SCCA EMod MGB GT V12 Build

My second attempt at carbon fibre was a success. I made a new cowl and it's probably half the weight of the aluminum one. I'll get a weight on it tomorrow 

Kool.....when does P go to finishing school? Sorry I may have asked this elsewhere in here, but is there any original B/GT body left on this? What's the temp?  

In reply to 759NRNG :

The metal that holds the rear fenders and boot lid on is original MGB. I am just taking a few pounds out of the car and making it easier to work on and adjust. Here's a picture of the new livery on the intercooler ducting 

I made a video about making the carbon fibre cowl Here it is

Where does the air intake inlet reside in this ducting exercise?

759NRNG said:

Where does the air intake inlet reside in this ducting exercise?

In front of intercooler on passenger side. Not sure about the filter yet, might just run a screen

I made a carbon fibre spoiler that is 11 lbs lighter than the aluminum one 

Care to educate us on your carbon and fiberglass methods? If you already have, i missed it. 

Trying to learn a little bit from everyone before starting in on mine.

Edit: video on same page. I hadn't been looking at videos. 

What are you using for resin, and prep between layers? I also missed any on fiberglass....

In reply to loosecannon :

If you'd like to loose the weight of the intercooler ( and attend hoses and duct work etc).  You can switch to E85.  E85 is pump fuel there are thousands of gas stations selling it in the US.  Yes I know Canada doesn't have much  E85  but you can make your own. Just buy a few gallons of racing gas.  And add 85% alcohol.  
1 gallon of race gas and 8&1/2 gallons of alcohol. 

  You will make at least  15% more power.  In all likelihood a lot more.   The  engine will run a lot cooler (smaller radiator needed)?  and cleaner ( no deposits on the backs of intake valves)  plus it's easier on the  head gaskets,  rings & engine bearings etc.   Indy Cars used as much as 85 pounds  of boost without any intercooler. 

       There are two kinds of alcohol used for motor fuel. Ethanol and methanol. Ethanol is what we use in America. It's about 114 octane.  It's also in beer, wine, booze, etc.  so you probably would need to pay taxes on it. Unless you document that you denatured it ( make it undrinkable) 

  methanol isn't drinkable at all. It's poison don't spill it or breath it. Methanol is cheaper. It's about 116 octane. That is going to be readily available. Just Google it.  But the high quality stuff is more expensive, but worth it. 
   Do not buy a lot of extra Alcohol.  Alcohol absorbs water from the air. So if the car is going to sit for more than a couple of weeks drain the gas tank into a sealed container.  Then start the car and run it dry. 
   It's not so critical with Ethanol. But very important with methanol.  In fact I'd be tempted to drain it at the end of the weekend. 

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

I'm very new to fiberglass and carbon fibre and my technique keeps getting better, but here's what I know. If the shape is a box or something like that, carve what you need out of that pink foam with the Pink Panther on it and get it as smooth as possible. Cover it in packing tape, be careful, do a good job because the carbon/fiberglass takes on the exact texture as the surface. Lay one coat of resin (I use West 205 epoxy resin with 105 hardener) and let it sit until you can touch it and it's sticky but nothing comes off on your fingers. Then lay your fabric on it and use a squeegee to push the new resin into every crack. Add enough layers to get the stiffness you want, it will set faster in warm temperatures. After it's all set up, melt out the foam using acetone. With flat surfaces like my spoiler, I used car wax and coated the spoiler but packing tape would work, too. Repeat the above process and when it's all set up, carefully pop it off your mold, a little at a time. You can add braces made of foam or balsa wood if the structure isn't stiff enough but rough up the surface of the resin before you try to bond something to it. Each time I do it, I learn more and the product looks better and better

In reply to frenchyd :

Actually, I have pure methanol in drums that I use in my karts so I could easily mix my own E85 but it seems like such a hassle, with all the deterioration of fuel line/parts and the constant oil changes. Besides, I think I'm at my limit for injectors mechanical pump and nobody makes bigger injectors or pump for my direct injected motor. It would be nice to get rid of the intercooler, though

My construction of carbon fibre parts continues. I have built the cowl, engine cover and spoiler from the stuff and have lost 25 lbs just switching to the black stuff

