First off, being my first post I'd like to say hello to everyone who reads this.

Next I'd like to say I know just a bit more than nothing about cars... I can drive them, change oil, put gas in.... thats about the limit of my knowledge, so try to go easy on me with the acronyms and the flames please.

Finally, I get to the point and start asking about carbon fibre. I've read up on several techniques and learned a bit about different resins and the sort, but I still have yet to see a complete walk-through type of explaination of making a part. If someone could help me with what I already think I know I'd be greatful:

1) Take origional part/mold and wax with release agent
2) make a fiberglass/CF female mold (using the epoxy resin and paintbrush or vacuume layup method)
3) wax the mold with release agent and apply epoxy resin(so the CF will stick) then apply resin to the outside after its shaped nicely and vacuume it.

I need some specifics there and also how many layers should I do (for a hood lets say) I also wanted to know if anyone had resources on where to buy the CF fabric and resin (preferably in California), basically I want cheap, but quality... I'm willing to spend a bit extra for the quality, but the prices i've seen seem outrageous. (like $52/yard at 48" wide in plain weave)

All help is appreciated, and thank you for reading.

Personmans

 

I posted this write-up before but it covers the basics so here you go.

http://www.racingcomposites.net/unt?id=332


"basically I want cheap, but quality... I'm willing to spend a bit extra for the quality, but the prices i've seen seem outrageous. (like $52/yard at 48" wide in plain weave)"

Welcome to my world, lol. The worldwide fiber shortage is still in full swing so prices are high. When Walmart starts selling cf you will get cheap and quality... wait a secong I mean just cheap. On one hand you say you want quality but in the very next sentence you say your willing to spend a bit extra for quality. If you're going to start building parts erase the word cheap from your vocabulary. If you see a killer price its going to be crap material or a scam to take your money or even worse yet it will be fiberglass woven and coated to look like cf. Buy from a reputable source. If you're only going to buy a couple of yards most likely you will pay a lot. PM if you want a list of fiber and resin sources.

As to your question about a hood layup, what fabric do you want to use, all cf or cf with glass underneath? You are looking at maybe 4-8 layers depending on whether you are building a very light hood skion for a race car or a street car. There are so many different layups you could go with depending on your goals. I will say if you haven't built anything start with cheap fiberglass not carbon and once you have a system down switch to $50/yd material. BTW-Ebay moght be one of the worst places to buy carbon, I think I once saw $67 per yard there LOL