Anyone know of a US retailer that sells FD fiberglass doors? Car Shop Glow has the TCP Magic doors for a good price, but shipping is $1340. Another Polish shop offers them, haven't heard their shipping quote yet.

 

Did you look at CarbonMiata's doors? They have FG and CF options.

 

Hadn't looked at them yet. Sent them a message. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

CarbonMiata is currently redoing their molds, so not available now.

 

i bought a set of kevlar doors. they used to be on Rob Dahm's 3rotor before he bought it. I know the previous owner. as long as you cover international shipping, you can have them for real cheap. Bought them 15-16 years ago and never mounted them.

 

PM sent

 

Another vendor to possibly check out would be, EliteTi.

I have no experience with them personally, but they sure talk a good game about their doors. They are saying that their doors would be just as safe as the OEM. Which is a pretty big downside of other carbon doors from the past.

 

They want $3250 for their carbon doors plus shipping. For a track car, fiberglass is fine 😃. Car is caged, so not worried about safety of the doors themselves.

 

If looking as far as Poland, there's some here too. They don't appear to advertise FD stuff any more, Topstage Composites in Victoria would probably whip up a set as they definitely had molds several years ago. Pollard Products also does them (both work predominantly in carbon) - but someone on here a while back said he preferred not to deal direct with them.

We picked up some fibreglass ones out of NZ about 15 years ago, can't seem to find evidence of them existing anymore (SPI), but the currency there at the moment would be in your favour. Good weight saving over stripped steel doors. We never installed them as they were very flimsy and I suspect the window frames would vibrate and be sucked into the airstream at any sort of a decent clip...which would likely not be a problem with c/f.

 

Topstage has them, but price is $3500, which is comparable to carbon doors available in US. Carbon doors are easy to find, fiberglass is what I'm after for cost reasons.

Previous poster has a set of doors for a good price, just need to work out shipping.

 

If that shipping is that much, order the TCP doors, take a trip to Japan when they're ready, pick them up as you're about to leave, and then take them home as oversized/excess baggage.
I'm only half joking. It might cost roughly as much as any other option (ok, almost assuredly more), but you get a trip to Japan...

 

This might sound weird, but you could actually make the door yourself! You can buy prepreg carbon fiber sheets and use a door as a mould.
You just cut the shapes, lay a few layers on the mould, let it cure for a day and then trim the edges.
This is just an estimate, but I don't think it will cost you more than 300 - 400 for materials.

 

Not a bad idea 🤣

 

I have the materials. Can't use pre preg unless you have an autoclave. Sheets, resin and vacuum pump I have, but more involved than what you described, I believe. Would need to make a mold of the door (outer skin and some sort of subframe for hinge and latch). Once you have the molds, then you could lay up a door using the molds.

 

By the way, would TCP not offer ocean freight? I assume $1250 is for air mail.

 

Prepreg. CF composite very much does not work like that. You need an autoclave to cure it in the mold.

 

I just didn't want to bother people with too much info, but there are specialised prepregs that can cure at room temperature.
Although since it's for the door, using a common prepreg this way although it's not going to come out perfect I think it's good enough for the specific part!

 

It would be a pretty big pain in the butt to make the molds. Unless you're really handy with it and have the space, it's cheaper to pay if you value your time.

 

If making composite car parts isn’t your day job, you don’t have any business making carbon fiber doors… which really need door bars to be safe.

 

i should have done this with my down pipe, i did look at the time, and the plane ticket was like $10 more than shipping...

 

Pretty true, although a dedicated amateur could pull off. Basically any retrofitted composite door is a safety hazard without door bars, independent of who makes it. Modern hyper cars are designed with the materials in perspective for safety. Also, even for cars with door bars I'd recommend kevlar in the construction. Fiberglass and carbon will shard and explode.

 

I don't think it would be a good idea, though, and I doubt they'd get a really good result unless they have a lot of experience with this sort of thing.
For as much money as you would spend on the initial tools and materials, you could have probably bought a pair of FRP doors from RE-Amemiya.
They're less than $800 each if you ignore tarrifs and shipping.