carbon fiber door panels?

[bonvo]

has anyone made them? how difficult was it whered do you get the materials?

[sssr20det510]

They sell them for a 510 on ebay now and i know you can buy a flat piece of carbon fiber on ebay and cut door panals out of them

[72240z]

Or make a mold and hand lay it.

[NorCalDime]

has anyone made them? how difficult was it whered do you get the materials?

 

that dude at the swap meet had them i believe. kinda pricy but hawt!

[bonvo]

yeah i was thinking it was eather cut um myself or hand lay them hand may would be the only way to do 610 pannels right considering they wrap pver the top of the door

[sanitys]

there are plenty of places that make CF sheets. you just have to cut to fit. Sometime in the future i wanted to do this...I talked with bre510 about it, here was he PM reply...give me a min to grab the PM and edit...

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by sanitys

hey man,

really like the door panels and kickers, was wondering if you did the work yourself, or what did it run you price wise? I dont see any mounting points so i assume you did it/had it done with factory mounts intact. My plans are to try and drop as much weight as I can, and the interior of the truck is crap so once i seen your cf setup i started doing research, however, the flat CF sheets that are between 1.5 and 3mm are just way to expensive, ive done fiberglass work, but not CF. Any more info regarding your setup would be greatly appreciated, thanks bud.

 

Ed

 

 

 

Hi Ed,

 

I found my source for the carbon fiber sheets I used through ebay. I contacted the supplier outside of ebay because the sheet sizes he had were too small. I explained to him what I needed and he cut the sheets of cf to size for me. It is not 100% cf all the way through just the top surface is cf and the back side is fiberglass I think. Total thickness of the sheet is around 3 mm. Once I got the correct sheet sizes. I used my existing door panels and kickers at templates and used a jig saw with a fine tooth blade to cut the door panels and kickers to shape. I ended up ordering 4 sheet and it cost around $280. It might be considered pricey but it is the look I wanted. I look on ebay to see if the guy I got it from was still there but I couldn't find him. I am out in Los Anglese and the guy I bought it from was out in San Diego. I tracked this website down... All I can suggest is call him and ask him to give you a quote. As far as mounting it. I installed it September last year with 3M double sided acrylic foam tape and is still holding good today. Hope this helps. If you have other questions, let me know. Lawrence

http://www.dagraphite.com/

 

 

hope that helps bonvo....

Edited August 7, 2009 by sanitys

[bonvo]

it does it makes alot of sence but then there is where my issue is my door panels arent flat the top curls around to form the inside of the door its not like a truck or 510 where the door panels stop and there is the painted metal ill try and get a pic of what im taling about

[MikeRL411]

I can't remember the specific firms, but several firms that offer thin exotic wood dash panel overlays also have carbon fiber printed decal sheets. If they were willing to sell large format shets you could fabricate a thin fiberboard or luan panel, seal coat it and apply the decal on top. Got to cost less than real Carbon Fiber sheets and no noxious fumes from the cement required to get good adhesion.

[72240z]

decals = fail.

For all that trouble just lay the real stuff imho. I could understand a little section or something like that but a whole door in decal? That's just tacky to me.

 

As expensive as it is to buy cf products the materials are very reasonably priced. You pay more for their time to make the part. For us ratsuners that's perfect as we have more time then money.

 

Not knocking you tying to help mike just my opinion on that.

[Bugeye]

what im doing with the 521 is "skinning" the dash pad and door panels. By skinning I am taking the org part and laying CF mats (kind of like fiberglass) and using the resin to seal it, its not a real CF Part, but it looks real, and its covered with real CF. Im just too lazy to make a mold of everything.

[72240z]

I was going to suggest that but I figured 610 panels were hard to find? With a spare set I think its a fine solution, not really lazy. To make a mold to use once (if you don't HAVE to) is a bit much.

[bonvo]

the problem is that my passenger side panels were distroied in the accedent so im looking to make carbon fiber replacements im thinking take a thin peice of aluminum sheet bend it to match the curve at the top then rivit it to some carbon fiber sheet that will be the rest of the panel what do you guys think?

[Hyphy]

The metal piece would retain a lot of heat from the sun so Id hope you dont plan on puttin your arm on it. But you could do that fairly easily. Id suggest some stainless steel for a better shine, but either would work. Id say rivet the CF and metal panels together, but I dont know how well itd hold up. A simple pop rivet isnt the best choice, youd wanna use old school rivets and a air hammer. Pop rivets leave too much on the back side.

[bonvo]

The metal piece would retain a lot of heat from the sun so Id hope you dont plan on puttin your arm on it. But you could do that fairly easily. Id suggest some stainless steel for a better shine, but either would work. Id say rivet the CF and metal panels together, but I dont know how well itd hold up. A simple pop rivet isnt the best choice, youd wanna use old school rivets and a air hammer. Pop rivets leave too much on the back side.

 

i was actually thinking about covering the metal with some thin foam and vinal like the original but instead of having the vinal attached to cardboard have the vinal end with the metal and have it go carbon fiber the rest of the way down

 

air hammer and old school rivits huh that should proove interesting :P

[xAH510x]

how about aluminum or just sheet metal panels any1 know where 2 get them?

[kmc63]

The only way to make a true c/f interior piece is to have a metal mold w/top and bottom heated to about 300 degrees farenheit. Or the other way is vacumm forming which would also require a mold of sorts. I can make the door panels,kick panels and such but they would have a thin layer of fiberglass under the carbon fiber. You see you need a great amount of pressure and heat to make a true carbon fiber piece. This is what I do for a living.

