E6KT2

I thought that would get your attention. I can make Body Kits. But I don't have the time. I could impart wisdom on someone who wants to learn and has the time&space.

Working with fiberglass is pretty easy actually. I have even thought about how I would engineer the kit.

I was going to do it myself (and reap the rewards) but I am unable to do so, so why not benefit the RX-7 community that I have benefited from?! Right?!

I will respond if you post. I will post everything here in public.

Interested?

Node

iTrader: (1)

Once I get my FC I think I'll try my chance and fiberglass working and make mods and whatnot for parts i dont wanna buy/they dont make. Then after that if fiberglass wasn't too hard or too much of a pain in the ***, give it a shot at carbon fibre.

E6KT2

I will post tips for anyone except Node until he changes his avatar.

mazdaspeed7

I thought you were going to tell me about this a long time ago? What happened?

Ryde _Or_Die

I know a guy that owns a fiberglass plant. He could make me what I wanted real cheap but would have to A) make a mold or B) pay someone to. Once I get my performance done(actually get my car up to par all together) then I will see what he can do for me.

photoresistor

iTrader: (5)

tell us




........

please?

Driftfc3s

iTrader: (11)

Why don't you just get with Dave Gibson (FC3S.ORG)? He's trying to get with someone who can make a decent bodykit.

E6KT2

Mazdaspeed7- I was thinking of you when I posted that.

I still wanted to make the kit myself, but I really don't have the time or space. It would be a shame to withold the knowledge I have acquired from the RX-7 community. I would be interested in working with a partner if someone wanted to colaborate.

Dave Gibson's effort is what inspired me to share any knowledge I had with the community.

E6KT2

nudge

live4boost

iTrader: (2)

you didn't happen to read how to do it from the latest issue of super street did you. J/P

Kurgan

I need to learn more about fiberglass... I want to make some custom gauge thing-a-ma-bobs for the interior of my car... I want to make an A-pillar replacement piece that has 3 gauge spots in it... and a replacement for the idiot light cluster that will hold a couple of gauges as well... and some more **** that I can't think of because I've been up for almost 30 hours

E6KT2

You should come down here on a weekend and we can make some shtuff. It wouldn't take long.

Madman

all right so I am totally interested... how bout that info.

Megaspeed7

Any true Member of the NCRS (National Corvette Restoration Society) should be able to tell you about fiberglass work. For example, My dad has restored at least 5 corvettes (complete restorations, 3 were frame off completely dissasembled). He does all the paint and bodywork himself. I have learned TONS about fiberglass and other methods of body panel fabrication. I wish I had a picture of the front airdam that we modified on my old TII. I just cut the brake duct holes WAYYY larger and used a plastic bumper polymer and some wooden sticks and tape to form the inlets. I also cut all of the grill out and filled those gaps. Also I riveted some expanded metal in place of it. I was AMAZED at how my first job came out. (My dad was too).
I am buying another REX (had baby, had to sell mine) And I am going to do this again. Except I learned a new trick. Vaccuum molded Carbon Fiber. I am going to cut up another front air dam and make a mold of it (shouldn't be too hard). Then I am going to buy pre-inpregnated carbon fiber (keep refrigerated till you are ready to form) and you lay the carbon out on the mold, then you put it in a large bag. And suck all the air out that you can for as long as you can. I am gonna try with something relativly easy like a hood. I might not even need a mold for that if I get it flat enough.
well thats what I'm gonna try
if it works. I'll sell them
Patrick

mazdaspeed7

I do a lot of fiberglass work myself, including quite a bit of carbon fiber work. Be wary of the carbon fiber prepegs, they have an inherent waviness, which not only looks kinda bad, but greatly reduces their structural integrity.

Another things, hoods are NOT easy. They are way too big, and too close to flat. You will end up spending close to $1000 in materials just to make a mold for a hood. Believe me, I have priced it before.

