i was messing around with the idea of getting a custom fabbed carbon fiber lim and uim.... and then getting the inside cermic coated.....

does anyone have any experiance with this kind of material for this application?

price.....

feasiblity.....

functionality

 

the epoxy may yellow prematurly on the Uim and will probally melt on the Lim. it really depends on what kinda epoxy you use. As for cost, you gotta pay to play, especially since not too many people can/will do this for you. personnaly, id just polish the uim and lim although i would lay cf over the IC pipes. (thats just me though)

 

oh im not doin it for looks .... if i dont do it like this ill get a custom fold made and ceramic coat the outside .... it was more of a weight issue and it was mentioned by my father... lol but thanks... i knew you would have a good answer

 

I work for a specialty composites company, it is possible. Just have fun finding someone knowledgable enough to make the for you. The master mold will be several thousands of dollars to start with. After the master is made they are pretty cheap. Many people don't want to be hastled by someone wanting one product as it takes tens of hours to shape the master, even if the price is right it is not a rewarding way to spend time. CF can and will handle the heat and chemicals with different resins and coating. And I don't see a benefit of ceramic coating the inside of a CF peice as it does not readily transmit heat like metal. And if you were going to ceramic coat a metal intake manifold wouldn't you want to coat the outside as you are keeping heat out, not in. I realize it will work either way, but if it is on the inside the metal peice will be allowed to heat soak and more readily transmit heat.

 

While I was in Japan, I saw some Carbon fiber UIM Covers I dont know a price or where to get them, but it did look badass.

any one know where 2 get em?

 

feed make them I think.

I noticed them in the latest rx7 magazine but didn't note who made them (haven't bought the magazine as yet).

And yeah, they're just covers.

 

whoa, I guess i did not read the original question indepth enuf. first of all, I highly doubt you will find anyone willing to make you those items and put a gaurentee on it. secondly, the cf might beable to take the heat but how about the pressure? You would have to make it many layers thick which would end up weighting the same amount as the stock uim/lim. You should realize that the weight savings from that is very minimal. You'll feel much more of an increase in performance if you just increase HP/torque which is cheaper and easier to do (with your RX6 and injector upgrade+fuel and ecu mods, you should be flying already! I know very few people which can handle that type of speed/power on a track; and i dont mean a drag track!). If your really wanna see some weight savings, do your rear hatch, doors, front bumper/hood/fenders (as a one peice single layer 25kX25k dry carbon unit if possible) as well as rear bumper out of CF. Hell, if you rip out all the speakers in or car, you'll save more weight. Id bet you will save 2-3X as much weight if you took out your passenger seat or made a CF front dash cover mockup. notice that all the top tuners have stock UIM/LIM and have just ported them or just shined them up.

 

Yeah but he's trying to different..

I like the idea personally. I think it'd look badass for one thing, and if CF really doesn't transmit heat as Engberg said, it'd keep underhood temps lower, and heatsoak to a minimum.

 

If you went to a professional I don't see how heat or pressure would be a problem. I remember seeing in the Mclaren F1 Top Gear episode that the CF panels were fused under some rediculous pressures and temperatures.

 

FMIC or Vmount

 

im goin fmic... greddy 3 row i think.... but it might be easier to jus get the apexi intercooler that goes with the turbo....

 

id get/suggest the apexi GTR core

 

so ur sayin get the gtr core cause its bigger huh..... do u know the price....

 

If you're going for weight savings, you really should start with the big bombers, like the stock seats, wheels, interior trim, carpet, spare tire, jack, AC, PS pump, etc. If you've lightened your car by stripping out all of that crap, simply getting a CF LIM and UIM isn't going to make *that* much difference in the overall weight of the car (as a %), and the cost will certainly be difficult to justify.

Just wondering what your motivation for trying to lighten these two specific parts is?

 

kinda like this:





The company that made that one i believe is ATA.. might want to try contacting them.

 

Wow, that's damn slick looking. What are the engineering implications of doing this, other than weight savings?

 

ooh san jo.... its not asmuch weight savings as its unique... ...... and i am gonna have to make up for a stupidly large stereo... im tryin to keep it stock wieght after the other... and it jus seemed i dunno... different

 

im pretty sure that intake is just metal covered with cf. in anycase, as for the GTr core, you gotta pay to play!

 

Better flow, less weight, better thermal properties. Looks nice too!
If Mazda would have used a lighter UIM, end plates and rotors, they could have shaved a lot lbs. off the engine.
There has to be a company that would be interested in making one for our cars, they have them for Honda's, why not FD's?

 

While we'd be willing to spend more money in the most part, there are about 10 modded civics out there for every FD. $$$$$

 

Right, the ratio is way in their favor, but we are willing to spend more (and have to) in order to get the parts we need.
I can't believe that none of the Japanese (Scoot, RE, FEED, etc...)places don't make one for our cars.
I wonder if someplace like J-Tech or Rotary Extreme could make some for us?

 

...one thing some of you seem to miss is that beyond being light and cool looking (and yeah, rediculously expensive) is how rediculously well you could form a manifold to optimize flow paths in a very convoluted shape: it's the same cost no matter how weird a shape you make it.

of course, that's some kinda work to get all that crap just right, but i'm just saying, it's a possibility with a pliable material like this.

 

I can't tell you that Scoot makes them for sure. I know that I did see a carbon fibre manifold on their 4 rotor car though. Also, if you find someone who works with composites then you could pay the cost up front for the mold. Whatever money you invest, you could easily make it back 100 fold if the design is right. I've been working on this project for about 9 months now. The flow charts that I have seen with AutoCad have been very inspiring. Plus the thermal properties or C/F are better than any other substance used to date. It is truly something to think about. If any of you would like to get in on this please let me know via PM and I will find a way to work things out. Laterz.

Zach

 

$1k. i have one that im trying to sell. its brand new with endtanks. the tanks arent even welded on yet. . . and theyre offset cast aluminum.


about the manifold. theres a guy with a datsun 510 with a rotary engine in it. he has a carbon fiber plenum. it can be done.

paul

 

Like i said earlier though, if you want it done right it takes initial capitol and a contract to buy a certain number of units. Someone could do it in their garage (carbon fiber isn't the hardest thing in the world to make, contrary to common belief) but it won't be of good cosmetic quality. You would probably want carbon layered fiber glass. Kind of industry standard for many decorative carbon peices. The weight savings between glass reinforced plastics and carbon reinforced plastics isn't enough compared to cost when you are talking about something like a plenum. maybe two-5-two carbon-glass-carbon? It is more of an artform than a science, remember that when calling people.

As far as getting down to flowing right...you will need to find a craftsman that can make a mold to those tolerances. Most anyone can make a mold, few can do it right physically and for the right price.