[hang_510]

that dude at the swap meet had them i believe. kinda pricy but hawt!

dave pare???

cant find his card, but you cant track him down from James Johnson.

 

 

 

how about aluminum ...?

i have a set for the rear, no F...

[72240z]

The only way to make a true c/f interior piece is to have a metal mold w/top and bottom heated to about 300 degrees farenheit. Or the other way is vacumm forming which would also require a mold of sorts. I can make the door panels,kick panels and such but they would have a thin layer of fiberglass under the carbon fiber. You see you need a great amount of pressure and heat to make a true carbon fiber piece. This is what I do for a living.

 

I respect that you do this for a living but really don't agree with your usage of "True Carbon Fiber". The primary reasons to vac form or heat pressure treat cf is for structural integrity, it's what makes structural cf so strong. Idk wtf that has to do with door panels that serve the main purpose of looks. Take cf cloth, pour resin over it, sand, polish, done, thats JUST as much "true" carbon fiber it's just not nearly as strong as the other methods.

[kmc63]

I respect that you do this for a living but really don't agree with your usage of "True Carbon Fiber". The primary reasons to vac form or heat pressure treat cf is for structural integrity, it's what makes structural cf so strong. Idk wtf that has to do with door panels that serve the main purpose of looks. Take cf cloth, pour resin over it, sand, polish, done, thats JUST as much "true" carbon fiber it's just not nearly as strong as the other methods.

It just seems like a great deal of waste,All that money for a finish look.Plus you are adding weight with the resin,and reaping none of the benefits of the c/f material.When properly cured a few layers of this stuff can stop a small caliber bullet. I guess its all in what you want.

[fo0manchu]

Thought I would chime in here. Carbon fiber prices are back down. I remember about a year or two ago, they were going for close to $70 for a 51"x36" piece of weave. You can now find them for around $50. I found some websites selling them for $40. This of course is for unlaid carbon. I would recommend trying to hand lay it. Just like fiberglass. You have to use an epoxy resin however, and that will cost more. Regular resins will fade and turn yellow over time. I have worked with fiberglass and carbon, building molds and custom speaker boxes.

 

You don't need to vacuum bag this as this is all for aesthetics. Adding weight by resin is negligible as it is a small piece and its not like building an airplane where structural integrity is important. The only time I see that heat and pressure is needed is when dealing with prepreg carbon fiber. If your hand laying then it is not needed.

 

Anywho, you can build a mold out of anything. You can even make a door panel mold out of wood since most datsun panels are flat. I used sheets of melamine I believe. where one side is shiney white, just like a dry erase board. Can be bought in sheets of 4x8' at home depot. Cut out your template, wax it. Next you can use some sort of release agent. For the DIY'er, i've seen people use vasoline. Next I would lay down a clear gel coat. If you skip this step you will notice that you will have a good amount of air bubbles on your finished product. But you can always spray a clear over it to cover it up. Next lay down the carbon, and resin over it. Add fiberglass or more carbon if you want to build it up more. Let it cure overnight. Trim, fit, finished.

 

Just as 72240z mentioned!

[72240z]

It just seems like a great deal of waste,All that money for a finish look.Plus you are adding weight with the resin,and reaping none of the benefits of the c/f material.When properly cured a few layers of this stuff can stop a small caliber bullet. I guess its all in what you want.

 

 

Well the are door panels, the main purpose they serve is looks. So by that logic ANY cf even heat treated, vac formed, impregnated cf is a "waste".

 

What benefits beyond looks should someone be gaining by using a cf process thats like 10x more expensive? In case you want to rob banks in the car or if you want to just for the hell of it mount some shelves to the panel? It requires very little structural integrity, as much as vinyl covered 1/4 particle board as a matter of fact, so I still say resin coated fabric is just fine. It's cost effective, easy enough for the diy'r, looks good, and never the less is stronger then the part it replaces.

 

Ya it's true to each their own. This is what I get when I apply my logic to it.

[kmc63]

I will probably make a few of these for my own rig.But the part im not sure about is my clearcoat resin. Should I let the clearcoat cure before I lay my carbon fiber? I want good adhesion between the clearcoat and the carbon fiber. I would like to hear from someone with this experience,not someone who just likes to argue.

[freekwonder]

I would love to have some dry c/f pieces in my interior. Sure I'm not racing, and compared to the stock pieces doesn't really drop weight, but it would look awesome.

[72240z]

I will probably make a few of these for my own rig.But the part im not sure about is my clearcoat resin. Should I let the clearcoat cure before I lay my carbon fiber? I want good adhesion between the clearcoat and the carbon fiber. I would like to hear from someone with this experience,not someone who just likes to argue.

 

I have done it many times and I argued it because you stated something completely ridiculous. You were wrong, get over it.....

 

Mr expert is asking this noob question now too? You "do this for a living" but don't know how to lay clear? Amazing.

[fo0manchu]

I will probably make a few of these for my own rig.But the part im not sure about is my clearcoat resin. Should I let the clearcoat cure before I lay my carbon fiber? I want good adhesion between the clearcoat and the carbon fiber. I would like to hear from someone with this experience,not someone who just likes to argue.

 

yes, let the gel coat cure first. Should kick fairly quick. For carbon, I've always had bad luck when I resin and then lay down the carbon. The weaves get all messed up(for me at least). So I would suggest rolling out the carbon and then resin over it and making sure enough resin makes it through to the other side.