Carbon Fiber

I have a new project and I am thinking of covering the fire wall w/carbon fiber and then clear coating it. The carbon fiber would be applied over a steel fire wall. Any input on this would help.

Thanks; Bob

 

Good luck with that Bob, Its too high tech for me.

 

if you like carbon do it out of carbon carbon over any other stuff is .........
by the way ,carbon on a rod is ..........

 

it would be hard to do in one piece. Carbon needs to be "baked" in an autoclave. you would need access to a large one... = $$

 

you wont need to clear coat it, the resin will take care of that. you thinking make a graphite cover, or actually making the firewall out of graphite altogether?

 

it sometimes gets "cooked" in a vacuum bag, on a heat pad, but i've never autoclaved it. depending on what resins you use, forming and letting it set up should be no problem.

 

I used to work for Simpson Race products and the Carbon fiber helmets were made and left to set up on their own just as the fiberglass helmets were. I also agree that if you do this with the propper resins you will not need to clear over it. I am not sure how well it will adhere itself to the steel firewall, and finishing the edge to look nice may be tough. If you only want the look of the CF you might look into finishing your firewall really smooth and then going to a vinyl graphics place and letting them cover your firewall. This stuff is pretty resilliant. I friend of mine did something similar to a race car. Keep us posted and lets see a picture of the firewall you are covering. Most here will not care for the look of CF on a traditional rod, and I agree but it is your car. Make your self happy and dont worry about it. Good luck!

 

you could just use the old firewall as a "mold" set up your graphite cloth with resin between 2 sheets of mylar, get your resin worked into the cloth, lay it over the firewall smooth it in the valleys and let it sit overnight. you should have a good hour or 2 until it is no longer pliable. check aircraft spruce for the materials. you wont be using a vacuum bag, so you wont need anything but mylar, graphite cloth (whatever weave you choose) and 2 part resin. i'm sure their tech could help you more in detail. good luck, and as said earlier it's your car, do what you want. hope this helps. -josh

you can drill the hardened material and mount it to the firewall, machine, and even countersink on low speed settings. but make sure you wear a mask, and dont let the fibers in your skin. composite fibers are hazardous, just be smart about it.

 

You could pay someone to airbrush a carbon fiber look on to it.

 

It's not a big deal just time and a little cion. If you've ever worked with fiberglass resin then your good to go. Check out this site. (www.uscomposites.com ) A great source for what you will need. Get the blue resin. It's all purpose and will take the heat. It's also thiner and easyer to work with.

 

Any time now...

 

If I did it I would loose the steel wall after and it would be a light weight firewall.

but then you'd have to change your name to mostlysteelandcarbonfiber30ford.

I guess its a doable as anything else but it looks like all you are looking for is the look of carbon fiber maybe painting is just as good an idea.

 

Spreading the gospel of traditional hot rods and kustoms...

 

There is a reason you dont see real carbon fiber and resin exposed to the world.
Black fiber + resin + sun = DELAMINATION

 

I personally dont see much difference between covering a steel firewall with a thin layer of Carbon Fibre, and using this stuff.

http://www.stickercity.com/store/home.php?cat=2299

Either way...

Traditional it aint.