DIY carbon fiber.
Turbo Mini Forums

well i took the plunge and decided to skin my grp dash in carbon fiber at the weekend i was thinking about it ages ago and decide i didnt want to take the risk with cocking it up. seing as i have all the dash out of my car so i can rewire various bits my friend and i were chatting and decided to give it a go.

i got the stuff i needed from carbon mods and the people on the phone were very helpfull and were more than willing to give me advice on how to get the best results.

i was very impressed how easy it was to lay the carbon fabric and after that it was just acase of laying down resin.




in these pictures it has only had the first thin coat of resin to stick the fabric down. since this it has had another three coats and is now ready to be flatted back and then compounded to a high gloss finish.

once i am done i will post up some finishe pictures

"Tuning should be a compromise between what is possible and what is necessary"

10)Thou shalt always quest for more power

was unbelieveably easy, if a little time consuming,

also a note to anyone wishing to do similar, do not do it in direct sunlight

Looks pretty good.

Turbo parts collector at the moment, almost ready.

Really impressed with that, much neater than I managed with my plenum.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

www.twin-turbo.co.uk

nice job

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER

That looks good

was time consuming but im more than happy so far with the results 2 little tiney bits of the weve not perfect but hay for a first job im not complaining.

neither of us can wait to see the end result once i get a chance to compound it.

when it come to direct sunlight its ok to let the part go off in it in it just dont leave the leftover resing you are intending to use in it else your very likly to burn your self as it goes off we had steam it got so hot!!!

"Tuning should be a compromise between what is possible and what is necessary"

10)Thou shalt always quest for more power

now that is cool!! im up for getting some, where did you get it from?

i got it from http://www.carbonmods.co.uk they have youtube turorials on how to do it too and are really helpfull friendly people i highly recommend them.

"Tuning should be a compromise between what is possible and what is necessary"

10)Thou shalt always quest for more power

I got on well with the stuff from carbon mods aswell, also the resin didnt smell too bad.

Good job, you've made it look easy

Have you just attatched a pod on top and carbon fibered over it??

Yes but no few years ago I mad a glassfiber pod for the top then smoothed and bonded it on to make one peice. it takes 4 gauges means there all in line of site or near it. So u don't have to look away from the road. Since doing that I have now carbon wrapped the whole thing.

"Tuning should be a compromise between what is possible and what is necessary"

10)Thou shalt always quest for more power

that looks the tits!

Best 1/4 mile 13.2 seconds @116 mph
First 5 port miniturbo to make over 200 bhp on a carb?
First 5 port miniturbo to make over 200 bhp on Injection?

http://www.mattwoodsphotography.com

Yeah, that is ace Nice work!

the mutts nutts !!

Yes i moved to the darkside

Instagram @jdm_brett

Did you use pre-preg carbon or non?

I bought a fiberglass bonnet off ebay for about £20 a year or so ago that i just had lying about which I decided to skin with CF.

I bought pre-preg as it doesnt fray at the edges and is 'supposedly' easier to use as a result.

Only problem was that the extra strength it had meant it wouldnt sit nicely over the bonnet ridge in the middle or in the lip area at the front. Consequently when it was curing, it lifted iteself off the ridge forming a kind of bubble rather than the smooth ridge you usually get, and it looks sh!te!

Casual £70 quid down the drain.

Still, i know to use plain fabric next time!

I used bog standard carbon fiber as needed to make it fit all the curves it frays round the edges like a bugger but I didn't use the edges so didn't matter

"Tuning should be a compromise between what is possible and what is necessary"

10)Thou shalt always quest for more power

If doing a flat panel where the cloth will overlap the panel you can use masking tape to stop fraying.

Basically, stick the where you want to cut the cloth and it keeps the edge in place.

On my plenum I did this, but as I was wrapping around the mould, I had to carefully remove the tape once the cloth was wetted out.

As for the bonnet, you would most likely have had the same result with non pre-preg.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

www.twin-turbo.co.uk

How did you get the carbon to not lift itself off the mould where it wraps around the tight edges?

when skinning u apply a sticky black base coat resin (that's a bitch to get of your skin by the way taken a week!!) once this goes tacky you lay the carbon cloth on and it sticks to it and does not move. Watch te bids on carbon mods and it is as easy as they show if not easier!!.

"Tuning should be a compromise between what is possible and what is necessary"

10)Thou shalt always quest for more power

I reckon thats where I went wrong - I must not have waited long enough. It was tacky but not tacky enough so as to not come off onto your fingers. Yeah seen all the vids by carbon mods. I'll learn to not be so impatient next time

You dont need that black resin. You can use normall resin, Just flash a coat of black paint onto anything light first.

It's only black resin nothing special so yer just paint the item with black paing and using normal resin will defiantly work just aswell.

"Tuning should be a compromise between what is possible and what is necessary"

10)Thou shalt always quest for more power

bit of an update.

after laying on the resin then talking on the MISSION of sanding it down i gave it the first compound and am pleased with the results but am intending to give it another compound. to make it have a deeper sine.

here is a photo of it test fitted to the car not the best of photos.

"Tuning should be a compromise between what is possible and what is necessary"

10)Thou shalt always quest for more power

Great job, looks awesome

1972 998 TURBO SLEEPER