fiberglass intake question
 

i got bored the other day while looking at a post on HT about a DIY carbon fiber kit and remembered seeing an intak eon a site that i wanted but didn't want to spend the money on.

http://www.passwordjdm.com/images/Po..._Intake_EF.jpg

then was reading n another site that you can use that "great stuff" foam to make a mold and lay the material over and epoxy it and it won't melt the foam. started thinking about making my own intake but with fiberglass for starters so i wouldn't waste too much money if it doesn't work out.

anybody have experiance with workign with fiberglass that can give me tips on making it strong or just tips in general? figure if this works out i am gonna probly make a sunroof plug out of fiberglass or a carbon/kevlar hybrid since carbon fiber is damn near impossible to get ahold of these days.

here is a sample of the carbon kevlar material

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

this is more like an intake "type". the tsuchinoko chamber, originally from J's racing and other brands use this type, i.e. we got simota in turkey doing the same thing and it performs as well as the original thing. i'm tryna say that u dont need to buy the expensive original one, and u dont need to do-it-urself, just search eGay and find good deal. like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/HEAT-...spagenameZWDVW

btw.. that thing is SEXY...

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

wow that is cheap :o. maybe i will buy one of those just for the filter and use the pipe as a model to go off of and if mine is crappy then i will use it. i really just wanted a project to do just so that i can get comfortable with useing fiberglass and other sorts of composites so i can try and make a sunroof plug. figured an intake would be fairly easy and i need one also.

basically i got bored :y

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

have fun making the whale penis 8)

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

lol, i told a friend of mine that i was makign a whale penis. think he thought i was makign a real fiberglass whale penis

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

i mess with the glass everyday :6..what do you need to know?

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

first question, is it as easy as it seems? can i just wrap this mold with fiberglass and brush the resin on and i read somewhere that you can pour a chemical on the foam (don't remember off hand) and it will liquify the foam and just leave me with the cast?

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

haha that ---- flows as much as a k&n filter in a stock box, sux

best is the AEM TYPE R CAI, the original not the V2

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

I also work with fiberglass and composites all the time... i fix boats

yes in many cases it is pretty much as easy as it seems, what i would sudjest is to buy some pink insulation foam sinde its only liek 2" thick cut thwo pieces and cgue them together and then sytart carving the shape you want and then sand down with 40 grit untoill you get teh desired shape you want and make sure it fits in the space you want it to.... keep in mind that you will be laying the fiberglass on top of this so you may want to leave a bit of extra clearence... cut your pieces of fiberglass cloth precisely... shitty cutting jobs is what causes most people to to a lot of grinding in the end...

after you have your pieces cut, lay them around the foal shape you made and impregnate them with resin or epoxy... i would sudjest an epoxy based resin though.... some people prefer to impregnate the cloth with epoxy before laying it onto the shape or piece.... i have doen it both ways with good sucess... depends on the piece

then when its all cured and what not.... take some gas or whatever you have handy that melts that foam ----... and pour it in and watch the foanm dissapear...... really gehtto theory i know.... but I have been able to make some amazingly complicated parts using that method in the past

BTW i am planning on making a whale cock intake tube for the intake on my turbo when i get it all installed in the car... should give an interesting sound to the turbo

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

cool, thanks alot. i was gonna use the pink foam but i read that the foam spray works as good and i already had a can of it. i have to take the piece out to the car and compare today.

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

whale penis ftw and ftl...either way

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

ya try again fiber glass aka expoy resin melts foam insulation. Do it right and do a lost wax form.

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

yeah it melts foam insulation but it doesn't have any affects on great stuff foam :y

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

hahah i also fix boats..but here is what i do to make little ---- i take floral foam and make it into the shape i want and after that put dry wall plaster all over it ( i know it ghetto but it works ) because its cheap..you could also use body filler it gets a little expensive, but anyway after the filler or plaster drys sand it down with a really fine grit sand paper untill its really smooth, after that get a spray gun and shoot a good coat of laquer over top of it ( make sure you get every little spot possible or the fiberglass will stick ) then lay the fiberglass mat i always dip the mat into the resin then put it on, this way you can smooth it out and get out the air bubbles, it will take alot of extra time off sanding and stuff, then let it cure for a few hours...after its dry take gas like sailman said pour it down the tube as the gas eats the foam the plaster will become mooshy so it should come off and if it doesnt just stick something into it and it will chip away rather easy because the laquer acts as a release and if it has nothing to support it, then it will just kinda fall off...make sure you get it all if you dont you will suck it up into you engine...if you dont want to use foam you also could use balsa wood for model airplanes make a skeleton of what you ar making then glue screen to it..then place plaster over it..then do all the fiberglass bullshit and when its done drying poke out the balsa wood and then peel off the plaster from the inside( the screen makes it a little eaiser to remove )..hope i helped you out a little bit

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

If it didn't help him it helped me alot. That was pretty informative. Those whale penises are damn loud and I take another over a AEM CAI anyday.

