Interresting as usual. Like the fact that you also show us, when things don't go to plan. The car's getting more shape (beautiful !) now. Looking forward to your next video !
Looks like you're trying to do the Lotus VARI process. I did this work for years, making carbon car parts. What we did was to lay the carbon wet, then place the peel ply, nylon fluff then strechalon. The nylon fluff allowed plenty of air transfer. We also put a 4mm honeycomb core in and another couple of layers of carbon over that. Wet it all out then bagged it. Totally superior panel finish and strength.
I will probably be able to add a few tweaks to get the infusion to work on the passenger seat, but a wet lay up and then bagging it would work as well. Just need some Sloooww epoxy! Thanks for the input.
I’ve had infusion fails and trials myself. I’ve learned a bigger feed line and stronger vacuum helps. Also I think spiral wrap only across the bottom instead of all the way around and infuse one end to the other. Every specific shape seems to have its own challenges though. I like how it turned out and it looks great in the car!
Man oh man ran into your channel because I'm looking to get into composites, awesome video, when you had the dry spots, in the first mold, I felt your pain😂😂, I'll stick along for the ride, looks like a cool project 🎉
I’m not sure you can legally make and use your own seats on the street in Australia. They need to meet safety standards. Would probably be defected in most states
Cool person , thanks for sharing.. I can making side cover for my electric motorcycle 🔋⚡ project.. using carbon , vacuum methods❤ .. cheers from Ukraine 🇺🇦
Greetings, -Well it looks like I am at the end of this party and the candles have been blown out and all the cake has been eaten. The car is almost finished I guess, so I will find the beginning and start again. I have recently wondered how carbon fiber was put together as I wanted to buy a carbon fiber hood for my 1986 911 RestoMod-Outlaw. The search started about a year ago and stopped, then started and stopped. The company had them, not now, yes but we ran out and are not making new ones. - In the end I contacted “Singer” car company which modifies 964 (I think this year) and uses a lot of c.f.They couldn’t sell me a hod (makes sense) and couldn’t tell me who made their c.f. (makes sense) but the internet hold all Truths (not really but it sound good right here) and I found the company that made their c.f. I now had hopes of getting a c.f. hood. The company in L.A. was so nice and friends and didn’t treat me like a poor guy; they just answered my questions, told me how c.f. was made. I give them a hood for their templet, $10,000 and I get my hood. Then they said for a small amount of money they could reproduce as many c.f. for a small amount and I could make a lot of money. I sell them for $3-4000. BUT I am older and not driven by money. To me money is just o.k. Time is my currency and I want more of it. BUT I can see into the future when I won’t care about more time and would like to see it run out :-) Carbon Fiber continues. I went to Luft8 in Long Beach, CA and saw a car like mine in the parking lot. Left him a note, he told me where he bought the c.f. hood but the company quite making them about a year ago. I contact them in case there had an extra in the back room. No. But learned the difficulty of making the c.f. strands look right in the right position. I have an all black car. The exterior is all black along with the 3 piece one of a kind rims. Interior all new black leather (front glass out for “A” pillar leather wrap) with silver stitching, carpet Porsche 356 square weave charcoal black (charcoal color as too much black in the cap and it is like a dark cave. SOLUTION TO THE C.F. I had a company in Oregon (near you) wrap the hood with carbon fiber; like the wrap they put on the exterior of cars. It came out so REAL, so PERFECT. Now I have a c.f. hood look. The reason why I wanted a c.f. hood was to loosen the BLACKNESS of my car. I have many details on my car that look so like factory that people don’t even notice them. At PCA Werks Reunion in Monterey, CA last year several people came by my car when I didn’t have the c.f. hood an I heard them say things like, “Great looking black car, I have seen that type of bumper, etc.”. I stopped them and showed them what they had missed and assumed incorrectly. Most said something like wow! You have a good voice, explain what you are doing well, it makes sense, and you show how it was done. I will be back but start at beginning. “A garage without a Porsche is just a dark hole” - Walter Rohrl -Porsche Development
Not sure that I could trust those bolt heads not to rip through the fibreglass on impact. Would of thought a flat bar frame connecting each bolt under the fibreglass would be safer. But of course you're the expert and I'm in awe of your build. Great video.
I looked up "real" forged CF and you seem to have missed the High Compression inside/outside high heat metal molds. Chopped up CF and a vacuum bag is not "Forged"....this is so half assed
Glad to see you back Richard Smith; we've missed you and your criticism. By the way, what is going on in your life that leaves you so bitter? Something we could help with?
kind of weird that you never show us a view of the entire side profile of the car.I've watched several of your video's and I have no idea what the car looks like.I appreciate your considerable talent but not showing the look of the thing seems more like a common sense issue.
