Carbon Fibre Roof Now Fitted & Availible.

[superdave]

My new Carbon Fibre roof has arrived the first one out of the mould and is now fitted. There are a few fine scratches which can be polished out and the dimples are visible where the glass roof is toughened but the dimples can be removed from the mould. Upside is that now it totally blocks the sunlight and the cabin is cooler. The carbon fibre finish on the inside is also cool.
Downside is that because it's a copy of the glass, at high speed +100MPH the roof is trying to flex and suck upwards causing wind noise. Iam over the moon with the results just a little dissapointed about the flexing at high speed. I was half expecting this anyway but hope the CF was stiff enough. I could put ribs in to stiffen it but I've spent a long time on this project anyway and Iam happy with the results as they are.

See pics.


http://community.webshots.com/photo/62855729/85284226JGqAge


http://community.webshots.com/photo/62855729/85287467yllnPw


http://community.webshots.com/photo/62855729/85286388baCoYS

If anyone is interested in one then please e-mail me off line to [e-mail]

Cheers,



Dave Walters

[ErnestM]

Looks like a good job on the CF pattern (sometimes the hardest part). I'll bet it is considerably lighter than the alternatives as well...

ErnestM

[Lotusacbc]

Looks awesome!

[superdave]

Hi there,

Thanks for the compliments. Also I never gave the weave very much thought, just assumed it would turn out like that. A little nieve I know but I was more concerned with the flexing as the roof is virtually flat. I've been thinking hard on a way to resolve the flexing of the roof and I will discuss it with the manufacturer tommorrrow first thing. Also another idea I had was the front bracket has two rubber washers under the screws inside the car to help the bracket to flex with the glass. Maybe with the CF having flexing properties, we could take these out. This would make the front more rigid. It's from the front where all the flexing is taking place.


Cheers,



Dave Walters

[Del-Esprit]

What is the overall weight of the new unit, with fixings.
Just wondered to compare with my solid panel ?
Still not sure it is enough to warrant change, or fitting is the same but I can change my mind
Derrick
S4s

[th4neuk]

Dave,

That looks great. The effect is good and the pattern looks nice too. Can't believe people might want to paint that. Having a bike as well I love Carbon goodies so one of these has hit the shopping list.

Great project and well done for sticking at it to do all the work and R & D on a project of this size. It takes alot of effort to develop products for small scale production vehicles so any work people can do like this is ace.

Well done me ode

Cheers

Alan Croft
89 Turbo

[fj40]

Hot item!

Is the wind noise from air leaks around the edges?

Dan

[kylie]

Dave :clap, top honours, great stuff. The weave does look real good. I am trying to develop instrument panels in CF in the twill weave as well, its flipping not that easy with all the curves. I admire your great efforts.
Kylie

[5150neo]

Looks fantastic! Cheers on getting the weave nice and straight. As for the flexing, what core material did you use? If you used a nomex honeycomb type core the flex should be very minimal. Whats the overall thickness?
Nice job
John

[jconsta6]

Dave,

As you know, I'm in line for one of these, however have or do you ever read FHM? They have a section in there called "Who the hell are you?" It's basically when people "appear" in the back of your photos that you never noticed at the time of taking them.

I love the look on the "head" that you seem to have stuck on your gate post!

Great effort on the roof and on making me smile at your choice of topping for your gate post in picture three....

JC

>> Edited by jconsta6 on Tuesday 12th August 10:16

[techspy]

Good job Dave! I would like to have one, but I don't have a glass roof and would need to find the hardware for it (anyone have any info on where to get them and the cost?). However, have you ever thought about making a carbon fiber turbo shield? I have noticed premature wear and cracking of the surrounding engine bay plastics from the heat. I would love to have some type of carbon fiber shield that would block the heat from the turbo/exhaust manifold.

John
94 S4
http://24.31.219.162

[superdave]

The weight I don't know yet but it's a lot lighter than the glass. Haven't got anyway of weighing it yet as the two a relatively light. Can't exactly use my bathroom scales!.
As soon as I can weigh them will let you know.

Cheers,


Dave Walters

Del-Esprit said:

What is the overall weight of the new unit, with fixings. Just wondered to compare with my solid panel ? Still not sure it is enough to warrant change, or fitting is the same but I can change my mind Derrick S4s

[superdave]

fj40 said:

Hot item! Is the wind noise from air leaks around the edges? Dan

Yes, it's because the brackets and roof are flexing with suction due to high speed. It's only the first prototype and on this one, the material thins out a bit just on the front. The front brackets are only about 25mm in from end so I think it's flexing here. Also the front bracket is also flexing under the rubber washers which Iam going to take out to make more rigid.

