Forget TT5 lets go off the deep end, Twin Turbo V8, Widebody Boxster

work is continuing on the carbon panels. I have both rear quarter panels done, a door done, the front flares and one from fender mostly done.  I think I've gotten far enough to feel confident it's all going to work.  Once the skins are done they need to be sanded down, top cost applied and some panels will require a lot of work making attachment points.   It's going to be a LONG process.

in the meantime, why not start another project!  NASCAR is ditching their small wheel setup and going to 18" wheels which means there is a ton of cheap NASCAR brakes out there that are made for working with small wheels like I have.  I'm going to redrill the rotor hats and put a spacer between the hub and the hat to make these work...I'm not sure if this is sketchy or not.   Look how massive these brakes are though!  The rotors are almost 2"s thick, twice as thick as the stock rotor.  Thanks to NASCAR switching their brake setup this is over $10k in new parts (only the brake hats are used) for less than $1k.  I still need to find a master cylinder solution. 

In reply to Box4VIR :

Looks amazing.  Make mine next!

The tricky bits are coming out ok.  I was sure these pointy bits would be tough, but still smooth sailing.  
 

Looks very good .I can't believe how fast you are popping these out .

This.is.amazing. 
I'd be so dang proud of myself I'd post every single sheet. Well done. 

In reply to grover :

Haha yep, that's exactly what I'm doing.  I'd hang them on the refrigerator if I could.  Everyone of them that pops out I think, how am I doing this?  

So as it turns out, cars have a lot of body panels...but I'm getting close.  These are all in various stages of completion, I haven't sanded any of them down for the clear coat yet (hence the waivyness).  I think I'm going to paint them with a matte clear to take the shine off (maybe help hide some blemishes too...).  I have about 40 hours into this right now, which all in all isn't bad.  Probably have another 40 before the car is back together.  

So you are just molding over the stock bodywork?  I'm assuming just heavy application of mold release?  

Are you doing 1 or 2 layers of carbon?  Roughly what does say like the Door panel cost you in materials?

This is amazing stuff and I will probably follow you molding the LMP360 for it's next evolution.

In reply to nocones :

LMP360!  What an honor:) I did one layer of fiberglass and two layers of carbon 10oz and I'm laying them right over the factory panels.  I've been covering the panels with clear packing tape and then coating them with 3 layers of release wax. The packing tape acts as a release agent on its own and if all else fails the tape will pull off.  The carbonfiber ia discounted 2nd quality carbon from US composites. A door would cost you under a $100 all in.  I'll post up some more details, let me know if you anything specific to ask!  
 

cheers,

Have you considered vacuum bagging your carbon lay ups? Or are you familiar with the concept? 

I had put together a vac bag once upon a time and used it to build composite longboards. I had a large group of friends that were all board builders and that's what we all used for this stuff. (FG reinforcing, full carbon and foam core racers, recycled cardboard decks, etc)

Dang, you take a month off of a thread and THIS happens...

My favorite Boxter right here.

Wow. That is some nice work. 

I've started working on the top coat and wow..tons of work.  Resin is tough to sand through to say the least.  My orbital sander died last week so I bought a heavier duty one that could hold up to the resin...it last four hours and failed.  What's really frustrating is that inside of the panels is perfect.  I think creating a negative mold would have actually decreased the total time significantly. 
 

I used to much resin with these parts. 6 hours of sanding between the two.  50 sanding discs used (orbital 80grit). 

Since the resin is so hard to sand I've started to use as little possible.  I've tried coating parts and then scrapping all of the resin off, this seems to work pretty well.  The only resin that stays on the part is filling the voids and the mesh.  This is a part that was made using the low resin approach.  The camera really picks up in every light reflection so it does a good job of showing the weave coming through the surface (not su visible in person).  I'm going to try and stop here and clear coat it.  Hopefully the clear coat will knock down the weave surface.  

The carbon fiber lessons never seem to end.  But it's coming along..I have two panels done (the first two shots below) and I'm trimming about 6 more panels which are covered in wax below (the wax allows the resin to cure).  if the panels don't look straight it's because: 1) I have no idea what I'm doing 2) the panels I made these off of all had a little too much tire wall love in their past.   Don't worry the last photo is unfinished parts.  They'll look like the first two shots once the wax comes off and they're polished up.  
 

In reply to Box4VIR :

You may not know what you're doing, but you're doing it! I'm gonna play with composites someday. For now, I'll sit back and enjoy what you share.

I'm trying hard not to show off literally every panel but... I can't myself.  Im so pumped how this is turning it!
 

I finished the hood this weekend and continued test fitting the panels. I'm loving this project!  

The rear cover with exposed exhaust is sexy as hell!

A lambo door kit would make mounting the door skins sooo much easier.  But then I'd be "that guy".   I'm all about jut having fun with the car and doing stuff like this but, I don't know   What do you guys think?  I'd have to drill it out I'm sure it's heavy   Under $200 bucks though

Do it... You have a cool enough car nobody is gonna look at it and go woah that's riced out.

Yeah, so I'm gonna need to follow this...

Still lots of sanding, trim, etc but test fitting is going well 

well, the roof came out a little rough.  I hid some of the problems with these round air intakes.  I stole the air intake design off a 90s supercar.   Who recognizes the car I took the design from?

What issue are you having sanding the epoxy?

I usually work with 4oz or 6oz fiberglass. I squeegee as much resin out as possible, leaving a really rough surface the texture of the cloth. Then come back with a hot coat. I add a bit of xylene to the hot coat and microwave it for a few seconds(time depending on quantity). These steps thin it considerably and let it lay down really smooth with a brush. Sometimes I'll even add a pinch of microballoons into the hot coat, which improves sanding, but it doesn't look as good over color(or in this case carbon).

I sand with an 8" pad on a polisher set to 1500-2000rpm. 100→150→220 then clear.

In reply to buzzboy :

I've solved the issue thankfully. I am using resin that requires a wax coating to fully cure.  I wasn't using the wax coating...