we made our own car interiors,atv bodies and model cars with fiber glass (along with other models). its ruff stuff. i have made my own body kit for my mercedes and even that was ruff. so i tip my hat to you if you want to make fenders if your doing at home. ive thought it through and the jigs, molds and slides you would need to copy the factory dimensions and have everything line up is a huge task. good luck.(sorry this is no help.)
jake

Check out Amazon! There are tons of do it yourself books for both materials.

__________________
George Carstens

heres a small pict. if your going to do it, just get your hands dirty. books are great i bought many, but they do not replace experience. just get good personal protection. good luck!
jake

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BF, what a job, your Benz looks top rate. Fiberglass or carbon fiber? I would dream that I could do the same. On a jig; a fellow in Portland , Oregon , made a complete 107 450 SLC out of carbon fiber. He used his wife's SLC panels as the original jig. Ended up needing to buy new panels for his wife but completed the job. Why not try the same method, but purchase a parts car. Ant thoughts about this, please post. I'm going to try it myself.

Bk-that is a damn nice body kit, hard to judge porportions from that angle but it looks like it was very professionally done! This would indeed be done in my (fathers) garage.

Maddog-thanks for the tip, i'll check it out

Dan Smith-I'm guessing that the SLC guy botched the original fenders when he was making the female mold for the eventual carbon fiber piece. The first link describes using a layer of wax between the original and the mold so they easily seperate. Here is all the info/links I have right now.


http://www.hawkland.de/howto.html

good step by step-uses a fiberglass mold of the original part, places the carbon fiber over it. does not mention compression of the carbon fiber reisen, but notes that he is NOT making structural parts, and that they are best left for the professionals.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/rinard/carbon_fiber.htm

site dedicated to DIY bicycle frame building. The frame is carved from foam, then coated with carbon fiber. Uses compression via electrical tape, there is good information here concerning structural rigidity and carbon orientation (obviously, a high performance bicycle frame takes more stress than a reinforced carbon fiber hood on your little brother's honda.) Also, a very nice list of resources and tools.

The next links are grouped at Linear.org, this is the summary of each individually.


http://www.nsxprime.com/FAQ/Miscellaneous/carbonfiber.htm

Excellent explanation of pre-preg type carbon fiber vs. dry type using wet layup.

http://exp-aircraft.com/library/alexande/composit.html

Beginner discussion of how composites apply to DIY airplanes. Fairly in depth and lengthy, contains great ideas for post-cure

http://members.ozemail.com.au/~flyingwing/vacbag/

Info on a DIY vaccum bag from a refrigerator. The problem of course is finding a bad large enough for a fender. I'm not sure if vaccum bagging is necessary for the fenders/hood/trunk because they are non-structural, but it is an interesting project nonetheless. Does pre-preg need to be vaccum bagged? I assume so if it is going to be structural.

These are just the links to independant websites, the material suppliers and professionals are relatively easier to locate.

Anybody hazard any guesses as to the weight savings?

I'd love to get started on this project late this summer. If everything goes well the hood would be the first piece with the trunk following. Let me know if there is any interest in this project on this board-it seems like fun stuff. Dan, if you start before me, make sure to keep me updated!

Thanks for the links, I tried a year ago to have a pro do it, just to busy????

hello
thank you dan smith, i tried to work with the body and not against it in my design. it is a boat building fiberglass and is pliable. too much so if you ask me, my thinking was that this boat appoxy resin would fight off little accidents and people unaware getting in and out. but it has not held a superior shape. i carved the shapes out of pink house foam(from home depot) and encased them in the glass, only to find the foam was "outgassing" creating air bubbles, so the next summer vacation i hogged out the shapes and tried to create just a shell, but even that is not perfect and led to a SMALL amount of bubbles that only i notice (or so im told) so now that i have finished college i am going to give it more effort and time...
between being 23,friends,work, working on the engine, interior, and life as we all know it.....i am curious though...if i post ideas (picuters) for future ideas would you all want to give feed back? i have thought about a monochromatic style and solid color bumbers...but id like imput from people that love these cars. not just other designers and friends.
thanks alot
jake

hello again
here is a picture of my very first design. it called for removal of the bumbers, i built three others before i decided on my final. it was built in my grandfathers garage (he has a wood set up, my dad an engine/metal shop) during a short summer break from school while on internship.
hope this helps to show how ugly the start is. full scale mock ups as form studies are alot better than renderings.
jake

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This project of yours is very interesting to performance enthusiasts. What I'm interested in is the weight savings. 10 pounds requires one horsepower to move it. Cut 100 pounds and your race time in the 1/4 mile is 1/10 second faster. In regular driving, you save fuel. Replacing rusted panels, thats great also.