How To Carbon Overlay

[GT-5732]

I found this on another forum, not sure if its on here but i thought i would post it anyways.

Here's a guide on how to carbon overlay parts of your car.

You will need the following parts -

Carbon cloth (twil looks best)

resin

acetone (if u want to clean your brushes - i use cheap ones and bin them)

plenty of latex gloves

mixing pots

measuring jug

syringe (for measuring hardner)

masking tape

Sharp scissors

Some stirrers - I use wooded spatulars

emery cloth

wet n dry 400grit to 1200 grit

polish

1) measure up your carbon cloth for the piece to be covered. Then using the masking tape tape up both sides where you intend to cut the cloth to prevent pulling the weave then cut through the middle of the tape -

2) Prep your piece to be overlayed - it should be black, if its not spray it up first so a colour doesnt show through the weave. It also needs a rub down with emery cloth.

3) brush a thin layer of resin mixed with 1% harder over the part to be overlayed then press the carbon cloth gently into place and tape up to the rear of the part to pull it into shape. You may need to change your gloves often so you dont pull the weave. Leave to dry for approx 45mins

4) Start building up thing layers of resin, you will need approx 5 layers to prevent breaking through to the cloth when sanding down. Each additional layer should be added after around 7 mins when the previous layer turns to a jelly consistency. You will now need to leave it for 1 week to fully cure -

5) you will now need to trim the excess cloth off - best tool I found was a dremmel -

BEFORE:

AFTER TRIMMING:

6) Start sanding down. work your way from 400 grit up to 1200 grit wet and dry then finish with a good quality polish for a really nice shine -

[Neil]

What Forum did you find it?. It's basically the same as fibreglassing. What I'd like to know is where you buy the fibre rolls?.

[Dush]

thats is so cool.. but looks like hard work... i'll give it a miss but good DIY thread =]

[GT-5732]

Well not sure where in AUS u can buy the rolls but u can get about 90 sq. ft. for about $250, from the US, which would be more then ample to do a full interior (gear surround, dash ...ect...) i would think.

http://motors.shop.ebay.com/items/_W0QQ_fr...mp;_trksid=m270

Thats from the US but i im sure u can get it from other places within AUS at about the same price.

[FloydWestwood]

tip: when your letting it cure in your garage or whatever, put some lighting onto it, like a bedside table lamp or something that gives off a bit of heat (like you do when making homebrew or something). if its small you can leave it your oven (!) overnight if you can be bothered to sit and watch to make sure you dont burn your house down.

i definatly know that you CAN get rolls in aus, but i dont know where from.

[murrayis]

Try FGI - Fibre Glass International

[5hu7o]

thats soo kool too bad its soo expensive to do and if u stuff up i guess ur fkd?

[Silver_R34_GT-T]

just on the carbon rolls, My brother is a boat building / repairer by trade, and almost all the work the do is fibreglass,

anyway he said can order massive massive rolls of this overlay shit, he is considering usuing some to do up a few body piece on his car, (( he is making his own fibreglass guards bonnetc, boots etc

anyway, offtopic, for info on rolls, perhaps enquire a boat place local to you?

[TheTunersGroup]

thats soo kool too bad its soo expensive to do and if u stuff up i guess ur fkd?

Carbon fibre prices are currently very high because there is so much demand from Airbus.

For some types of carbon fibre there is currently a long waiting list just to get raw materials.

- Adam

Edited September 6, 2008 by TheTunersGroup

[Adriano]

Shop on ebay selling sheets of carbon firbe/carbon kevlar in different colours for $70, 70cm x 1m

[Marko R1]

that looks nice - what can i make CF for my r32 gtr

im thinking an interior part

[FloydWestwood]

anything bro. im doing my parcel shelp cf.

[super_s13]

seriously considering giving it a go on a spare dash i have. Might be good for a laugh. See how it all turns out. Is it easy to put the sheets in place or is that the hard part. Really keen to see some more parts done.

[funkymonkey]

in addition might be of help to sand down the original part evenly, just enough to make up for the thickness you're gonna be adding with the layer of cloth and all that resin. Especially areas that butt up against other parts and might be a tight squeeze. remember with CF you can always add more resin to make it look bigger, but you can't remove when its set.

[nizmokid]

did this on my GTR wind side caps!....was easy and was cheaper that buying the nismo stick on carbonfibre caps!

[super_s13]

This might be a silly question but i take it this is just an overlay yeah so your stock parts are just covered in real looking carbon fibre. This is not how you mould a whole dash is it. If not how would you make a mould for the dash. Got a mate interested in giving this a crack as well he has been thinkin bout giving it a shot for ages. Only reason i ask is the pic you posted it kinda looks like you have peeled the carbon off the stock part as in a mould. If that makes sence

[funkymonkey]

This might be a silly question but i take it this is just an overlay yeah so your stock parts are just covered in real looking carbon fibre.

Yes

This is not how you mould a whole dash is it.

No

If not how would you make a mould for the dash. Got a mate interested in giving this a crack as well he has been thinkin bout giving it a shot for ages. Only reason i ask is the pic you posted it kinda looks like you have peeled the carbon off the stock part as in a mould. If that makes sence

To do what you're thinking is a lot more involved than just laying a sheet of carbon cloth on it and resining it up. You need to start by protecting the dash (foil, gladwrap, tape depending on the chemicals you're gonna use). then spray it with a coat of gelcoat, then lay fibreglass on top of that. once the fibreglass has started to tack, you might wanna build up some wood reinforcement so that it holds its shape when you pull it off the dash. Once you've got all that done you'll have a mould, which you can use to make your plug (replacement dash).

[super_s13]

ok sweet as. There was a guy in QLD doing replacement carbon dashes but i dont know who he was. Any ways thanks for the info. I will give the carbon overlay a crack and post some pics in the future.

[Ronin 09]

note that this will crack like a mofo if your part flexes at all...

[funkymonkey]

indeed, be very careful about putting resin hardened carbon cloth in front of your face in a car when it can flex. unless you like picking shards out of your eye. as stupid as it sounds, that's one instance where a fibreglass backed CF would be better as it won't splinter as much.