Carbon Fiber Bodywork

Now if I could get some fenders, hood, trunklid, rear quarter panels, sail panels, floor boards, trunk floor, and door skins for my 71 Chevelle made out of that stuff I could forget about the rest of the rust.

THAT would look interesting! A carbon front clip for the A body cars, Hmmmmm, it would definately be a head turner on my 72 Elky too........

It sure would look good on the Elky. Do I have ya thinking yet?

oh yeah!one of them ss hoods done up in carbon fiber for my 1966 chevelle malibu would sure look good!!!hehe :lol: .

leon

porchev914 wrote:

Thanks Mark, I did read through Roys thread last night. The only problem is that he is simply wrapping existing parts with composites, while I'm making completely new parts. Completely different animals My vacuum pump is optional, but it makes the tightest, lightest most compacted laminates. Talented though he is, the issues I'm facing are not ones that Roy had to deal with. Are there any other long lost composite threads?

yes i realize your task is much more complicated. i just wasnt sure if roy may have more experience with other projects such as yours that were not aware of? i certainly will point u to anything helpful that i may come across.
Good luck.

You know Mark, I didn't even think to ask the guy :blush: I was thinking that if it wasn't in his thread, he didn't know how to do it. Kinda short sighted of me. I believe I have a handle on my remaining issues. Leon(Blackbanshee) has lent me a hand and is shipping me some material to make the remaining molds, as well as some peel ply to replace my perforated release film. I'm not going to wast another $15 of carbon fiber on another layup until I have the peel ply. Once I have that, I'll turn down the heat and try it again. If all goes well with the next sidecover, I probably won't laminate anymore unless someone asks for one, and focus on making the molds for the right cover and the tail. Maybe one for the headlight bucket.... and the gauge covers..... :laugh:

porchev914 wrote:

531blackbanshee wrote:

all things considered(shop radio and all :laugh: )that doesn't sound to pricey in comparison to what we spend on other custom stuff.it is right around the price where it would make more sense to me to pay you as to spend the time and money to do it myself.
it is like after i got my shop all set up to fabricate and machine.i was like "now i can build anything i want"but i have found that sometimes it is a better use of my time to just buy some stuff and make the things i can't buy.
you get to the point where can i make it?yes
should i make it?not if it will take 8 hours and i can buy it for fourty.
i have my cousins 76 kz900 that i am building in tribute/memory of him as we had started building his 1075 motor when he was killed in a motorcyle wreck.i am now finishing it and am building it into a slammed knuckledragging pro-streeter the way he would have wanted it.he would have crapped his pants over your covers,so if you decide to build some for sale please put me on the list of people wanting to buy them from you.a tailpiece as well if you decide to do those.
keep up the good work,

leon

Damn Leon, thats a as good a reason as I can think of to build a bike. I AM going to do a tail piece. You're at the top of the list bro

Hey, guys, I can relate on building a tribute KZ900 (WmsKaw = William's Kaw... my name is Charlie... see also Fallen Riders from about two years ago). I'm glad to see you're inspired to do a tail. You guys rock!!! BTW porchev, For what you're putting into making a truly unique one-off piece (shop radio and all) I concur with Leon, that's actually quite reasonable. Keep us posted as to if/when you have these up for sale... I'm absolutely interested! :woohoo:

You got it Charlie you're #2 on the list. Just keep an eye on this thread, and you'll know when I've succeeded. I'll work with those of you that really want a set, then I'll try to keep a set listed in the classifieds. For the purpose of this thread, and to keep the mods from frowning on it, this is a do it yourself project and for information purposes only

I myself am partial to the KZ1300 sound. For obvious reasons.

OK, ok otakar. I admit, that sounds pretty sweet too man :woohoo: Does your Kz1300 sound like that?

As far as the project, I've discovered (the hard way) that it's probably better to spray the tooling gelcoat rather than brush it. The only problem was I didn't have a gelcoat gun, and the cheapest gelcoat specific gun is $135
Then I remembered an industrial (undercoating I believe) spray gun I bought off ebay for $10 5 years ago. I never even hooked it up to an airhose until yesterday! It is a siphone feed gun designed for a remote pot, but I just had the gun. Luckily the thread for the feed is standard 3/4" npt, so I picked up a reducer to 1/2" and a 1/2" barb, and some 1/2" i.d. poly pick up tubing.

I tested it with water, and it worked fine.....now with gelcoat...I have my fingers crossed!

For those of use with trouble visualizing things in the abstract, I did my best to take a pic of the 1st sidecover I made while holding it up to the bike. It's still kinda hard to get the big picture, what whith everything else missing, but it might help some of you see the light :laugh:

porchev914 wrote:

For those of use with trouble visualizing things in the abstract, I did my best to take a pic of the 1st sidecover I made while holding it up to the bike. It's still kinda hard to get the big picture, what whith everything else missing, but it might help some of you see the light :laugh:

"You talkin' to me!"



I'm trying to visualize how that CF will fit into your paint scheme. Or have you changed your plans for the warbird inspired paint?

Otto, thanks for the killer KZ1300 video. That bike sounds incredible too. I was looking for a good quality video of the sound of a 1300 when I posted the CBX vids. That guy was hustling that big bike around Spa. Not bad for a 700lb bike. I will have a six cylinder bike some day. It also sounds just like an old Jag or an Aston set up for racing. Love the straight six sound.