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

thanks for all the tips everybody.


another quick question,
i want to make a sunroof plug, a friend told me that i should make a fiberglass mold of a stock eg hatch roof that doesn't have a sunroof so that it will follow the roof lines better, just the area of the roof where my sunroof is. sounds liek a good idea but what would i need to do to get it not to stick to the roof of my friends car and ---- up the paint? was thinking about just putting a few coats of wax in the area that i will be laying the fiberglass and resin, think that will work?

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

Well if you care about sound more than performance than... :l

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

its funny you brought this up.. i had just recently bought a new front bumper off ebay.. some knock-off mugen style bumper for my crx.. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=36475 (the one i had i hated) it was fiberglass and thats what i wanted, cause i wanted to make the opening in the front larger to fit my intercooler. and i new that if it needed work, it would be much easeyer then starting with eurathane.

well upon arrival the bumper did not fit well at all.. i needed to do so much work on it.
so i bought one of these fiberglass kits off ebay... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=26455

this was my first time ever working with fiberglass. what i did first was do a few little experiments to see how the fiberglass worked, hardened, the strength, how well it could be sanded ect.


this is how the bumper looked when i got it

http://img282.imageshack.us/img282/2923/15by.jpg

after test fits on my car, i made notes on paper and the bumper itself to see what needed to be cut and added on.
this is after i cut the openeing to make way for the JRC 8 inch IC

http://img282.imageshack.us/img282/2478/22uj.jpg

then i made some molds on the sides(the part that was not even close to fitting) with some duct tape, cardboard, and plastic. and added one strip of fiberglass to get a good mold.. then later added 4 more strips to the back side(inside of the bumper) to give it strength

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/4224/39rq1.jpg

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/3591/43uh.jpg

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/2032/55ul.jpg

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/8972/67nc.jpg

here it is on my car.. fits awesome now, i realy was pretty proud of myself because it came out great. ---- it fits better then the OEM one did haha

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/4595/70gc1.jpg

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/1191/93yy.jpg

http://img110.imageshack.us/img110/5761/84qh.jpg

its not completely done, and still needs alot of sanding/more cutting/fiberglassing in the opening part. but it was a good experience, i have about 12 hours just in fiberglassing/mounting/fitment alone in this bumper. but it was worth it imo

i never realized just how strong fiberglass can be when you put on several layers.. the shits like bullet proof.
i think next i'm gonna try a full fiberglass intake manifold :6

my best advise for you is to just do some little experiments first with it, to see just how it works. the hardener, the sanding, the molding ect ect..
its really easyer then you might think. just have fun with it ;)

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

Damn Noel thats some good ----, especially for your first time! Good work. Can't wait till you get that slut boosted!

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

thanks for the help

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

just spray the entire roof with laquer..it works as a release...spray it..then lay it...then just popit off after it drys

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

is there an actual release besides laquer? if you are going to make a your own, make sure you have it remotly smooth before u lay the glass. Once the glass is layed, make sure all the surface is to the part, then just start putting the epoxy or resin on it.

crx2fast: did the plastic melt to the fiberglass?

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c...1898_102487424


i don't think my friend will appriciate me laquering his roof so i will just put a few coats of wax on it instead, then lay the fiberglass down, maybe two layers and then once it cures i will cut it out and then use enough of the carbon kevlar to cover the top once or twice to give it a nicer look.

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

nope.. you peal it right off like tape.

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

thats good to know that you can just put the fiberglass w/ resin on plastic and it won't melt! looks like i am going to be doin some experiments also.

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

their is a company that makes fiberglass release for making molds
here this could help http://www.mrfiberglass.com/release_agents.html

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

guess i shoudl bump it back up since i am done with the CF sunroof. it tunred out like ---- but i can say i made it and people will defanitley belaeve me, lol. i will post pics later.

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

hey at least you attempt it...but working with carbon fiber off hand is hard and if you dont lay it right you can tell..that why most thing are made with some sort of vaccume but a sun roof shouldnt have been hard...as long as you had a piece that was bigger than the sunroof...if not you can see all the patches :S....post pics :y

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

i started with a piece bigger then the sunroof buut i had done some fiberglass layers before hand while waiting on it to arrive in the mail. the under side somehow got wrinkled, but it was pretty steardy. i tried to lay the CF by its self so it wouldn't take that shape and it came out "alright". there are streaks through the epoxy and when i layed it down on the base and resined it it kinda took the shape of the ripples, so now it isn't too flat. actually its pretty wavey. i will post pics when i get off work tomorrow if i have time to snap some or the complete project.

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

ya the best thing icould think of would be glassing the sunroof then flipping it upside down the sanding and laying a good coat of body filler then block sand it untill its smooth....then after that i would lay the carbon fiber then trim it up and it should look good :6

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

:-\ yeah i always think of how i "should" have done somethign after i screw it up the first time :-[

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

we learn from our mistake..i love making mistakes because i know im learning :6

take a look at this..this is a big help it may help you out also
http://web.njit.edu/~cas1383/proj/main/

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

wow, that is a pretty good site. crazy what he did and made it look so easy.

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

i like his idea of using old t shirts..makes it alot easier to lay the rest of the glass down you know :6

Re: fiberglass intake question
 

awsome idea :y