Carbon Fiber Bodywork

So I figure I have come this far, whats a little extra time and money to do it right? My friend let me borrow his vacuum creator, vacuum gauge and some suction cups. I picked up the rest of the materials today including some epoxy resin and some 6 oz cloth. Gonna give it a try tomorrow and see how things come out!

vacuum bag attempt #2

Looks great from where im sitting! What happened to attempt #1? Are you using polyester or epoxy resin this time around? I see a little space heater next to you mould. Keep in mind that heat will make any small entrapped air bubbles grow in size..... I have more than one part that I messed up with a space heater. Did you still use a gelcoat on this part?

Attempt number one was a [strike]bust[/strike] learning experience. I had trouble getting the bag to seal because I had sprayed the PVA over the whole mold so the sticky tape stuff was just pulling off, by the time I got the bag sealed it was mostly cured and didn't work out well. It was also too flexible except where the coremat was. This time I used a 2:1 epoxy resin with 6oz,6oz,10oz,10oz,10oz,6oz, no gel coat. thanks for the heater tip, it is now OFF, its only been on it for an hour or so. Hopefully this one comes out nice, It went much smoother than the other. the compressor running nonstop in my basement is probably going to drive me insane :blink:

There are a few small bubbles in the corners of some of the harder edges, but otherwise i think it came out pretty good, not perfect, but i could probably try For another month and not get it perfect, so I guess I'm drawing the line here. Its much thinner and final weight was 1#5oz.

Are you happier with that last tail than you were with your first one Vic? It's less than half the weight, and probably stronger too! :woohoo: Ecellent work my friend. You did much better than I did in a lot shorter period of time The tail looks good from where I'm sitting, so patch up the small bubbles and paint it! It'll look great I'm pleased when someone can learn from my mistakes

Adam

Adam, your mistakes have been invaluable, they allowed someone like me who had almost no experience with fiberglass and make a tail piece my first time. And yes, definitely a lot happier than my first attempt, but I started thinking about the rear mount and rigidity... and then this happened. :whistle:

Oh MY that looks NICE. So good enough wasn't good enough, and you had to try another attempt? Careful, its a slippery slope! :whistle: I hope I didn't steer you wrong,and it looks like you have learned from every mistake I could have pointed out to you. It looks like a flawless finish in the pic, though I know that you can't see every imperfection in a picture. You will be making better parts than me in no time! Now all you need to do is buy a yard or two of carbon fiber cloth and you'll be styling! Whats the plan for the rear mount? I agonized over it for quite some time before I settled on a solution. I'm interested to see how you figure to solve yours. Since it's a total custom, you have more leeway in your solution. Keep up the good work Vic!

Adam

I wanted to keep the rear mount as simple as possible, you can check it out on my build thread

I did see your rear mount solution in your build thread, thanks for pointing us to it. To answer your questions from a week or two ago Vic, I measured my fiberglass tail thickness at an average of .040" thick (not in the coremat section) and a trimmed weight of 10.1 ounces. I expect a completed tail to be around there....we'll see once I procure another Z1 tail to cut up for the bottom moulds.

Hey Adam,

I have a Z1 tail that has a small crack in it. You find one yet?

Hi Mark! Another member did offer to give me a cracked Z1 tail for the cost of shipping from Canada, but it would be cheaper and easier for me to pick one up from you. Are you gonna be around Jan 1st? Im going to be in Hesperia on new years eve, and can swing down and get the tail on the way home.