Cheers,


Dave Walters

[superdave]

techspy said:

Good job Dave! I would like to have one, but I don't have a glass roof and would need to find the hardware for it (anyone have any info on where to get them and the cost?). However, have you ever thought about making a carbon fiber turbo shield? I have noticed premature wear and cracking of the surrounding engine bay plastics from the heat. I would love to have some type of carbon fiber shield that would block the heat from the turbo/exhaust manifold. Hi there, Iam working along side with PNM Engineering who should be able to supply the full kit for about £75-100 to attach to the roof. Lotus charge £175. He has ordered some handles in for John Austin incase he wants them. Iam willing to have a go at most parts if enough people are interested which is the problem. If you find about 10 people, it soon turns to about 3-4 when you try to get them to commit. If anyone wants any other parts then please let me know via e-mail on [e-mail]. My advise would be to stick to common parts to generate interest. Cheers, Dave Walters John 94 S4 http://24.31.219.162

[sanj]

superdave said:

My new Carbon Fibre roof has arrived the first one out of the mould and is now fitted. There are a few fine scratches which can be polished out and the dimples are visible where the glass roof is toughened but the dimples can be removed from the mould. Upside is that now it totally blocks the sunlight and the cabin is cooler. The carbon fibre finish on the inside is also cool.

Hi Dave,

Looks great! What is the exterior finish?

Cheers,
Sanj

[karlfranz]

SuperDave said:

The weight I don't know yet but it's a lot lighter than the glass. Haven't got anyway of weighing it yet as the two a relatively light. Can't exactly use my bathroom scales!. As soon as I can weigh them will let you know.

Hi Dave,

Looks great! Keep me in mind if you ever build the open roof panel/wind deflector. I'm definitely on the list for that one. In fact, it wouldn't even have to made in CF. Fibreglass would do since I would probably paint match it to the body color.

I would be really interested in any other CF creations you come up with too. Some ideas include a replacement engine cover (which I think would look awesome), airbox, rear quarter window trim, etc. Someone in the Chicago troops did this last one and it looks great but haven't heard any more about it. It could be made as a cover piece rather that a full replacement. That way installation would be a lot easier: drill out the existing rivets, glue the new CF piece on top of the old, and install new rivets.

As far as the weight, you can weigh yourself on the bathscale while holding the panel and then subtract the weight of you alone. This is how I weigh my cats which are too light to register on the scale by themselves :-)

BTW: what was the manufacturing process for making the panel? Did you use pre-preg CF?

Cheers,

Karl-Franz :-)
www.espritfactfile.com

[superdave]

Hi there, the weight of the panels are as follows:-

New panel with brackets 11lbs (5 Kilos)
New panel without brackets 10lbs (4.5 kilos)

Glass panel with brackets 19lbs (8.6 kilos)
Glass panel without brackets 18lbs (8.2 kilos)

Overall saving between two panels 8lbs (3.6 kilos)

The weighing method was very crude to say the least (bathroom scales) but as you can see there is a saving.

As for manufacturing process, I'll find out for you. As you can appreciate I have these made and I don't know that much about carbon fibre. i just wanted one myself and a few other people, so decided to get one made. I would soon be sussed out for trying to pretend knowing about CF.

Cheers,


Dave Walters

[MadMaxx]

Looks good dave!

Are you churning these out yourself? I have been working on carbon fiber parts for the Dodge Viper for a while. Perhaps we could exhange war stories

Are you vac baging the parts? What is the thickness of the finished panel?


keep up the good work!

James

[superdave]

MadMaxx said:

Looks good dave! Are you churning these out yourself? I have been working on carbon fiber parts for the Dodge Viper for a while. Perhaps we could exhange war stories Are you vac baging the parts? What is the thickness of the finished panel? keep up the good work! James

No Iam not making these myself. Got a guy about 20 miles away to make them for me. I only wanted one myself but other owners also wanted one so thought it was viable.
Unfortunately I don't know much about carbon fibre,
The overall thickness is roughly the same as the glass roof that it replaces.

Cheers,



Dave Walters

[Doors]

Yes Dave,
This looks fantastic - can't wait to see it in the flesh.
Doors.