In reply to loosecannon :

You can use supplemental  injectors for the needed extra volume.  Just add it to the turbo airstream after the throttle body.  That will really help cool down the intake charge air.  Plus without the length of tubing and back pressure of the intake cooler there is added power.  
    As far as your direct injectors.  How much duty cycle are they at?   Few production parts use more than 60% of available duty cycle.  For the short blasts where added fuel volume is needed ( how long are you ever at full throttle, peak RPM)? 
  Are you using the stock ECM?  You might need to go aftermarket  to deal with the added volume.  Mega squirt is not horribly expensive and is self learning.  They might even have a plug and play version.  Once you have it correctly wired to the various sensors etc  it will start and run.  Not horribly difficult for even a Luddite to learn.  

Thank you very much FrenchyD have a safe warm and happy new year

In reply to frenchyd :

There are much easier ways of losing a few pounds. Aftermarket ECU's have a terrible time with direct injection fuel pumps and while it's easy to talk about the changes you suggest, actually doing them would take me years (yes, years) to get back to where I am now with the tuning and the time and money would be much better spent elsewhere.

In reply to loosecannon :

Fair enough. 

I have been having great success with carbon fibre in a wet layup but decided to try vacuum bagging on a new diffuser. The first layer of CF went on the buck flawlessly, as did the foam core I used to stiffen the structure. Then the cover layer went on and looked fantastic. That's where things fell apart fast. I didn't feel like I had enough resin in the top layer but ran out of the stuff. The local supplier was on vacation until the 23rd so I went to a different place that had a different brand. I didn't understand the mixing ratio and the seller told me "10:1" so I bought some mixing cups and went back to finish up. I mixed the resin and started to apply it to the diffuser. Suddenly, the resin in the cup turned to jelly and I knew I was berkeleyed. I quickly threw peel ply, wadding and a bag over the whole diffuser and hooked up the vacuum pump. In the rush, I couldn't get a seal on the bag so I just pulled it all off and hope it will work ok as a wet layup

More carbon fibre bits are being constructed! My vacuum bagging skills are improving, helped by the fact that I'm building flat panels. This panel blocks rocks and water from getting into the drivers compartment and it needs to seal up tight under the hood, which it does.

What an amazing journey thus far....from a B/GT to cf inner fender panels whoda thunkit? 

I started on the electrics relocation and decided to move OBD2 port to the right side. This meant a box had to be made and I was well into adding an aluminum box to the panel on the drivers right side when I was suddenly "I can make that from carbon fibre!". Yadda yadda yadda, cue the project creep. I made the whole panel from carbon

That's how I got into doing carbon fiber. I started in fiberglass and stumbled across some out of date Prepeg.  Instead of an Autoclave oven I just added some resin and using a squeegee scrapped off the excess  it's about 90% as effective as vacuum bagging at eliminating excess resin.   It may not be as good as an autoclave for ultimate strength  but for body panels at a budget. It's a bargain.   
    I think expired prepeg needs to come from someplace that is doing a lot of airline or aerospace stuff.  
     Minneapolis /St Paul no longer fits that bill.   Nor can I find honeycomb anymore.   That used to be perfect for floorboards and decking on trailers.  A piece approx 4'x8' x 1/2 was a little over $100 if it had some surface blemishes. 

In reply to frenchyd :

We have a lot of aerospace here in Winnipeg (Boeing, Standard Aero, Magellan) and I bet if I made the right connections, I could get some offcut or blemished supplies. The FSAE team were all racing at the track today and I gave them a tour of the MGB. They had lots of engineering questions and I loved talking about all of it with them. They get stuff made a Boeing, I should ask them about that

Both doors are carbon fibre and that's an end to all the composite work, next up is a coat of paint

Arrrgh....how much does she be wayin' mate??? I bet Ms. B is just itchin' to shoot color on this What is the grill going to look like?

In reply to 759NRNG :

I'm going to guess 1725 lbs with me in it but I want to wait until it's painted to get a final weight. I am painting it this time and it's going to be a two tone livery made up of fluorescent pink and Hyundai Performance blue.