Carbon rear clip for noble

[andygtt]

Hi all... Ive not moved the GTT on for some time as I have been playing with the Noble... but I thought you guys may be interested in my current project regarding the noble seeing as its effectivelly a kit car lol

I basically did a lot of mods to the existing body and took small moulds, cut it all out and remade them into the existing clip... well I decided that simply modifying the clip would still crack in time regardless of how much effort I put in and I simply wont accept that so I have decided to take a mould of the entire rear clip and make it in carbon fibre.

so I've spent a fortune tooling myself up to make proper vac bag carbon fibre and the bucks are close to being ready to take moulds from.

Im also making a new dash binnacle and headlights which will all be carbon.... I made the binacle mould but buggered it up as the temp in garage was too low and the mould tooling was stuggling to get up to temp... so I slapped it under a halogen lamp and buggered off out, new result I got it massivelly hot and it melted all the release agents and all the paint inbetween the filler in the buck lol.
so the mould finish was compramised and nothing like as perfect as the buck... will have to remake this but its my first time making moulds let alone carbon parts so steep learning process

Anyhow pics....

Edited by andygtt on Monday 9th April 23:24

[shaun fulcrum]

That looks amazing!! Wish I had the £ and know how to attempt something like that. Keep up the good work

[Ferg]

Very nice Andy!

[GTRCLIVE]

Andy ...... OMG your suppose to use Fiber Glass for the mold material not Custard Powder !!!!!!

[andygtt]

Its actually curry powder... and I did wonder why it took so long to cure lol

[Rusti Evo]

Awesome piece of work Andy.

Do you get the flawless finish that EC claim? Personally, chuffed to bits with the initial tests on the resin infusion.

[ColinM50]

Impressive work and even more impresssed with the photos dated four days in the future. Have you got a Tardis and can I borrow it? Would like to see Friday's euro millions numbers

[EFA]

Z-preg??

[andygtt]

Rusti Evo said:

Awesome piece of work Andy.

Do you get the flawless finish that EC claim? Personally, chuffed to bits with the initial tests on the resin infusion.

yes you do, its truely excellent... have to say I have been very impressed with their products.

worth mentioning though that if you use spray glue to stick the materials in place then the finish isnt quite perfect... however if you are spraying in laquer then this is not an issue and if you use clear gel coat as a finish you can use acetone to stick the materials in (it activates the gel making it sticky).

I have to laquer mine as it has to be painted in places (Im having the stripes on my car as visable carbon) and the epoxy isnt fully UV stable.

anyhow bit more progress for those interested.

[andygtt]

few picture updates... moulds made, bit of remedial work performed on moulds and now laying up the carbon, doing this in the evenings so I can have it finished by tomorrow night and hopefully pull the moulds apart at weekend.

The process for laying the carbon is:

1 layer 200g pro finish carbon (keeps the weave so looks nice
1 layer 200g carbon
1 layer nomex (white material that adds stiffness but less weight than carbon)
1 layer either 200g or 650g carbon depending upon strength required in area.

I will also add some material that has properties similar to kevlar but looks like carbon in the wheel arch ares to add impact protection and also adding extra carbon in mounting points for the clip and the spoiler.

I did another trial part with this layup for the binnacle and it was super stiff and very light

Edited by andygtt on Wednesday 2nd May 10:33