Carbon bonnet for cerbie!!!

[SXS]

Ok, I'm trying to get 3 or more people together to get carbon bonnets priced at 699+VAT. This is a cracking price and will be developed by Thompsons GRP Specialists (Carbon Al's company).

I've started the thread over at bhpworld.

http://www.bhpworld.com/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&board=28.0

Come on chaps, all of you who were interested in a front-end respray to clean things up, it might just be in-order to get a carbon bonnet fitted while you're at it!

[simonsparrow]

Any idea of the weight saving and would this be plain or vented?

[SXS]

Major weight-saving!!!! one finger strength required to lift bonnet!!!

If you need anymore information, you need to post interest and further questions over on the link I provided above, carbon al will reply all questions. I believe we already have one interested party!

[GreenV8S]

SXS said:

Major weight-saving!!!!

What is that in kilos?

[2 sheds]

When i used to do carbon panels we could produce a door weighing 1.9 kg when the same in regular grp was closer to 8 kg, i recon a bonnet in pre-preg carbon would weigh around 5 kg, stacks less than the TVR original.

At £699 thats terific value, especially as Als work is top notch.

[GreenV8S]

And the original weighs, what, 15-20 Kgs max?

[SXS]

Tim is bang on the money, 5-6kg

Pete you're also bang on the money, 17KG for a standard cerbie hood, dont know the lightweight versions weight though

[blue 4.5]

Dumb question probably, but what is stronger, carbon fibre or fibreglass?

[GreenV8S]

I reckon you could easily double that if you had it professionally fitted and painted. Are you seriously considering spending over a grand in order to save 10Kg weight? That's less than 1% weight reduction, so in terms of power-to-weight it's the equivalent of about 3 bhp. It might make sense if your bonnet had been damaged and you needed to replace it anyway, but as a performance upgrade it just doesn't make sense; there are far better ways to spend the money.

[gazzab]

I find that driving with no passengers, petrol tank 1/4 full, no clothes on and a good dump tends to make the car faster.

[spartacus]

blue 4.5 said:

Dumb question probably, but what is stronger, carbon fibre or fibreglass?

Er carbon fibre...(from my layman's understanding) the strands themselves are stronger in certain planes when force applied, coupled with the fact that the strands are woven into a mat makes them even stronger, also once bonded in resin the whole lot is baked in an autoclave to temper as required. That's why F1 cars and even some of the latest generation fighter planes are largely made of the stuff.

[carl_w]

Carbon fibre is stronger per unit weight. So with a CF bonnet, you could either make it as heavy as the fibreglass one, in which case it would be x times stronger, or do it the other way (which is what F1 cars do) and make it as strong as the fibreglass one, but x times lighter.

How will the CF bonnets come out? If you have a black Cerb (like I do) could you just put it straight on, or would the surface need to be sealed in some way? Will they come with all the fitting clips attached?

[cerealsurfer]

I'm in the market for a new bonnet and at 699+VAT that sounds pretty good to me. A TVR OEM unit is 900 +VAT. I need a spare as I want to do some development work on revised air intake routing.

Let me know when they are available.

[SXS]

GreenV8S said:

... but as a performance upgrade it just doesn't make sense...

Come on Pete, not everyones got a supercharged methanol injected rocket!!!!

I think its a good thing, me thinks also that stone-chipping will be a lot less noticeable due to carbons stiffness, so all in, not only does one get to say 'carbon hood' but also longer terms before having to fork out for a front end respray due to stonechipping etc....

I think those who have the darker cars could even just go raw carbon fibre with a laquered finish... beautiful

the main thing is the price, I mean what can you get for 700 quids these days, let alone a huge carbon hood!

[njw 77]

Hmm, how about leaving it unpainted on my car? Black bonnet on yellow car

Similar price to getting the stone chips done

>> Edited by NJW 77 on Wednesday 7th September 13:07

[3000M-TwinTurbo]

GreenV8S said:

I reckon you could easily double that if you had it professionally fitted and painted. Are you seriously considering spending over a grand in order to save 10Kg weight? That's less than 1% weight reduction, so in terms of power-to-weight it's the equivalent of about 3 bhp. It might make sense if your bonnet had been damaged and you needed to replace it anyway, but as a performance upgrade it just doesn't make sense; there are far better ways to spend the money.

True, But If you just have the bonnet clear with the carbon showing it will just look awesome.....