[s-cars] Carbon fiber - use, kits & self help resources

[Ian Duff]

Why carbon fiber? It's expensive, difficult to work with, and the weight
saved will be in the neighborhood of .00001 percent of the car's curb
weight.

It's possible to buy carbon fiber tubing already made, in a variety of sizes
and lengths, from sailing supply places, either as tiller extensions for
small diameter, or as spinnaker pole tubes in larger sizes. 3" is a fairly
typical spinnaker pole size. Here are a couple of links to sources for
carbon tubing:

http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/commerce/command/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=201
&prrfnbr=591&store_num=2&store_name=Sailboat%20Hardware&subdept_num=74&subde
pt_name=Downwind%20Poles%20%26%20Cars&class_num=78&class_name=Pole%20End%20F
ittings%20%26%20Tubing&outlet=

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22carbon+fiber%22+tubing

Bear in mind, doing it all in composite of whatever stripe will remove any
ability to accept movement or vibration. Having a flexible bit between the
engine and the car is a good thing, so maybe a combo of some sort of
composite for the hard parts and rubber/Samco for the soft parts might do
it.

For composite DIY, check out www.westsystem.com. Gougeon offers the most
comprehensive epoxy resin system for DIYers, now all you need is to figure
out what kind of fiber to use. Glass or Kevlar is OK. Carbon is almost
universally pre-preg, which involves specialized storage (cool, dry),
lamination (vacuum bagging) and curing facilities (oven), so carbon DIY is
unusual.

-Ian Duff.
-----Original Message-----
From: s-car-list-admin at audifans.com
[mailto:s-car-list-admin at audifans.com]On Behalf Of mlp
Sent: Tuesday, 07 May 2002 09:35
To: s-car-list at audifans.com; Audi - Lists - AudiFans;
200q20v at audifans.com
Subject: [s-cars] Carbon fiber - use, kits & self help resources


Do the list(s) have any self help pointers, tips, suggestions, resources or
general guides for either (a) "do it yourself" carbon fiber work; or (b) any
suggestions for persons or people or firms that may be interested in doing
either one off, or small production run pieces?

I'm looking for possible alternatives to replace or improve upon a present
Rube Goldberg metal/rubber intake setup.

At a minimum the work would involve 3" tubes plus maybe redoing the air box
(the "old" one could be used as a "mold" or guide for a carbon fiber
duplicate with a few changes.)

Thanks
mlp





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