This is a topic I’ve been interested in years so I was pretty excited when I came across this video series on Youtube. I recently saw a Cobra on Corral.Net where the owner had remade many of his heavy OEM parts in carbon fiber, bringing the curb weight of his car down by some-500 pounds. Clearly that’s a pretty ambitious project, so my goal is to slowly replace individual pieces on my car with lighter carbon fiber variants. Carbon fiber is about 3x as strong yet 1/5th as heavy as steel, making it ideal for automotive applications.

This video shows the basics of the process done with relatively inexpensive equipment available to almost anyone. It’s a good introduction to carbon fiber, but you wouldn’t want to use this technique for structural pieces of your automobile, although some brackets and interior pieces, etc. should be fine. I will go into depth at a later time but felt like sharing these videos with you from Youtube as an early starting point. If you feel so inclined to begin making your own carbon fiber parts, please let me know so I can show your work on Stuck in Second.

Part 1

In this first part, the instructor cleans the stock part thoroughly using a cleaner called PartAll Paste #2 by Rexco. The next step is to apply PVA (Poly Vinyl Alcohol) to create a thin film over the part so you’re work won’t be stuck onto the part. Finally layers of carbon fiber material are cut and epoxy is mixed for application.

Part 2

In this video the epoxy and layers of carbon fiber are fitted to the mold. Note how the air is removed from the epoxy to ensure the quality and no bubbles are seen. At the end, the parts are left to cure until they are dry. It may take several hours.

Part 3

Now that the parts are cured, they must be bagged and a vacuum is used to remove the air. Any vacuum pump should do fine here. The bag is stretched over the parts and a hose is attached through the plastic fitting. The parts are wrapped in Peel-Ply then breather wrap which allows resin and air to flow through it. Once the vacuum is sealed with vacuum bagging tape, the air is sucked out.

The video mentions the number 20 PSI, but it looks like they continue to suck out more air. Once cured, Once the air is removed and the parts have cured, they can be removed and the molds are separated. The parts are then trimmed up. At this point you can drill holes needed, polish, or sand as needed.

Part 4

In the final part of this short series, the instructor mentions how to use the parts created to design a mold, so you can create parts. For some items, you could simply create the part. But for a complicated shape, the part you created in the steps above would best be used as a mold to put carbon fiber *into*, so it’s the same shape and size as the original piece, making a perfect fit. West System Brand 404 High Density Adhesive filler is mixed with epoxy to form a paste which is used to fill in dimples and patterns so give you the copy of the part.

This last video also shows the process to separate the mold from the part and how they can be trimmed with shears.

The parts used in this tutorial were purchased from Fibreglast. For more info about this specific workshop, check this forum thread at the Bay Area Rider’s Forum. There is a written / photo tutorial of the process here and user discussion that spans several pages.

So now that you know the basics, order some materials, give it a try, and share your results here!

Update: There’s another guide showing user’s carbon fiber parts on a Honda here.

You might also like:

• The Secret Life of Cars

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