Could you possibly make 3D moulds using CAD files online and using those to make your carbon fibre parts more precise? Or would this take too long in building each part?
hi there, i saw you mixed the foam for the base of the seat, then you mentioned you used a "microspheres slurry" to smooth out the foam. may i have the information on the names of those 2 products? and where you purchased them? microspheres slurry and the foam mix?
two part urethane foam, commonly used in boat building- most composites suppliers sell it. The slurry is made by thickening epoxy resin with microspheres (Q-cells) also available through most composites suppliers (try USCompsites.com)
HaHa- my late wife used to tease me because I made the same kind of face that you do when I was working on a project. I'm sure every guy has his own peculiar grimace.
another tip for finding out where to drill holes for your seat... put dome nuts on the bolts in the seat. put some bearing blue or paint on the ends, can be tricky if theres some moving around to get the right position. alternatively you can make threaded pointed nuts, for lack of a better description, depending on how sharpe you need them, probably the floor would scratch to much. but basically when you have the spot the bolt needs to go, give the piece a tap or a bump and it should leave the indent of where the bolt has to go. I Do like the stick method tho.
Why didn't you cast channels for racing harnesses into the seats? You decided you only want 3 point seat belts? Also, wouldn't an aluminum sheet cast into the bottom provide a stronger anchor point for the bolts? I've considered building similar carbon fiber/kevlar seats for an electric sports car I'm building and want to make sure in event of an accident that the seat stays bolted to the car floor.
If it makes it past testing on the road we will then consider taking the car to the track. When that time comes there will probably be more than seats that change.
I have always wondered, did you make any calculations on how would car behave in case of crash ? I mean, how would it deform, how would crash affect occupants and their space, or for example how safe would be those composite seats meaning, won`t they break and hurt passenger under peak stress ? How do you exactly know how many carbon fiber/glass fiber layers do you need for such structures so they won`t take apart and that they provide enough strength in some extreme situations ? Anyway, interesting project :)
Well, the seats attachment means little unless you have the safety restraint system mounted to them. Few manufacturers do that and rely instead on the SRS to be bolted directly to the chassis. (Monocoque tub in my case). As for crash simulation software - not even the DOT allows crash simulation and wants the real thing (crash test). I guess, I will be going by the seat of my pants (pun is intended). Ha!
Thank you so much for including the "fail'. (I'm sorry it happened to you but sharing it helps us.) Do you think more vacuum ports in potential trouble spots with a way to cutoff flow towards ones that are already seeing too much resin flow would help?
After I did the dash piece in regular cloth it was a little disappointing compared to the air intake at the turbos; the forged carbon really popped! Now everything will be "forged". . . .well, most of the trim anyway!
You have the patience of a SAINT sir! When the vaccuform bag failed the timelapse would've showed me throwing the whole thing out the window! 😂 ~Thanks for showing me what you can accomplish with patience, love this series!
Been a while but glad to see you building you Super Car.
Interresting as usual. Like the fact that you also show us, when things don't go to plan. The car's getting more shape (beautiful !) now. Looking forward to your next video !
I do edit out the swearing though. Ha!
Looks like you're trying to do the Lotus VARI process. I did this work for years, making carbon car parts. What we did was to lay the carbon wet, then place the peel ply, nylon fluff then strechalon. The nylon fluff allowed plenty of air transfer. We also put a 4mm honeycomb core in and another couple of layers of carbon over that. Wet it all out then bagged it. Totally superior panel finish and strength.
I will probably be able to add a few tweaks to get the infusion to work on the passenger seat, but a wet lay up and then bagging it would work as well. Just need some Sloooww epoxy! Thanks for the input.
I’ve had infusion fails and trials myself. I’ve learned a bigger feed line and stronger vacuum helps. Also I think spiral wrap only across the bottom instead of all the way around and infuse one end to the other. Every specific shape seems to have its own challenges though. I like how it turned out and it looks great in the car!
Yep, you try to guess how things will flow, but sometimes you just have to see and then correct the deficiencies!
an autoclave would solve it but who the hell can afford that?
Man oh man ran into your channel because I'm looking to get into composites, awesome video, when you had the dry spots, in the first mold, I felt your pain😂😂, I'll stick along for the ride, looks like a cool project 🎉
It's nice to see the coming together in each video. Can't wait to see the finished product one day!
I’m not sure you can legally make and use your own seats on the street in Australia. They need to meet safety standards. Would probably be defected in most states
I check your channel regularly for updates. You gave us three today. Thank you! You have one of the best channels on TH-cam, it's worth the wait!
I'll try not to fit to many empty days between the wait. Ha!
Cool person , thanks for sharing.. I can making side cover for my electric motorcycle 🔋⚡ project.. using carbon , vacuum methods❤ .. cheers from Ukraine 🇺🇦
Sounds like a great project to make the motorcycle personalized. Hope all is well with you.
