Who wants Carbon Fiber?

[BR3W CITY]

As I oft do, I was meandering through random local business listings on SEMA and found a listed CF manufacturer only a few minutes from my house....Well, it turns out they build structural and aestetic parts for motorsports!

They exist basically via word-of-mouth (same way I do), and only take on projects they like (same as I do). Naturally, we hit it off and I toured their shop and spoke to a few techs. The work is insanely high quality, and their pricing seems very fair (keeping in mind the relatively high costs to play ball with carbon).

Anyway, they agreed to work with me on anything that "we" as a racing-truck community might want. Fenders, hoods, whole front ends, wings, etc. I provide them with a stock part or modified custom base, they make a CF replica, and I get it back for final fitment (or adding metal bosses, tapping, other assembly).

I'm starting off with some simple low-investment parts; a few sets of custom exhaust/dump trim panels, misc interior stuff. BUT I wanted to extend the offer to my fellow enthusiasts if anyone wants to do larger stuff (either one-off or for production/sale).

Here's a random cast-off plate I took as a sample, then forgot in my trunk for a week (excuse the scratches, thats my fault).

[gomeez63]

yeah a whole complete truck would be awwesome

[BigDan3131]

How about a 15" version of the stock steering wheel for my 65 GMC? That way I can reuse my stock horn button and its strong enough for my no power steering.

[BR3W CITY]

You'd have to have an existing version of the thing for me to have them mold and make a carbon version. I.e. getting a bumper, door, dash pieces etc.

I'm tempted to ask how much a pair of stepside fenders would cost in carbon....I just think that would look wild.

[truckster]

I've long thought a carbon fiber Blazer top would be nice. I have no idea how expensive it might be.

[BR3W CITY]

Originally Posted by truckster

I've long thought a carbon fiber Blazer top would be nice. I have no idea how expensive it might be.

Like a skin for racing, or a fully-braced top (like stock replacement)?

Best guess around $4k, but thats gonna depend on the tooling/mold cost largely. If your seriously interested, I can get some dimensions and see what it would run.

[dustin72]

A 4" carbon hood that FITS would be killer.

[BR3W CITY]

Originally Posted by dustin72

A 4" carbon hood that FITS would be killer.

Like I mentioned above, give me a base and I can make it happen. If you have a 4" fiberglass or metal hood that fits, I can have it made into carbon (skin or full braced).

[BR3W CITY]

Decided to play with some of that sheet/plate they gave me.

Cheap carbon has uneven res thickness/smoothness, and often has cheap quality reinforcing materials (in the colored and "Special" weaves on ebay), and sometimes has badly laid weave that splinters or cuts poorly...and good luck sanding it.

Thankfully, this had NONE of those issues. The weave held up great, and even when using less-than-ideal cutting tools, always reacted predictably. This stuff didn't have the "melty" resin, so it wasn't gumming up cutting discs, and could be sanded down nicely even on the finest grits if a little water was used.

I just need to figure out how to minimize the tiny but of blowout the screw holes get. I had blue tape on it, but I' still got a very small amount on each hole. Not sure if my drill speed was too high/low, my bit was crap or what. I've sandwiched fiberglass between wood before to help with blowout, so maybe thats an option? For now I'll just carefully sand them just slightly.

[ptc]

If you have a Bridgeport mill (or something similar) try using an small end mill bit and 'drill' a hole. When your coming thru the backside go very slow. Then end mill your circle larger as needed. That usually works pretty well for fiberglass or carbon... especially the cheap stuff!

[BR3W CITY]

Unfortunately I don't. All I've got is regular drills, and a very old 2 speed drill press.
I did these with the regular hand drill, not really knowing how it would react. Carbon is plenty stiff, but when sanding and drilling, it feels quite soft.

I went back with a small needle file and cleaned the holes up which worked fine, but I'd like to figure out a way to drill various hole sizes cleanly without having to hand file all the holes (they never get "perfect" after ya mess with them by hand imo).

[BR3W CITY]

Figured I'd detail my experience messing with it. Fun, dirty, fairly satisfying yet relentlessly frustrating to perfect.

You Tube

You Tube

[ptc]

Came out pretty nice! Good Job!

My own choice would be to cover that whole lower panel and pop ZOOMIES out of there!!!!

[ptc]

So for something relatively flat and with a couple bends (like an inner fender panel) totally made out of carbon fiber from a single sheet can they heat it and bend it to form it????

or does it have to be molded and made from a form or jig?

[BR3W CITY]

Thanks PTC. As far as I'm aware, the carbon has to be laid/molded to your needs based off a buck/jig of the original part or a custom mold. Once the resin cures on the sheet, its hard and thats pretty much it. I'd think that heating the resin enough to make the sheet flexible would probably cause some weakening in the chemical bond of the resin. I'd be afraid once its's heated that it would stay soft or become brittle like plastics after heating. The carbon is stiff, and I'd think once you got more than a few degrees of flexion into it, it would just snap/shear.

If the shape can be made of compound flat pieces (basically, geometric shapes like air boxes), then it can be cut and glued, riveted or mechanically attached.

Basically, it acts like fiberglass in terms of the cutting and shaping process.