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Imagineering....jpg
That's how its going. Cheap ass 3/16" plywood from home depot...
I made a slight mistake on the light cavities so I will need to do a little cut and paste.
Last edited by FiberFast; 05-10-2019 at 01:15 AM.
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This seems like a lot of work. I hope the car will be faster and handle better afterwards.
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It is a tremendous amount of work. It really should have been a simple print and laminate if the printer actually worked. Needless to say, once I was committed to doing it it just came down to how I was going to make it work. I could use the wood core as a master at this point but I think maybe there will only be 1 of these... If I do decide to make more it will be a very limited quantity. Rarity creates value.
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The wood core is nearly finished. More sanding and filling of course. I will post pics when its painted.
Got my symmetrical sideskirts. I need to take the silver paint off of them.
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Ok so the paint job looks like shit, and I didn't quite finish sanding all the little spots. Normally I would be upset but it was getting pretty frail/thin and I was worried about breaking the damn thing so I want to reinforce it right away. The fitment is near perfect so I am just going to leave it as is (Not even going to wetsand those drips) and order the carbon fiber. It occurred to me while sanding my ass off that I am going to have to sand my ass off twice as hard after I laminate this with two layers of carbon fiber and three extra top coats. Here are the pictures... Don't judge me, its not done yet...
Shit1.jpg
Shit2.jpg
Shit3.jpg
So I think the strategy I am going to use here is to use some carbon fiber tape to go around the outside, then the inside, then trim, then face, then drape the finish twill sheet over the entire part. Then I will use a few extra coats to smooth things out and give me plenty of material to sand, then I will do a finish coat and wetsand that to 2000grit. This will be only two lawyers of carbon fiber and will be relatively thin (0.08"ish) but will provide more than enough strength for this static component, and allow me to finish the part without fear of cracking it.
Last edited by FiberFast; 05-11-2019 at 11:45 AM.
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Ohh, you should see this piece of shit on the car... Im going to sand some of that shit off the paint when its dry... Hold up.
ShitFit1.jpg
ShitFit2.jpg
ShitFit3.jpg
Still a bit tacky so i am going to let it dry there. Once its hard I will wet sand and then shoot another coat on it. Its really not that important as it is going to be doused in resin and fiber, but it makes me feel good. I have a little concern about separation so I am going to completely wrap the part to prevent it from popping out of the fiber shell. I will use some 0.125"x0.25" foam strip around the edges to seal up to the surface. I will use this same material on the plate to prevent it from scratching up the fiber. Should fit up quite tidy if I do my diligence.
Also I am not sure the gas cap will fit anymore. I may have to move that inside the trunk.
Last edited by FiberFast; 05-11-2019 at 04:12 PM.
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I'm trying not to be rice... This looks suitable to me. Tell me how much you hate it.
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Laminating the carbon Fiber. It is proving to be quite a bitch, I will need to do it in multiple pieces because of the geometry. I tried to do it in one shot but it was a no go. The Fiber did not want to bend in and out as much as I needed it to, so I had to cut out the inside pan and lip, rub it back, repaint it, add more epoxy. Now I am going to wait for that to dry, then wetsand some more, then to the outside lip, then rub it back, then fix the paint, then apply the face and trim, rub it back and finaly wet sand and then add about three more coats of epoxy, then wet sand some more, then drill and cut the holes, then add another layer and wetsand some more... will probably take another week to finish this fucking thing.
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You will have the most custom E36 license plate holder around.
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I will have the only one of these... Its so much more than just a license plate holder. It is also a piece of trim, and it has a hole for the lock... Also makes julian fries XDOriginally Posted by pbonsalb
Its going to take me a week to get this done because of the dry times. I will let the cat out of the bag, I am using the "Wasp" pattern carbon fiber and I would NOT recommend this material for a wet layup. It is for vacuum bagging ONLY. The reason for this (I am discovering painfully) is that the long fibers tend to stand, and without peel ply you will need to add about 1/8" of epoxy to cover them. So... Its going to take a while to build up enough epoxy to get the job done. In hindsight I wish I had stuck to a 2x2 twill... It does look, well, it looks like this.
PITA.jpg
Last edited by FiberFast; 05-14-2019 at 03:24 PM.
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I used regular 2x2 twill on just the face of the border. In hindsight I should have done the whole face with twill and then done the outside border with the wasp weave.
