TALON center tail CF overlay

[bpestilence]

Thanks to AWDRST for the basic idea on how to do this overlay!

So I like carbon fiber. Who doesn't. I have CF door handles, hatch and hood, and I don't want to stop there. Basically I want the entire top of the car to be CF, where it was previously black (for the normal two-tone look)

In order to do that, I thought I was going to have to make a lot of parts not available in CF. The first thing I tried to do was make a mold of the tail center, but it became a mess. The lack of loft on the part and its rigidity made it impossible for me to take it out of the FG mold I made. Complete mess. So this idea came next.

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Here is the starting point. A junkyard tail center. This one is badly faded, has no black on the letters anymore, and is cracked in several spots. A great place to start!

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So the first thing I did was to sand it all down. Epoxy resin doesn't like to stick to smooth plastic.

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Then Mix up 4 ounces of epoxy, and paint it on. This is the basic process that AWDRST told me about. The epoxy becomes a handy glue to put the overlay of CF on. The idea is to let it gel and then stick on the CF.

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But since it is a complex shape, I layed the CF on before it gelled too much, so that it could still move around. I had to do a lot of stipling to get the CF into the various grooves. Then I kept working it until it set up and wasn't going anywhere.

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First layer of epoxy over the CF. 8 ounces of epoxy here, which is not enough to fully cover the weave.

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Second layer of epoxy. 4 more ounces. This is enough to cover the weave. At this point, there are a lot of high spots that I am going to have to sand down.

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After that, a few more ounces of epoxy for filling and touchup.

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Sanding, sanding, sanding. I still need to do more sanding. There are some bubbles that ended up as pockets, and a few spots that I ran out of epoxy build-up to sand down.

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I then spray several layers of clear-coat. This makes it shiny but shows where a lot of bumpy spots still are. At this point I need to block sand some more, especially in the lisense plate area corners (where the epoxy is thick and a little cloudy), then spray again and repeat until I am satisfied.

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While not 100% done, I mounted the piece to make sure it fit. I think it will be hot once I put some more work into it!

So what I would have done different:

1) The first "glue" layer of epoxy. I should have used a black resin dye to help hide the reflector color where it peaks through the weave. Not a major problem, but if you look really close you can see some red spots in there.

2) Vacuum bag. After getting the CF on the part, a simple trashbag vacuum bag would have pulled everything together nicely and saved a lot of work.

3) More sanding!

 

[JEFFREYCASTGSX]

Thats freaking tight!!!!! Now im gonnna do this, though not to my middle tail light.

 

[brainlessher0]

Nice work, We offer a similar service for the eclipse rear deflector piece - the lettering.

What clear are you using?

 

[Imback]

Came out good.

 

[420aNEWB]

wow...i would like to do that on my eclipse..

 

[DWR-DSM]

Thats a great job

 

[awdrst]

Looks really good. Spots like where it says TALON are tricky somtimes to get perfect. Another trick that we do is paint the entire part black before you put on the resin layer. We test all of the paint we use by spraying a small test part and letting it dry and than putting on some resin to make sure there is no reaction. This will hide any color showing through. We have alot of luck with krylon paint. I have done the black dye trick to but just make sure that the resin is cured enough that you don't push the black dyed resin into the carbon fiber. You can also try 3m super 77 spray adhesive but I have only had luck with it when using ester based resins. Great job again looks really good.

 

[Dsmj89]

Wow great job !

 

[tunethis]

That's a good job. Looks like a lot of work.

 

[->PrOjEcTGS<-]

That looks great!! The only thing I noticed and I would have done different was to lay it the other direction so that your Hatch and center piece line up and the weave flows the same direction.

 

[2point3Tsi]

I would really like a list of materials and cost, if possible. where do you get cf and is the epoxy and resin the same as for working on fiberglass?

 

[awdrst]

If you have worked with fiberglass already than you have a big headstart when working with carbon fiber. The resins you use are the same(epoxy or ester based). The only downfall is the material is very expensive compared to fiberglass.

 

[myturbo]

where can i get the carbon fiber sheets

 

[EDM95]

Looks good.

 

[blcknspo0ln]

I would really like a list of materials and cost, if possible. where do you get cf and is the epoxy and resin the same as for working on fiberglass?

probably uscomposites.com

 

[bpestilence]

uscomposites, or even eBay. I think I bought this CF on eBay, but it was a while ago so I am not sure. But you can usually get great deals on large orders, single yards, or even scraps on eBay. Just make sure they are rolled, not folded, and make sure you are getting the kind you need. Plain weave is commonly found but plain weave won't match the 2x2 twill weave that most USDM CF parts are made from.

The epoxy resin I bought at a local surfboard shop. It is used here to build boards and is higher quality than ester resins. But you can get ester resins at the auto parts store, WalMart, or many other places.

Oh, and the weave being the opposite direction? I did that on purpose. Frugality. I would have had to use twice to CF to get the weave to lay the other way, and it sort of helps draw the eye to the TALON letters anyway.

 

[->PrOjEcTGS<-]

I did that on purpose. Frugality. I would have had to use twice to CF to get the weave to lay the other way.

Can you explain this? I don't understand why you would need to use more. I have never worked with carbon fiber before. Can you not just flip it over so it lays the other direction?

 

[bpestilence]

No, only one side of the CF has the shiny protective layer. The other side is raw and won't look the same. This may be true of only the material I used, I don't know.

I would have had to turn it 90 degrees, and then instead of just using 1/2 yard of material with little waste, I would have used a full yard with a lot of waste. Perhaps if I had made two pieces it would have been better.

 

[Bud92gsx]

Wow...Amazing

That really looks good on you car too BTW!

 

[->PrOjEcTGS<-]

No, only one side of the CF has the shiny protective layer. The other side is raw and won't look the same. This may be true of only the material I used, I don't know.

I would have had to turn it 90 degrees, and then instead of just using 1/2 yard of material with little waste, I would have used a full yard with a lot of waste. Perhaps if I had made two pieces it would have been better.

Right on!! Gotcha... Thanks!!

 

[bpestilence]

Now that I have the basic gyst I am going to overlay a few more parts. This isn't really going to help my goal of making the car rediculously lightweight, but it will look better.

So, CF mirrors, cf quarter window covers (these things):

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And eventually I want to overlay the entire roof. Fortunately all these parts are already black so I won't have to worry about peakthrough.

 

[blcknspo0ln]

just an fyi, be careful of which epoxy you use. I bought some resin from uscomposites and tried overlaying myself about 3 years ago. The resin yellowed after 2-3 months in the sun, so be wary!

 

[bpestilence]

The epoxy I used is UV stable. Made for surfboards. Plus UV stable clearcoat.

 

[shredwin]

Very nice job. I have never seen that done on a Talon before

 

[awdrst]

ALWAYS use a automotive clear coat on parts that will be exposed to uv light. Even though alot of resins you can buy have a uv protection after a while they do break down. I have tried almost every kind of resin with no clear on it and after time it will yellow.