Finally, heres the current progress on my new front end. Since I have completely changed the chassis setup I had to sell the old hood and come up with something brand new. We created the base with wire and got the shape that fitted my eye. Everything has gone smooth so far. For those who are curious I will be making a female mold and will be able to reproduce hoods. Once completed I will be selling replicas. Pricing will definitely be very competitive with other companies making front ends. I felt there was a need for a hood that could fit 28" slicks, have full coverage of wide slicks and create downforce to help with traction up track.
I've been running the MB products 1 piece race front end on my car for about a year. Ever since I switched to 26"x10" slicks they have been sticking out the side of the hood and getting the side of the car filthy from burnouts, etc. It also doesn't look too nice either. I also wanted to bring the front valence of the hood lower to the ground for aerodynamics and raise the center of the hood for clearance issues. The front end has clearance for 28" slicks. This front end is very large and would fit CRX's and Civics. No companies made front ends with the specs I needed so I decided to fabricate my own to my specs. Please PM me any questions about pricing.











Modified by msmotorsports at 10:25 AM 6/1/2005


Modified by msmotorsports at 11:53 AM 6/1/2005

 

how about posting up some pictures here ?

 

Are you making a mold of it, or just making a one-off?

Here's a link to some of my experience with this matter:

http://www.rpiracing.com/RPI_P...t.htm

Started out with a VIS hood, and the very top of a Wings West bumper... the rest is hand fabricated

By the way, post your pics over here... I'd like to see them, but i'm not going to sign up for that board just to view your pics.

 

I'm making a mold of it.

 

Well why don't you post pics of it here so that we can see it without singing up for your little forum? Wouldn't that be more technical, rather than basically trying to make an advertisement post for your site?

I showed you mine... lol..

SigningUpSucks

 

I posted some pics of the beginning stages. I'm to the stage of final bondo and sanding. I'll post more once I get pics.

 

Interesting... so what are you using as a form behind the glass? It looks like you aren't using anything really, especially down by the air dam... and the wet-out of the air dam doesn't look very consistant at all... you really ought to invest in a roller so that you can make the layups a lot smoother than that. The color and tint should be even throughout the whole part... i see a lot of white (thin or dry) spots there.

So are you using this as a form, and then lay up a skin layer over it, and then using that skin layer as your part? Or are you actually creating a female mold like what we're doing... i can tell ya that my looking at those pics, and knowing what i know right now about what we've gone through with the front we're doing, you've got a looong wayt to go yet.

What are you looking at this weighing when done?

 

I used sheet metal to somewhat form the wheel wells and front skirt. What you see is the first layer I put down to get a rough shape. I have since put another smooth layer on and put Bondo where needed. The piece I am making is a mold which will then be primered and release waxed. For the final product I will be using 1 layer of matting and 1 layer of cloth which will definitely be strong enough. I will be laying a skin and releasing it that way. I will be using a roller for the final process and making everything symetric. The pics I posted was the first stage. I am almost to the point of completion for the mold. Just need to smooth a few areas out. This project has taken 4 days so far. Laying the final product will take only a few hours and should weigh just a tad heavier than the MB hood.

 

Any more recent pics of it smoothed down a bit more?

 

i used to shape and glass surfboards, and i think people doing fiberglass work should research surfboard glassing technique. i dont think there is any other industry using a single 4 oz layer of E cloth that could handle a summer worth of overhead waves bashing it or a 190 lb guy jumping on it. thats pretty strong testament to woven cloth IMO.

rather than crushed matting and applying with a brush, surfboards have the cloth layed out, stretched as tight and flawless as possible. resin is literally pooled onto the center and squeegies are used to roll the puddle around slow and gently so as not to snag. from center outwards evenly. the initial goal is complete saturation,, resin just soaking trhough up to three layers of cloth at a time to total transparency (this takes a LOT of resin.) the second portion is to work as much resin out of the cloth as possible with the same squeegy.. i use yellow plastic body filler spreaders and just angle them like a snow plow up and down in full lawmmower passes. a fresh curl of foamy resin should squeeze out of the cloth on each pass. continue until no more air bubbles can be heard snap crackle popping out. time is limited, work fast with a slow catalyst mix. only get one chance on this method.

i think 4 layers of staggered grain 6oz woven cloth would be very light, maybe 1/8" thick or less and very strong, very resilient. strength comes from the length of each fiber.

if chopped or matted was stronger, lighter or more flexible, it would be in the surfboard industry- which it certainly is not.

for freeform shaping, i like to use wallboard foam insulation sheets stacked and glued to rough shape, and then an electric planer, sureform and sandpaper blocks. for a filler, plaster of paris with ground up foam pellets makes nice mix.

hope this helps some of you guys.

 

also, there is almost no sanding to be done after the lamination has a brush on application of hot coat- which is just laminating resin, extra catalyst and wax surfacing agent. hardens the whole bundle in a few hours. you can be sanding the same night.

 

Mike, thanks for the notes... I don't know about that other guy, but my front is not going to be done out of the chopped stuff, thats for sure. I have not shown my actual mold pics yet to anyone (and probably never will), but it is flanged for vacuum bagging

 

youre welcome


*edit*
...not that im knocking you MS1.. i give you plenty of credit for diy'n

 

I'm taking no offense to any criticism that is given. I do not have the facilities to create perfect molds, nor do I have the time to have a professional fiberglasser help. This is the first time I am creating a fiberglass piece of this scale. Of course next time I will do things differently but for now this is what I have to work with. I am almost done and will post some pics of the final piece. I apprecitate everyone's input as it will help with the final outcome.

 

you can make the master out of anything you like, so long as it creates the desired contour. i think youll find laminating the actual production part this way will be beneficial.

 

mike that is the exact same technique that is used in composites for aeronautical production in both military and experimental designs.
our plane was hand layed with between 3-6 of woven fibre, carbon and Kevlar composites sandwiching a layer of high density structural foam.
in my naivety i assumed all fibreglass was made in that manner.
i should find some in progress of our plane from 1993
stan

 

righton stan. love to see the pics. while im only an observant hobbyist, my guess is that indy and top fuel body parts are the same.

i know i have lifted crushed mat speaker boxes and nearly gotten a hernia (hey, i thought FG was sposta be light!?) and ive also seen matted canoe repairs fail several times to be remedied by a tight weave lamination.

im into downhill mountain bikes too. one of my bikes had an odd chain configuration and i made a guide by laminating 1/4" of 6 oz on a mirror, then cutting it out with a router. that thing has taken more abuse than my aluminum ones by far with hardly any sign of damage. it will crack before it bends, and with 30 different sheets of direction to the weave, i doubt its gonna do any cracking either.

i love fiberglass!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by msmotorsports &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I am almost done and will post some pics of the final piece. </TD></TR></TABLE>

So... how'd it turn out? Done yet?

 

Well I'm almost finished. All I need to do is lay the final fiberglass skin. However, I have been doing some testing with the car and put the hood on hold for a week or so. I should get to it in the next 2 weeks. Theres just so much going on right now. I'll get some pics up in the next few days. Sorry for the delay.

 

any news?

 

I would like to know as well??? And how much do you want for that hood???

 

If you don't know I have completely redone the chassis on the CRX. The hood I previously made will no longer work so I will cut that one apart and reuse certain pieces of it to make a new hood. I have already started mocking the supports up for the new mold. I will definitely keep you all posted and get some pics up.

 

Updates have been added.

 

looks great!

 

Looking good Is that wire mesh that your using as a base????