By stevieturbo - 12/7/2014 4:29:03 PM
Newbie, but been browsing for a while. I have virtually no experience with this sort of work though.Hopefully post isnt too long winded. Not so much for weight reasons, but rust and lack of availability I want to try and make some parts for my car, old MK2 Ford Granada. I was going to start with a pair of wings/fenders, but might do bonnet/hood first for reasons below. I had previously had a single skin kevlar bonnet made for me and I still have this mould ( gel/fibreglass mould ). It's been sitting for a few years but looks in fairly good order, although I need to clean it up and change a couple of parts, as well as clean up some scrapes. Bonnet however took flight at speed a few months back and didnt land too well lol I think I've a grasp on making a carbon bonnet ok, but my first query is about the chrome strip at the front. It's a small part, maybe 12-15mm tall at the middle section, and maybe 5mm thick ? Only about 8mm tall at either side. It's metal and bolts to the front edge of the bonnet. After the flight, I have only 1 of these left on the car, and sourcing another would be nearly impossible. I'm not bothered that the CF part wont be chrome of course. But I want the original shape retained always. Steel bonnet below.  Given I have a working mould for a plain flat bonnet/hood with no front trim....would it be worth be butchering this to integrate the front trim as one piece with the bonnet ? Is cutting up an existing mould and modifying simple ? The mould would easily be 8-9 years old. Or how easy/strong would the small chrome part be, if I tried to replicate this in carbon on it's own ? And then just bond it to any new bonnet. The kevlar bonnet despite being very strong, did a serious amount of flexing at speed, especially the front edge. So this needs to be taken into account with a small part that's bonded on. I want to make a pair of wings/fenders as well, and around the front edges these have similar thin chrome trims. Again I'd be happy to integrate these as 1 piece with the wing. But I'd be making those moulds from scratch. All thoughts welcome...I'm tending to think modify the existing mould so it's all 1 piece will be strongest and best long term solution ? Bonnet will be painted, so external CF finish isnt super critical. For strengthening the new part, what is a preferred ? ie to form a carbon box section through the part via the layers. Some sort of foam square section ? other ? |
By stevieturbo - 12/8/2014 3:45:56 PM
I did see it thanks, none are anything like the piece on the car.
I'd sooner remove it altogether than put something on that isnt the correct shape. But then I'd need to remove all other corresponding trim too...and I will not be doing either of those. As said, original shape must be retained one way or another, even if eventually the finish isnt exactly chrome anymore. If a separate piece it will just be as a backup if the original ever gets damaged. If I do integrate it with the bonnet and wings when I make CF replacements for them, I'll suffer it not being shiny chrome anymore because of this. I can stick some sort of chrome tape over it which will be close enough visually. I'm not looking for alternatives. I'm looking what is the best option for making a replacement from CF and I am leaning towards making it 1 piece with the bonnet, even at the risk of damaging the existing mould I have by cutting it up to do so.
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