carbon fiber and mini trucks???

thanks for the input, I was looking at my interior today and cf would look really good in there, and the cool thing would be, I would have a mold to make more, the other cool thing is if I made a mold of the hood and my 4x4 fenders, I could make fiberglass and cf in the same mold.

when it starts getting warm out, I think I will start experimenting with smaller pieces to go in my interior, and then work my way up to larger panels.

just out of curiosity, would there be any interest in fiberglass hoods or fenders- 4x4 and 2wd, maybe 4x4 rear fenders to be grafted onto 2wd beds, I am not promising anything, but if I make molds and know other people want parts, I wont destroy them, I will definently keep the molds for interior pieces, but hood molds and fender molds are quite big, dont want to store them if I am never going to use them again. remember that cf hoods cost a lot to make, fiberglass would be cheaper.

I am just curious, it is not a sure thing I can even do this.
-Mike

there would defenatly be a demand for it.. especially if you could make b2600i hoods out of cf.
Mike

to the best of my knowledge a tuner is someone who modifies import cars and the last time i checked mazdas weren't from the states. and whats wrong with a sport truck? i love carbon fiber and think it would be awesome, its not done on minis enough.

I forgot about the b2600i hood, my dad has a b2600i so getting a hood to make a mold wouldnt be hard. I am going to have to start researching this more.
thanks guys,
Mike

Carbon fiber originates with lotus ferrari shelby, supercars, and the like. Not little rice burners anyway.
It comes from a racing back ground and has many advantages, I love the natural beauty of it when finished nicely. and I think its a crime to paint it imo, but to each their own, a Mazda with a carbon hood better have a little sum sum under the hood imo, Interior accents are a great idea!
I have a few yards of it and cannot decide what to do with it. Its expensive, and I would rather use fiberglass for most things to keep costs down. I was thinkin bout using it for accenting my door panels.

for my interior, I was actually thinking of using fiberglass/kevlar twill that is made to look like cf, it is not as strong, nor as light, but it is lighter then the stock parts and still a little bit more rigid, but it is cheaper, and it can be made with color in them.
I would really like to do my dash with red/black/grey colored. it would have the same pattern as carbon fiber, but it would be be red and black with a little grey in there instead of black and grey. and since it is not as strong as actuall cf, it would be perfect for interior panels.

if I can do my interior panels ok, I might purchase some real carbon fiber and make my sister some tailights, since no one makes aftermarket tailights for a 90 toyo celica, and since the front grills on 90-93 celicas are CF anyway, you would think the tails should match, right?



I think if the finish is nice on the cf it shouldnt be painted, but if there are a few imperfections, no reason not to paint it, it just adds about 1-2lbs, but you do have to spray on a good uv protectent clear over it or the sun will turn the CF yellow, and a faded yellow hood dont look so good over time

but thanks for the input, I'll keep ya guys updated, materials and equipment look a little expensive, so it might take awhile for me to get things rollin.
-Mike

Wasn't there a shortage of Carbon Fiber not too long ago??

Hmmm...

Well, i used to work at company that builds parts for Boeing and we get huge sheets of Carbon Fiber and always end up junking most of it!

It was fun to work with though!


Good luck!



Dev

i have looked into this aswell, i wouldn't mind having a 2600i hood, and a tailgate. the cost of the fabric is pretty high & finding some wide enough to make a hood out of one piece is a pita! i did stumble on one company that will make you a hood to your liking, but they have to make a batch of like 10 to make it worth their while & keep the cost down, maybe a group buy type thing could be arranged? i'll see if i can find that site again....

I have built carbon peices for minis, and last look had tonnes of carbon in and on it....I say go for it and if you need any help with carbon fab let me know.

sounds cool.