Hi guys, 

We are participating in the shell Eco marathon competition where we manufacture fuel efficient cars.

Due to rule changes for the 2019 season, we are now required to have a door on each side of the car. So we are now required to make a door on the other side of our current vehicle.

I was wondering if anyone has any suggestion on how we can cut the shape of the door and then put the part we cut back in its place and add a hinge to it ?

The main issue is that if we cut the door we will have a tiny gap when we put it back again, anyone got any idea how we can fix that ?

The body is made from carbon fiber and epoxy resin, manufactured by resin infusion technique.

As a simple fix to get a recessed lip around the door, cut the door out, using flash tape or polypropylene parcel tape tape over the inside of the door around the edges (so the resin doesn't stick.),  Tape the door back in to place from the outside.  Wet lay up a flange on the inside on the body and overlapping onto the tape on the door.  Allow to cure, remove door and tidy up the rough flange, cut it to uniform size and sand any flash off and shape it so the door sits nicely on the flange. 

You could go further by bonding some strip a few mm thick onto the inside of the door before covering in tape and laminating the flange.  That way the flange would be recessed further than the door and you could then use some foam strip on the flange to give a nice seal around the door.


Warren Penalver
Easy Composites / Carbon Mods - Technical Support Assistant