Easy Composites LTD will help you do not screw up)
Great to see you back! 3 videos posted in a row? Our cup runneth over!
Greetings,
-Well it looks like I am at the end of this party and the candles have been blown out and all the cake has been eaten. The car is almost finished I guess, so I will find the beginning and start again.
I have recently wondered how carbon fiber was put together as I wanted to buy a carbon fiber hood for my 1986 911 RestoMod-Outlaw. The search started about a year ago and stopped, then started and stopped. The company had them, not now, yes but we ran out and are not making new ones.
- In the end I contacted “Singer” car company which modifies 964 (I think this year) and uses a lot of c.f.They couldn’t sell me a hod (makes sense) and couldn’t tell me who made their c.f. (makes sense) but the internet hold all Truths (not really but it sound good right here) and I found the company that made their c.f. I now had hopes of getting a c.f. hood.
The company in L.A. was so nice and friends and didn’t treat me like a poor guy; they just answered my questions, told me how c.f. was made. I give them a hood for their templet, $10,000 and I get my hood. Then they said for a small amount of money they could reproduce as many c.f. for a small amount and I could make a lot of money. I sell them for $3-4000. BUT I am older and not driven by money. To me money is just o.k. Time is my currency and I want more of it. BUT I can see into the future when I won’t care about more time and would like to see it run out :-)
Carbon Fiber continues.
I went to Luft8 in Long Beach, CA and saw a car like mine in the parking lot. Left him a note, he told me where he bought the c.f. hood but the company quite making them about a year ago. I contact them in case there had an extra in the back room. No. But learned the difficulty of making the c.f. strands look right in the right position.
I have an all black car. The exterior is all black along with the 3 piece one of a kind rims. Interior all new black leather (front glass out for “A” pillar leather wrap) with silver stitching, carpet Porsche 356 square weave charcoal black (charcoal color as too much black in the cap and it is like a dark cave.
SOLUTION TO THE C.F.
I had a company in Oregon (near you) wrap the hood with carbon fiber; like the wrap they put on the exterior of cars. It came out so REAL, so PERFECT. Now I have a c.f. hood look. The reason why I wanted a c.f. hood was to loosen the BLACKNESS of my car. I have many details on my car that look so like factory that people don’t even notice them. At PCA Werks Reunion in Monterey, CA last year several people came by my car when I didn’t have the c.f. hood an I heard them say things like, “Great looking black car, I have seen that type of bumper, etc.”. I stopped them and showed them what they had missed and assumed incorrectly. Most said something like wow!
You have a good voice, explain what you are doing well, it makes sense, and you show how it was done. I will be back but start at beginning.
“A garage without a Porsche is just a dark hole” - Walter Rohrl -Porsche Development
Back to back to back vids 😲
Not sure that I could trust those bolt heads not to rip through the fibreglass on impact. Would of thought a flat bar frame connecting each bolt under the fibreglass would be safer.
But of course you're the expert and I'm in awe of your build. Great video.
Never trust the bolts of the seats; instead ensure the safety restraint system is bolted directly to the chassis. (Monocoque tub in my case).
Yeah those bolts are simply not restrained well enough. Surprising because he gets everything else pretty good
I looked up "real" forged CF and you seem to have missed the High Compression inside/outside high heat metal molds. Chopped up CF and a vacuum bag is not "Forged"....this is so half assed
Glad to see you back Richard Smith; we've missed you and your criticism. By the way, what is going on in your life that leaves you so bitter? Something we could help with?
Now I see why kit car makers used a fiberglass chopper gun method. You are doing a much better job...
Yep, when you have to make money time is of the essence.
kind of weird that you never show us a view of the entire side profile of the car.I've watched several of your video's and I have no idea what the car looks like.I appreciate your considerable talent but not showing the look of the thing seems more like a common sense issue.
Coming up on a hundred videos; it's gotta be in there somewhere. I'll make sure to get a full side view pan in an upcoming video.
Could you possibly make 3D moulds using CAD files online and using those to make your carbon fibre parts more precise? Or would this take too long in building each part?
nice to show a loss. oof, but get better
What do you build before this car to know so much thing ? :D
Here is a video talking about a few of my previous projects - th-cam.com/video/i0aybm8kH1s/w-d-xo.html
I'm 29, this is what I dream of doing with my wife when we get our house, building DIY projects ♥♥
Well, make sure you include the oversize garage in the house hunting. ;)
@@BuilderCreatorindeed 😁
Car looks like early 90s style design is that the design you were going for ?
It is a bit of an exercise in a modern take on mid 60s styling from the Italians.
