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View Full Version : 2005 STI carbon fiber, vmount, Borg Warner



Neons4life
04-23-2009, 02:08 PM
Thought I would post some info on my car I have been working on for about 6 months now.

Custom twin scroll header and up-pipe made by myself
2 Tial 38mm wastegates
PWR intercooler (vmounted)
PWR radiator (vmounted)
DEFI gauges
Apexi AVCR
Apexi turbo timer
Apexi RSM
UTEC ECU
HRE C93 wheels
BC Racing coilovers
Sparco Pro 2000
RCI harness'
Rotated intake manifold
custom charge pipes made by myself
Tial 50mm BOV
Aeromotive FPR, Y-block, fuel rails
FIC 925cc injectors

So no that I am almost done the mechanical end of things I started to do my carbon fiber work...why make it myself instead of buy? because I love to do it myself and say that I built it.

So far I have done my hood, scoop, and custom widebody front fenders. I made molds of the originals and vacuum bagged etc. I got the process down fairly well now. Took lots of practise and some errors haha.

Enjoy some of my pics so far.

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/Neons4life/JamesSTI027.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/Neons4life/HREJameswheels011.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/Neons4life/BWturbo002.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/Neons4life/JamesSTIJan19006.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/Neons4life/JamesSTIJan19007.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/Neons4life/JamesVmount3-23-2009005.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/Neons4life/JamesVmount4-23-2009009.jpg


I do still need to sand and polish the carbon parts plus trim the fender yet. But atleast gives an idea of what I have been up to lately :)

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/Neons4life/JamesVmount4-23-2009012.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/Neons4life/JamesVmount4-23-2009014.jpg

http://i176.photobucket.com/albums/w167/Neons4life/JamesVmount4-23-2009015.jpg

EK 2.0
04-23-2009, 02:21 PM
Props on the project....

I don't know about the homemade carbon...but for me driving a civic carbon parts are crazy cheap and not worth my effort to make haha...

But love the manifold set up fo sho...:thumbsup:

gretz
04-23-2009, 02:22 PM
looks good, i never knew what your car was turning out like - Looks like you got your hood figured out too - :thumbsup:

When are you expecting it out?

BenC
04-23-2009, 03:32 PM
Fuckin wicked

Cy2k1
04-23-2009, 04:30 PM
05 STi FTW! Looking good! http://www.luxury4play.com/images/l4p/smilies/woohoo.gif

jza71
04-23-2009, 09:19 PM
let me be the first to say. . . . I Like Goollldd!

Good looking STi man. :thumbsup:

Idratherbsidewayz
04-24-2009, 09:26 AM
Looks great! Id be very interested to see this project first hand when im back in Calgary. A lot of stuff I wanted to do are on this car haha.

For the carbon, how do you get the stock part not to flex while vacuum bagging the mold? Hows the fitment of the carbon stuff?

Also, are you doing a wet-layup? If you have a vacuum pump I would highly recommend CF resin infusion. Its what we use on McMaster's race car and it makes some real slick parts. The best part is the lack of mess as it infuses while already in the bag.

Ill pm you when im back in Calgary, would love to see it in person.

Supa Dexta
04-26-2009, 12:09 AM
what turbo is it?

Neons4life
04-26-2009, 10:14 AM
Originally posted by EK 2.0
I don't know about the homemade carbon...but for me driving a civic carbon parts are crazy cheap and not worth my effort to make haha...

The making of carbon parts sure is time consuming and can be costly when you are first learning. In the end though I love being able to say I made them myself, and they will be slightly lighter also. Plus my parts won't have any fiberglass in them - just pure carbon and core materials for strength.

My first few pieces made I did use fiberglass backing but that's because I didn't want to ruin hundreds of dollars of carbon fiber haha.


Originally posted by Idratherbsidewayz
Looks great! Id be very interested to see this project first hand when im back in Calgary. A lot of stuff I wanted to do are on this car haha.

For the carbon, how do you get the stock part not to flex while vacuum bagging the mold? Hows the fitment of the carbon stuff?

Also, are you doing a wet-layup? If you have a vacuum pump I would highly recommend CF resin infusion. Its what we use on McMaster's race car and it makes some real slick parts. The best part is the lack of mess as it infuses while already in the bag.

Ill pm you when im back in Calgary, would love to see it in person.

Yeah there's lots of different process' that can be done when it comes to making these parts. My final goal is to have pure carbon parts (costly but lighter). Right now I am just doing wet layups. Been experimenting with vacuum bagging. But havn't got into infusion as it requires all different resin system etc.
My goal one day is to do it all in pre-preg dry carbon :)

The carbon just sits inside the molds - which is about 2-3 layers thick and is plenty sturdy. The fitment so far is good, it really comes down to how good you are with a cutting wheel ;)


Originally posted by Supa Dexta
what turbo is it?

Running a Borg Warner S362 with extended tip technology, T4 twinscroll inlet and .83 AR

Idratherbsidewayz
04-26-2009, 11:08 AM
Originally posted by Neons4life
The carbon just sits inside the molds - which is about 2-3 layers thick and is plenty sturdy. The fitment so far is good, it really comes down to how good you are with a cutting wheel ;)

So you're not making the molds with a vacuum bag? We found that if the piece being molded isn't structurally strong enough it deforms under the vacuum and you get a part with fitment and shape issues.

Its probably a good idea to just wet layup the molds. How do you prep them before you layup the carbon? We spray the molds with featherfill and sand them down to about 800 grit. Makes for a beautiful finish when vacuum bagged. Resin infusion really isn't that hard. If you have the equipment to do vacuum bagging you could do it too. Once the part is under vacuum, you have a clamped off small hose at the top. You just unclamp it when its in a tub full of resin and it sucks it up perfectly, spreading it around the part. Of course you need to dam the part properly so that it spreads uniformly. With a little experimentation, and very little additional cost, you could get some absolutely perfect parts.

When we pop our parts out of the mold, they don't require any additional clearcoat or sanding to look good. We do clearcoat them to protect it from yellowing though.

Example:

http://i203.photobucket.com/albums/aa206/Idratherbsidewayz/DSCN1131copy.jpg

Neons4life
04-26-2009, 12:58 PM
Very interesting, and maybe I could learn something from you. Are you the one making these parts?

As for the mold it's done in a few steps, but basically the gel coat gives me the exact fitment/texture of the original part - so no need to vacuum bag the mold. Plus the resins used to make a mold (polyester) sets up in such a short time that you can't vacuum bag.

I could go on forever and write a huge article - but might be best/easiest to chat in person.

Idratherbsidewayz
04-26-2009, 01:06 PM
Originally posted by Neons4life
Very interesting, and maybe I could learn something from you. Are you the one making these parts?

As for the mold it's done in a few steps, but basically the gel coat gives me the exact fitment/texture of the original part - so no need to vacuum bag the mold. Plus the resins used to make a mold (polyester) sets up in such a short time that you can't vacuum bag.

I could go on forever and write a huge article - but might be best/easiest to chat in person.

Im not a lead guy but i've done a few parts and helped with the rest. When im back we can set up a meeting time.

As for the resin curing so fast, you can get different kinds that cure in 24 hours with or without post-cure. This leaves you tons of time to bag it.

Ron@Revolution
04-26-2009, 05:10 PM
Project looks good and I'm a big fan of building not buying your parts. Maybe we can all get together I would like to learn more about this vacum bagging process.

Supa Dexta
04-26-2009, 09:44 PM
Originally posted by Neons4life
Running a Borg Warner S362 with extended tip technology, T4 twinscroll inlet and .83 AR

I run the exact same one.