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MadScientistMatt
MadScientistMatt PowerDork
4/27/18 11:40 a.m.
wheelsmithy said:

Sounds like you're building a pickup. 

Rebuild what's there with chickenwire and spackling, and don't worry too much about effing it up. Can't be much harder than AMC flares,devil

For that matter, chicken wire and plaster can be a viable way to make the mold as well.

NOHOME
NOHOME UltimaDork
4/27/18 1:40 p.m.

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

I think that is where wheelsmithy was going with this..

My problem is that as soon as we mention the word "Mould", I go directly to the pre-preg carbon fiber catalogs and start designing the oven and vacuum source for doing carbon fiber. Sooooooooo much less goop and mess than fiberglass. ( I think)  Kimini here we come!

 

By the way, I echo the thoughts about the cab dimensions; it is cramped inside a 31 or 31 Ford PU.

 

Pete

MadScientistMatt
MadScientistMatt PowerDork
4/27/18 1:49 p.m.
NOHOME said:

In reply to MadScientistMatt :

I think that is where wheelsmithy was going with this..

My problem is that as soon as we mention the word "Mould", I go directly to the pre-preg carbon fiber catalogs and start designing the oven and vacuum source for doing carbon fiber. Sooooooooo much less goop and mess than fiberglass. ( I think)  Kimini here we come!

As I've been planning to make a carbon fiber bicycle lately... do you have any recommendations on which of those catalogs I should pick up?

Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 MegaDork
4/27/18 2:12 p.m.

We all know god has a sense of humor. 

Case in point:

I had sime new places to go on my rounds today, and a gps that insisted on going through bumberkeley. On the side of the road i found the truck in the link (on phone. Trying to upload a buch to the forum is a pita on my phone). Somebody has built it almost entirely from 1x1 tube and flat sheetmetal. Its a little rough, and the lack of curves throws off my eye, but damn its close to looking right. Could this be done in a little more polished and refined way with simple metalworking tools? No English wheel, nohome. I don't have the desire to learn that level of metalworking at this point in time. 

Crude but inspiring

AngryCorvair
AngryCorvair GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
4/27/18 2:18 p.m.
Dusterbd13 said:

In reply to AngryCorvair :

Ill go halfsies with you. You get c4, i get body. We convince stampie to pick up and holf dor a minute until i can get down there....

my friend is going to hold out for an '87 or later.  he's watching copart auctions as research, hoping for an LT1/AT car to come up.

Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 MegaDork
4/27/18 2:27 p.m.
AngryCorvair said:
Dusterbd13 said:

In reply to AngryCorvair :

Ill go halfsies with you. You get c4, i get body. We convince stampie to pick up and holf dor a minute until i can get down there....

my friend is going to hold out for an '87 or later.  he's watching copart auctions as research, hoping for an LT1/AT car to come up.

Thats prbably best for my wallet and marriage.....

DWNSHFT
DWNSHFT Dork
4/27/18 5:30 p.m.

For the body, just sayin'...  Speedway Motors Truck Kit

 

Dusterbd13
Dusterbd13 MegaDork
4/27/18 5:44 p.m.
Dusterbd13 said in a different thread yesterday:

In reply to AngryCorvair :

Thanks! Its my all time favorite car. Ive chased the joy of that car through a bunch of others while it's sat. When i think about it, ive been a berkeleying IDIOT for not finishing it sooner and instead building different cars chasing the same emotions and feel.

I need to listen to my younger self. Finish what i have started before building this. Put the frame and stuff in storage for another day. 

Jim Pettengill
Jim Pettengill HalfDork
4/27/18 10:00 p.m.

FWIW, the Full Custom Garage series (on MAV-TV, 214 on DirecTV) is re-running the series on building a supercar body for a Boxster chassis, and they mocked up the body on the chassis, then pulled a mold for a full fibreglas body.  Interesting documentation and it was a bit of a bear to complete.  The show is worth looking up and watching.

frenchyd
frenchyd SuperDork
4/28/18 6:34 a.m.
SVreX said:
frenchyd said:
SVreX said:

I would not pull molds from a mint condition car. It's too easy to mess it up. 

My first effort with making molds off a car was the Mumpkin in 2015. It took 20X as long as I ever would have imagined, used 4X as much resin as I could have conceived, made 100X the mess I expected, and the finished product was 10% of the quality I had  hoped for. 

But Im glad I did it. 

I'm also glad I took the molds off a parts car. The car was a mess when I was done. 

Then you did it wrong.  Sorry but the car ( pattern) should be in better shape than when you started. 

Did you?

Start with a smooth body? Give it 4 thick coats of wax? Use a PVA ( poly Vinyl Alcohol)  release agent?  Eliminate reverse drafts by making flanges or split joints?   Use the Gelcoat as your first layer? Precut all your fiberglass and set it out so you could pick it up with resin coated gloves?  Did you squigee the excess resin off.  And as soon as the resin started to “kick off” ( harden) or get leathery did you use a utility knife with a fresh blade to trim around the pattern or mold?  

No E36 M3. 

Of course I did it wrong. Did you notice the fact that it was a first time effort (just like Duster)??

Honestly, the condescending attitude makes me not care too much how knowledgeable you are. 

I sincerely apologize. I was trying for brevity and wound up coming across brusk).  

I learned from someone who made a career out of making molds and selling fiberglass parts. Someone like yourself trying it for the first time without that guidance likely would have all the issues you mentioned.  

Maybe with everything on UTube  it’s easier?  I don’t know.  I hope so. 

DeadSkunk
DeadSkunk UberDork
4/28/18 7:02 a.m.

Andrew Nelson's website has a good photo series of how he  built the one-piece front end of his 2017 Challenge 240Z. There's a lot of work involved to do it right. Take a look at  paccracing.com  to see the build.

Knurled.
Knurled. GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
4/28/18 7:51 a.m.
frenchyd said:

Did you?

Start with a smooth body? Give it 4 thick coats of wax? Use a PVA ( poly Vinyl Alcohol)  release agent?  Eliminate reverse drafts by making flanges or split joints?   Use the Gelcoat as your first layer? Precut all your fiberglass and set it out so you could pick it up with resin coated gloves?  Did you squigee the excess resin off.  And as soon as the resin started to “kick off” ( harden) or get leathery did you use a utility knife with a fresh blade to trim around the pattern or mold?  

 

takes notes furiously

Jumper K Balls
Jumper K Balls PowerDork
4/28/18 9:55 a.m.
Dusterbd13 said:. i ASSUMED the v12 would be far cheaper and easier.

.

Oh man! V12's are never cheap. There is just so damn much of everything. The machine shop bill for a bore, hone and valve job can be astronomical. I have built Jag and Packard V12s and a Cadillac V16.

Its easily double the cost in machining and triple in parts for some reason. Especially if you are building a motor with no support. It is one thing to order a set of pistons for a small block, it is quite another to call up JE and have them make you twelve custom ones. Add in the challenge Babbit bearings???

A lot of the off the shelf parts for old american motors like this are of astoundingly poor quality and not at all inexpensive. I cannot remember the brand of pistons that I want to say Kanter carries but I have seen them out of balance by ounces, not grams. It really sucks to have to pull a newly built 1200lb Packard V12 back out of a car because of a failure of crap parts.

But after all that I have to say I LOVE the feel of an old Packard 12. That silent idle at 300rpm, The effortless torque,

twentyover
twentyover GRM+ Memberand Dork
4/28/18 9:08 p.m.
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