I know that every place might differ but if the hood/fenders/doors/hatch were all switched with FG/CF respectively how much lighter than the steel counterparts would they be? Also how much lighter would the FAL rear windows be than regular glass.

Thanks guys.

Also is there any kind of a weight breakdown for various parts in the 1992 civic ie seats, wheels, etc.


[Modified by threeclaws, 8:23 AM 7/12/2002]


[Modified by threeclaws, 8:25 AM 7/12/2002]

 

that depends..im seeing a lot kids these days with heavy *** CF hoods that way equal or more then the stock hood..its kinda funny.

 

Well actually I said CF just because it's an option, but I would prefer the FG since it's cheaper (for the most part) and I'm going to be painting it either way. I'm just looking for the weight savings, I was looking at this place to do a whole FG kit...Mantaray Motorsport Racing, Hood/doors/hatch/fenders.

 

FG body kits are really just for show, it's very brittle, expect any little bump to ruin it. You'll have to consider that as well

And yes, please paint it. I cant stand cars w/ unpainted CF accessories

 

The fenders on my car dont weigh much. I doubt there would be much to gain by going to FG fenders, unless you are going all out and every ounce counts.

 

Well I'm not going to put a body kit on it except possibly a mugen front lip and some small sideskirts but nothing like a "combat" kit or something equally ridiculous. I can't see the FG being all that brittle, I have friends with FG Fenders on their trucks and they've never gotten so much as a chip on them.

 

Not every ounce, but a pound is a pound, I've heard that switching out the rear glass can save 50# and I know that my aluminum hood on my rx-7 weighed about 2x as much as the FG hood I put on it, which saved me another 15-20# up front, little by little 100-200# weight saving in the right spots could make a difference.

 

Is there one place that makes better FG pieces than the others, or is it a pretty consistent material...unlike the horror stories I've heard about CF?

Thanks everybody.

 

what horror stories of CF? id like to know

 

Mostly stuff from the rx7forum I'm part of, I'm just now looking at honda's. The list is short in problems but high in # of cust. with similiar problems. Such as bubbling, cracking, bubbles in the epoxy, thin/cheeap quality, damaged with no refund/replace, etc. CF I've heard is more difficult/time consuming than FG (I've laid FG it's not too bad) and so there are a lot of FG guys doing half *** CF work and it comes out looking like ____(fill in expletive.) I don't know if the honda comm. is similiar just because of shear competition but us mazda guys have had to deal with shady stuff across the board.

 

carbon fiber if done right is 100x stronger than fiberglass... fiberglass will shatter, crack, etc. if u even slightly put too much pressure on it or hit it in any way... i'v had fb parts before as have many others... they suck... cf... as long as u find someone who knows what they are doing then ull be much better off... but it is much more expensive

 

Obviously CF is stronger but there aren't many companies running around with CF doors/fenders/hatch/etc. Also, unless people are making really crappy FG parts in the honda comm, FG can be strong, and from my experience with it is very chip/crack resistant.

I actually had FG fenders on my old ranger and after I coated the backside with herculiner I never got so much as a stress crack, and that was with offroding and mudding.

But that aside I don't care much about the expense and the weight savings between CF and FG is very slim. What I want is high quality and availability, I learned from my rx7 that it's best to spend $$$$$ than to spend $.

 

True but CF does take longer in comparison to FG because of the wait between layers/epoxy, and yes most people do not paint it, I plan to so I just would want a high quality layer, not perfect looks, ie small 1/32" bubbles inbedded in the epoxy.

 

Mine was alot (15lbs) lighter than stock.

 

That's sweet do you have any detailed pics of it? And where did you get it from. It's starting to look like from the hood and windows alone I can take nearly 65#'s off an already light CX.

 

i heard stock hoods weigh 40 lbs...is that true? i weighed my hood (the replacement after my accident) and it was 27 lbs...i hear this is because the hood is a cheap non OEM replacent...does this sound likely? lastly my carbon fiber VIS hood weighs 17 lbs...can someone confirm all these numbers? thanks

 

The "replacement" vs. OEM thing is absolutely true at least as far as my Mazda went. I had to replace the hood twice, the first time with a stocker, the second with a so called OEM replacement, it was not only thinner, lighter and had lousy fitment. But, I could have gotten a used junkyard hood for half what I spent, it of course later had to be replaced.

Keep in mind though I previously had an aluminum hood because that's what came stock on some of the 2nd gen Rx7's and outside of the 2 accidents the hood(s) never developed any problems. The replacement hood (thin steel) however had about 10 dents in it after about 2 months of driving, it was a POS. It soon was replaced by a kightsport hood.


[Modified by threeclaws, 5:49 AM 7/14/2002]