1999-2004 Mustang Carbon Fiber Widebody pieces

[Wildcard]

This has been a project that I have been working on for about 2 years... learning composites, and after many trial and errors I am finally at the finish line making quality parts. Thanks to my internship at Polymer Composites which let me learn a new trade, and earn a little cash building a glorified boat in texas, I was able to learn mold making, epoxy, vacuum bagging, flanging...etc. the whole bit. I spent 2 months as an intern there, and they turned a guy who had an idea of what he wanted to do, but no understanding of how to get there into a competent and efficient composite worker. In short.. they got my stuff together.

These parts were designed for my Turbo mustang that needed a new wider stance and footprint with 19x10s in the front and 20x12 in the rear. I have been working on these molds for the past two months, and this is the first part out of the mold... I'll post the other parts as soon as they are produced...

This fender is widened 2.5" to accommodate wheels up to 13" in width without tubbing. They were built to fit these.




The other parts that will be made are running boards/side skirts, front bumper, and gauge cluster (for my custom dash)

The carbon fiber used is 5 Harness Satin Weave 11 ounce carbon fiber. Using Polymer Composites Max Bond Low Viscosity, and my Piston Powered Vacuum Pump. The finished fender weighs less than 5 lbs.

I think that's all, so here's the pictures.







and a carbon fiber rear diffuser that I made for my friends widebody turbo eclipse.









Well hope you enjoy, I've gotta get back to work building these finished parts... I wana be done before Wens. of next week, so I can get back to the easy stuff of building my turbo...

[CustomTanks]

LOOKS GOOD,Keep us posted

[Wildcard]

LOOKS GOOD,Keep us posted

Thanks will do

here is the new dash carbon piece... Larger pieces will follow in the coming days. The dash piece just needs a finishing layer of epoxy and clear coat. but I'll wait until the pass. side bezel is complete.








 

[CustomTanks]

Cant wait to see the whole car done,The parts you are makin look great 

[TheFabForums]

Sweetness...I love it.
Is the wheel carbon fiber also?

[Wildcard]

Thanks guys... Nah the wheel is just plain aluminum... light weight for its size in my opinion

here are a few pictures of the widened hood. I bought the hood, made a mold of the center before slicing it in half to make its new width.... Then I made the center section out of multiple layers of fiberglass before reinforcing it with carbon fiber to rebuild the widened hood. The front has 10 layers of fiberglass ranging from 7 oz to 11 oz cuts, same as the rear... I then cut new vents or nostrils as I like to call them as the radiator's vented air will exit through these openings.

The new width of the car is 71" wide

The original hood... one of my favorite hoods for the SN95 mustangs



the gap from the spaced out fenders



making the center section out of mulitple layers of hexel fiberglass... 1 layer or 3 oz Hexel 120 then mulitple layers of 18 oz hexel fiberglass... at least 7 layers



Sealing the hood with multiple layers of carbon fiber after installing the fiberglass section and using Max Bond Thixo (industrial adhesive) to weld the sides together.



rebuilding the underside, first with illustration board





Then adding carbon





 

and then after the sides were done here was the final...

now my hood is a suicide hood, so the front latch area needs to be extra strong. the new version hurts to even knock on it with your knuckles.





Now this (the underside) will all be cleaned up in the paint booth.

and the top

[Wildcard]

So just have side skirts, quarter panel #2, and the cobra bumper that is over 6' 5" tall. Just finished the molds today, so I can start making parts starting monday...

Thanks for the comments... Love the site guys.

[Wildcard]

An idea of what I'm going for

[TheFabForums]

Your work looks great, you will have to do us a step by step how to.

[TheFabForums]

Oh and dont forget to add your favorite place to buy supplies on our resource page.

http://thefabforums.com/main/index.php?topic=61.0

[Wildcard]

bumper just de-molded it.... it was a fight!

[TheFabForums]

Looks nice.
What do you make the molds out of?
Do you use some kind of bracing?

[Wildcard]

Looks nice.
What do you make the molds out of?
Do you use some kind of bracing?

Thanks

Lots of Fiberglass. The first layer is usually somethings small... Hexel 120, which is only about 3.8 oz., ... Two layers of that and then I'll go up to a 16 oz and then a couple of layers of 24 oz. It ends ups weighing around 30 lbs in the end. It's important that the mold doesn't move and that it replicates the desired shape exactly. Also if your mold isn't strong enough the vacuum will crush it, and you pull out a part that looks like it went a few rounds with Ali or Tyson (pick your fav.)

Bracing, not usually, only on pieces that hang out to certain degree like the rear valances on the fender, I added a steel strip just to give extra support while I was laying up my fiberglass.

[Wildcard]

driverside fender... Second de-molding of the day...



now just side skirts...

I'll bring the camera along while I'm laying up to show how to make a mold ...

[TheFabForums]

driverside fender... Second de-molding of the day...



now just side skirts...

I'll bring the camera along while I'm laying up to show how to make a mold ...

That would be awesome.
What kind of mold release?
You use epoxy resin?

[Wildcard]

driverside fender... Second de-molding of the day...

now just side skirts...

I'll bring the camera along while I'm laying up to show how to make a mold ...

That would be awesome.
What kind of mold release?
You use epoxy resin?

Pretty much anything with Carnauba wax in it... My favorite is Formula Five Mold Release Wax, but I've used carnauba car wax whenever I've been in a pinch. you wax it 3 times and then spray on PVA film, and let it set for 30 mins, and then you're good to go.

Epoxy resin... I hate polyester resin... Epoxy takes 24-36 hours to cure, but its strength is far superior to polyester... I also use different epoxy for different jobs... The epoxy that I've made the majority of my parts is not color stabilizing epoxy meaning it has a yellow/amber tint to it. the yellower the epoxy... the harder the epoxy. The dash bezel was made out of color stabilizing epoxy, so its crystal clear... The reasons for the switch is that all panels except the dash will be painted. It also makes a super strong part out of a smaller amount of carbon (the amber colored epoxy- Max Bond Low Visc.) versus the same part made out of the color stabilizing epoxy (Max Bond CLR). Which keeps my part lighter and keeps me from having to use subsequent layers of carbon to achieve the same tensile strength.

[Wildcard]

a slow day... but here are some pictures of the fenders mounted... I need to finish cutting off the excess.