I've seen a few people who do their own carbon fiber body work, i.e. 93ish mustang with CF roof, trunk, and soon to be entire car. I didn't know how light it was until the guy with the mustang talked about it, the roof was like 6lbs, and the trunk was around 4. But anyway, I was wondering if anyone here did their own work, and exactly how they do it, because most muscle cars don't have companys making CF panels for them.

 

how did he MAKE a roof? im sure he just had his covered. the structural integrity sure as hell would be lost.

remember carbon fiber is only stonger than steel POUND FOR POUND. that means 6lbs of sheet carbon fiber is stronger than 6 lbs of steel. not 6lbs of carbon fiber is stronger than a 50lbs roof that has structure

 

i wouldnt get a carbon fiber roof..thats just doesnt seem to safe..now hood, trunk lid, fenders, bumpers stuff like that yea..but not the roof

 

Carbon fiber is sooo cool on the mustangs....whoo.

 

i thought i was the only one who thought that

 

Not to mention that doing CF work is VERY time consuming, difficult and requires several thousands of dollars in tooling. For good CF work that will last, be good looking and actually serve a purpose, the mixing tolerances are EXACTING, the wetting process very strictly controlled, the part vacuum bagged, often times chilled, then in post production it is baked or cured at a specific temp for a predefined time. It's exhausting. It costs a good bit of dough. I used to build racing monocoques of all types using CF and nomex honeycomb; it takes a great deal of time to develop the skills in working effectively with CF. It ain't just fiberglass. For those that want to give it a shot, though, try here: Fibreglast

John

 

Well, he was going all CF because it was a flatout race car. Had a rollcage, and he was going for under 2,000lbs on it. Hence being a racecar, it actually needs the lighter weight unlike all these faggy civics who think it will make their car run 10's.

Anywho, king_john, thanks for the info.

 

That's for structure parts like your monocoque chasis. Fenders and such wouldn't require the same specs.

 

I wouldn't use body parts that were not post baked, because the process makes the finish more UV resistent and protects the part from becoming brittle over time. Vacuum bagging gets the finish smoother and more consistent, as well. The purpose of using CF is for lightweight yet strong material; to get it smooth without a vacuum bag, you need more resin that can actually make the part considerably heavier than it needs to be and more brittle. All in all, unless the car is for rice instead of race, only top grade CF parts are worth buying. Otherwise, just buy fiberglass knock-offs.

John