Guide on how to make carbon fibre/fiber car parts (ITB trumpets)

Had a couple of questions about how i have made some carbon fibre bits and bobs on my car so i thought i would put up a little guide with pics showing you the basics.

I have decided to use a carbon fibre trumpet to demonstrate, this is nice and small but shows how to create shape and moulds.


Finished carbon trumpet

 

Nice job!

Where do you buy the carbon cloth from for a decent price?

Gurds

 

i bought it local but these guys are pretty cheap and will sell everything you need.

 

Would this be the GRP matting suitable for making panels/interior bits and bobs or would you want the thinner stuff? Which resin would be needed?
http://www.ecfibreglasssupplies.co.uk/store/-c-42_314.html
Cheers
James

 

Chopped strand mat is good stuff but only when used in correct places, it offers lots of stiffness and rigidity but it is heavy and quite thick. I only use this stuff to make the moulds from because of the above and it is cheap.

I would use the woven mat for wings.

 

Probably worth mentioning that you need some good rubber gloves when working with the weave as the resin gets everywhere !

As usual, great guide !!

The laquer makes a huge difference to the finished appearance, good idea.

 

Fantastic guide!!! thanks for doing it.
Can this be made a sticky as i'm sure alot of people would like to see this.

 

great info

 

nice guide

 

fantastic, i need some of that in my life

 

Done.

 

Its threads like these that make this forum a great place to be, WELL DONE, Im very impressed,
Brian.

 

www.cfsnet.co.uk also sells fairly reasonable carbon fibre supplies inc resins.

sweet guide

 

A question about Carbon Fibre bonnets, I've seen loads of them that remain the same look but I'm wondering if they can be painted to match the body as I wouldn't like the look of it on the front of my car (think it looks tacky on some cars) so would want to match it to the rest of the car as if it was just metal but have the reduced weight benefits.

 

They can be painted, in fact a fair few supercars (the more extreme ones) have carbon panels which are then painted.
You can also paint it with a much thinner layer than you would usually so you can see the weave through the paint but without having the colour of the carbon fibre.

 

Top work Tom

Sticky/FAQ? If it needs moving, let us know

 

Just to follow this up a little bit here is the finished set of ram pipes mounted to the ITB's.

Hope you like.

 

that is superb, did you make the backing plate too?

could it be used to make door cards or speaker pods? how strong is it once made?

 

The backing plate was made from 5 layers of carbon, it is about 1.5mm thick with good ridgity, you can easily make door cards (just need to work out how thick you would want it.) then lay it all up on a very flat and smooth surface - i use an of cut of kitchen work top as it is very smooth giving a great finish plus it takes little in the way of prep, just a smear of release agent and it popes of easily.

Door cards are agin a thumbs up, you just need to first amke a good plug and then a mould, once the mould is made you can make as many as possiable.

 

Not bad I suppose...