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
👍
hi there, i saw you mixed the foam for the base of the seat, then you mentioned you used a "microspheres slurry" to smooth out the foam.
may i have the information on the names of those 2 products?
and where you purchased them?
microspheres slurry and the foam mix?
two part urethane foam, commonly used in boat building- most composites suppliers sell it. The slurry is made by thickening epoxy resin with microspheres (Q-cells) also available through most composites suppliers (try USCompsites.com)
@@BuilderCreator thanks alot!
Amazing progress, needs 10x the views.
As much as I hate to say this, that seat looks sweet all by itself. Shame to see it covered.👍
Luckily, only about a third will be covered! :) Even at that, the warm rusty orange Italian leather I have waiting, is also beautiful!
HaHa- my late wife used to tease me because I made the same kind of face that you do when I was working on a project. I'm sure every guy has his own peculiar grimace.
for some of us, everything in life is just more painful! ;)
@@BuilderCreator Well, I can see you have a supportive wife, as she does not have those wrinkles above the eyebrows from a lifetime of rolling eyes.
Excellent rebound. Looks phenomenal 👀👍
another tip for finding out where to drill holes for your seat... put dome nuts on the bolts in the seat. put some bearing blue or paint on the ends, can be tricky if theres some moving around to get the right position. alternatively you can make threaded pointed nuts, for lack of a better description, depending on how sharpe you need them, probably the floor would scratch to much. but basically when you have the spot the bolt needs to go, give the piece a tap or a bump and it should leave the indent of where the bolt has to go.
I Do like the stick method tho.
sharp shishorrs
Good job dude!
Love me some forged carbon. Thank you.
Why didn't you cast channels for racing harnesses into the seats? You decided you only want 3 point seat belts? Also, wouldn't an aluminum sheet cast into the bottom provide a stronger anchor point for the bolts? I've considered building similar carbon fiber/kevlar seats for an electric sports car I'm building and want to make sure in event of an accident that the seat stays bolted to the car floor.
If it makes it past testing on the road we will then consider taking the car to the track. When that time comes there will probably be more than seats that change.
I have always wondered, did you make any calculations on how would car behave in case of crash ? I mean, how would it deform, how would crash affect occupants and their space, or for example how safe would be those composite seats meaning, won`t they break and hurt passenger under peak stress ? How do you exactly know how many carbon fiber/glass fiber layers do you need for such structures so they won`t take apart and that they provide enough strength in some extreme situations ? Anyway, interesting project :)
Well, the seats attachment means little unless you have the safety restraint system mounted to them. Few manufacturers do that and rely instead on the SRS to be bolted directly to the chassis. (Monocoque tub in my case). As for crash simulation software - not even the DOT allows crash simulation and wants the real thing (crash test). I guess, I will be going by the seat of my pants (pun is intended). Ha!
Thank you so much for including the "fail'. (I'm sorry it happened to you but sharing it helps us.) Do you think more vacuum ports in potential trouble spots with a way to cutoff flow towards ones that are already seeing too much resin flow would help?
To many ports just gets to be a management problem, I'm sure a flow channel up the center would be the answer.
The chopped carbon fibre strand finish looks great.
After I did the dash piece in regular cloth it was a little disappointing compared to the air intake at the turbos; the forged carbon really popped! Now everything will be "forged". . . .well, most of the trim anyway!
Great!!!
Kirkeys seats are also available at reasonable cost
Is there a reason your using fibreglass instead of carbon fibre to add extra depth?
Cost for only a 10 oz weight penalty.
@@BuilderCreator fair enough. Have you looked into compression moulding for seats or would the mould be too big?
@@r3vd4wg18 Another expense larger than I need as I only require 2 seats. A compression mold would be for high production.
You have the patience of a SAINT sir! When the vaccuform bag failed the timelapse would've showed me throwing the whole thing out the window! 😂
~Thanks for showing me what you can accomplish with patience, love this series!
Well, I do edit out the swearing. Ha!
@@BuilderCreator Haha! Fair enough! 🤣 I couldn’t imagine not cursing after going through making the vacuum bag and it not working 😵💫
Sorry you didnt get the flow on the first layup! Seat look great!!!!
First time is NEVER a charm! I will get some better flow channels set up on the passenger seat (above the chopped fibers). Thanks.
When will we get a test drive?
You are the Endgegner of every DIY guy out there 😅🤘
Endgegner- I had to look that one up. My ten word German vocabulary didn't include that. But, you are mistaken, the real "Endgegner" is my wife. ;)
@@BuilderCreator 😂❤️
I’m interested on doing this myself
Well, "today is the day!
Super cool perfect
Love your work 👍
This is great!
Great stuff!
How much does this project cost?
Hitting about $30k right now!
Is 30k with or without all the tools and machines used? I'm interested in getting into this car building stuff.