Each section is being laminated individually as the material I ordered was now wide enough to make it around the part by about 1/2" Rookie mistake, but it did not want to contort to that shape anyway, so all the hopes and dreams in the world wouldnt make that a reality.
And just FYI, I realize I have installed the fiber upside down. I am going to file off the high spots and buy more material. Another rookie mistake. Thats ok, I am a big boy, I can admit when I fuck up and fix it.
Last edited by FiberFast; 05-14-2019 at 07:51 PM.
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Ok so I was able to add another coat and sand the standing fibers off. The face now looks like I did not install the carbon fiber mat backwards like a fucking moron. So, I have begun the process of laminating the outside. Its starting to look real good despite my mishap. I was sure to install the border in the correct orientation, looks like it will be allot easier to deal with. XD...
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I myself am not a fan of the look but I do respect the innovative mind and craftsmanship behind it.
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Hey thanks. The gloss black was way to harsh of a contrast, I just test fit this piece on the car and I swear to god I just went to mens wearhouse. Youre going to like the way this looks lol...
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Plate1.jpg
Plate2.jpg
Plate3.jpg
Sideskirts2.jpg
This is me and my chicken Hennessy. Bought these silver side skirts and sanded all the paint off. I think I am going to rock them with the natural black plastic look and sand the rear grey area to match. This matches the flat M3 side trim I plan on installing. I am not doing an M3 rear bumper or mirrors or side skirts, just the front. More of a M-technic-ish clone. I figure I have M3 brakes, headers, injectors, manifold... I have earned my side markers (Removing M3 badging though, I am not a poser) I have added some pics of the plate trim, it does need a bit more work but I will play with it when I paint the car. I have other things to build.
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Here is what I am planning over the next year, I hope to get it all done this summer but we will see how things go.
Someonesm3.jpg
Not my car obviously, but I hope it looks something like this one day lol.
Side Mods.jpg
I will also shave the gas cap on the other side. I will move the filler inside the trunk or in place of the rondel.
Rear Mods.jpg
That's about it plus paint and new trim and seals, might do some more rolling on the fenders...
Its allot, but I have a vision.
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Looks like your going to be busy this summer
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Yea I am going to paint it too, I also did not mention all the little dents I need to fix. There are a couple gnarly ones on the passenger door. I keep dreaming about a pair of aluminum doors, but when I look at the price I realize that's all I will be doing lol...
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Ok, I kinda knew we weren't out of the mechanical woods yet. I would appear that my axles are now rubbing on my swaybar. This is not only scraping my axles to all hell and making a hideous noise, it is also preventing my car from sitting correctly in the rear.
Soooo, more suspension shit (FFS) I need either or adjustable end links (Meh) or a swaybar set with multiple adjustments (Hmmm) so I am going to look into what I want to do.
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Worse comes to worse you can always buy something proven to work well. For an E36, you should use a big front bar. Not a big rear bar. If you must have a bigger rear bar, go mild. It reduces rear traction. I run a mild Eibach rear bar, and a moderate UUC front but am about to change to a massive Hotchkis front. Some racers run a big front bar and no rear bar.
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Good to know, I was looking at an Eibach front a rear kit and it looks like the rear is just a little thicker. 18mm for the M-sport, 21mm for the Eibach. The eibach has the additional mounting holes I crave. Also, since the swaybar bushings have not been replaced its three birds with one stone. I am also looking into the posibility of using an eccentric bolt and leveling washers to adjust front camber. Many other cars use this setup and I see little reason it should not work on an E36.
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So Now that I know what I am doing with the swaybars, it occurs to me that I have some solid delrin M3 offset FCABS... Now, I have a bit much camber right now, so I am thinking if I install these I may be able to pull them back a little? Would this work?...
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The delrin FCAB are usually located by drilling a screw hole. Rotating an offset hole would slightly change geometry since the plane of the hole would change. I don’t know how much that would matter. SPL and others sell threaded rod adjustable FCAB but they are not cheap. They also reduce front end compliance, as does delrin but a little more. I have used everything for FCAB and am about to try a cheap new style rubber bushing. Don’t know how it will work yet, but I’d like to restore some suppleness to my front suspension.
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I am using the Urethane powerflex fcabs at the moment and those feel really good but I understand they wear out quickly. What was your impression of delrin fcabs? Sharp bump response I would assume... That is actually probably not good... one of the reasons I went with the shore 70 Urethane.
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