Node

iTrader: (1)

heh the two M*speed7's are talking :-D
anyways, carbon would be awesome, But the way I saw it was make a mold, wax it, lay down epoxy, carbon cloth, some more ****, and even foam sometimes, dunno if this is just for works or is actually light and strong.
http://www.bryanf.com/info/carbon1.htm
saw this at iluvmyrx7.com

BTW anyone know any good fiberglass or carbon fiber making sites, i have seen basic ****, but some more to get more than one idea would be good, and possibly a mold making how-to. Whatever ya got would help :-D

Megaspeed7

I am not really worried about waviness, I just want the panels to be LIGHT! Maybe put in some aluminum ribbing on the front and the hood and rid all of the hood latching stuff and put some pins in. Mine's gonna be a racecar, so I don't care what it looks like.
Now what about forming Lexan?? Any news on that?
Thanks and if anyone finds a nice writeup of how to do all this, please email me and let me know.
Patrick Harris - Megaspeed7 - the origional M*speed, don't be fooled by impersonators

mazdaspeed7

The original????? Big words for someone who doesnt even have 10 posts yet

Waviness in prepegs drastically reduce strength. Hand lay ups are stronger, and when done right, lighter than prepegs. They are also more costly, and much more labor intensive. This is the kind of work I do. Making a fiberglass mold for a hood will cost about $800-$1000 in materials, plus the time to make the mold off an original hood. I was going to do this a while ago, but after making 2 molds that were way too thin, and wouldnt hold the shape, I decided that I shoud wait until I can do it right. Your best bet is finding a fiberglass shop to make it for you, unless you are very familiar with fiberglass/carbon fiber, and have a good bit of money and a ton of time. Fiberglass work takes A LONG TIME.

mazdaspeed7

Thats basically one of the way to do it, but it is so much harder than it sounds. It is very hard to make it perfect. But you can learn on your own, I did. Carbon cloth is much harder to work with than fiberglass too. It is really easy to tell when fiberglass is fully wetted out(it goes from white to clear), but you can not tell with carbon fiber like that. You just have to know when its fully saturated with resin, but not over saturated.

I had a whole bunch of links for fiberglass tutorials and such, but I lost all of them last time my dad crashed me comp . One of them was www.fiberglast.com i think. That is one of the best sites. I just searched metacrawler for "fiberglass tutorial" and "fiberglass how_to" and got tons of goot sites. Thats how I learned, then I practiced a lot before I could do it good.

Megaspeed7

Ok first of all to clear up the M*Speed thing. I AM THE ORIGIONAL, I was on this forum from the beginning. remember I said that I hadn't owned a TII in a year? well they killed my account, cause naturally I didn't have much rotary stuff to talk about. So I'm back, and when elvis comes back, he'll still be the King right?

Thanks for the info, I followed a few links on the other site and found those tutorials. Unbelievable!! But I think You are missing the part about the mold and the vaccuum bag though. Yes the piece will be a little rougher, but you can make a hood directly off of the hood! (what is referred to as Positive mold on the site). I mean dimensionally it will be a little off, but Why wouldn't it work?? The Vacuum bag would also keep the hood form much flatter. Something like a Fender doesn't seem impossible either. I'm sure though that I will have rivets all over to hold this **** on. Like I said I'm gonna experiment with it and see, I'm sure my dad would like to learn. As for the airdam, that sounds like its almost impossible. Too many high-low spots and I agree it would be a 300 hour project for a correct mold.
I also think I am gonna replace the whole sunroof assembly with Carbon Fiber, If I can't make that, I'll give up. I'm sure the car would lose a TON of weight right there. Have you guys seen how much stuff is associated with that thing??? - sheesh I also am looking into the Lexan for the hatch window, that thing is freaking HEAVY. So if anyone knows where to find how to make that stuff let me know.
All in all I agree with you, it sounds a lot tougher than Fiberglass. Maybe I should just make the stuff outta glass?? but I don't think the weight savings would be that great. We'll see man I might scrath the whole thing, but if it works, wow it will be nice for a racecar
Later,
Patrick