I decide that my first carbon fiber project will be flat door panels for my FB.

ive had the carbon fiber (3 yards x 50 inches) sitting in my house since winter along with resin and tooling gel. havnt had much time or motivation to take a crack at making anything with it but now that im recently unemployed, i now have the time =)

i attached a picture of my door, im still undecided how im going to attach the panel to id and what im going to do for a handle

and i attached a picture of the sheet metal im going to use to lay the carbon fiber on, im thinking of screwing it to a peice of plywood to make it as flat as possible, one question would wax be good enough for a mold release?

open to questions, comments, helpful advise and constructive criticism

 

I'd love to see this come together, I'm gonna be making sheet metal ones at some point for my car so I'd like to see how you come about the fitting and fastening.

As far as fastening, I think simple plastic push pins with the removable center would be clean and simple, they are the ones that you push in then push in on the center and it expands and holds it in place, easy to remove and easy to replace...most commonly found on fender liners and under trays on new cars.

For the handle/pull, I think the stock handle would be fine just with a hole and slot cut so the panel can be slipped over hte mounting tab and then the handle can be reassembled. You could also find a place like where an open bolt hole is and mount a tab and pull strap to it then cut a small enough slit in it for the strap to come through, clean and mounting is hidden.

 

I was going to do this, instead went with modifying stock to match my seats. Here's a couple pics I was using for ideas. Handle, porsche style. Mounting is just some screws with black washers.

 

im liking the strap idea! and also the push pin mounting idea.

did some measurements earlier, 19"x42" will be the rough panel size before i cut the angles. pretty much my whole roll of fiber if i make the sheets 3 layers thick. making me nervous cuz there really isnt much room for mess ups. i had the idea of making them 2 layers with one layer of fiberglass just so i can make them bigger. idk, im gunna sleep on it overnight

 

that peice of sheet metal i posted a pic of is just a bit bigger then the door panel and is quite heavy, id suggest making them out of aluminum sheets if your going to make them

 

This could turn out really cool. Subscribed.

 

pull handles (best deal I could find)
http://www.sierramadrecollection.com..._detail&p=2353

carbon fiber and carbon/glass sheets
http://www.jerrybickel.com/carbon-fiber-products-1.html
You can order by the square foot, and it's relatively cheap.

 

Love Those Red straps!! i already have the fiber so im good on that.

so i was going to form the sheets on top of that sheet metal i have but i read that the resin/hardener will react to it and could potentially catch on fire! =/ seems i need to find a large sheet of glass.

 

I did the exact same thing about 8 years ago for an FB I had for a DD. I ended up using all the stock handles and even put the lower carpet covered pocket thing back on and the top edge after I recovered it.(Use motorcycle seat vinyl, it stretches in two directions easier)

One tip though, go with glass for your lay up sheet. Find a place that sells used building stuff and buy an old sliding door. It will be perfectly smooth and the edges are protected buy the door frame so it can be stored easy. You can also look underneath through the glass for bubbles in the CF/resin. Getting rid of them will be your hardest part unless you vacuum bag it... but that is a little more advanced.

Get actual mold release wax, about $10 a tin IIRC but it will handle the heat.

I used a layer of CF and then a layer of 1.5 oz matte to back it up. Otherwise it will be strong but razor sharp on the edges. Also, get surfboard resin. It has UV protection in it so your CF will survive.

To hold it on I used the few screws that handle needed and velcro. Velcro gets tighter with vibration and it keeps the parts far enough apart to stop rattles.

 

i have been wanting to try this myself...and if you can get good at it there is so much potential

 

Good luck! I would love to do this... I just wish I didn't have all that electrical window crap. Seriously, why do people think its so hard to roll down a damn window?!

 

can anybody make one for my fd plz?

 

Good stuff

 

Any updates? Would be very interested in the results.

 

m wanting to do some custom panels for my fc. wanting to use the nylon strap to pop the door but haven't figured out how to fix the locking mechanism....unless i keep the stock one, but that wouldn't be as "cool"

 

i totally flaked on this idea, and now i don't even own a fb, I just have my fc and still have that roll of carbon fiber sitting in my closet

 

Interesting. how do you plan on making cf panel sit flush to the door ?
I'll be cheering

 

In the first pic I posted, you can see the panel was cut to right below where the sheet metal flares out. Looks perfect there to me. No need to mess with any resin unless you really want to wrap the whole door. Flat panels are easy to locate.

Carbon/Glass Sheet JBRC2122

 

nice