Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve W
How was the stiffness/defection? They have a 911 here they showed me with a carbon fiber roof replacement panel they did, and with the palm of your hand you could deflect it easily like pressing down on a plastic trash bin lid. Didn't instill a lot of confidence in the event of a roll over, not to mention loss of chassis stiffness.
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Steve, your car is looking great! Can't wait to see it all done.
Not all carbon parts are made the same, and just like fiberglass, there's a huge variety of construction methods and stiffness/strengths possible. There's a lot of flimsy garbage out there. Plastic trash bin is a good way to describe it!
I've built a carbon roof for my latest project that I will be able to stand once it's bonded in. The carbon roof structure weighs about 3000g (6.6lbs). I've seen skins advertised as light as 1.2kg. That would be great for a race car. I'm guessing that's the sort of construction that you pressed on at the body shop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonny042
Continuing on the roof skin topic, this was by far the largest infusion I've done. It took about an hour to get to this point:
It's starting to become obvious why the oven has to be so large!
It turned out pretty great!
The final trimmed part will be about 3000g, or 6.6 pounds. Is it a bit heavier than you might expect? Well, it is fully my intention to post a picture of me STANDING ON THE ROOF once it's bonded to the shell. Preliminary testing indicates this has the strength and stiffness for that to happen.
If someone wanted a lighter version for a racecar I could make one as light as 1500g, but IMO it would be completely unsuitable for a street car.
My measurements and calculations tell me if I was to remove the roof skin from a non-sunroof car, that piece of steel would weigh 13.5 pounds, so about double that of the carbon skin.
The truthful and realistic weight savings for removing a sunroof and all its mechanisms, cutting a larger hole, and bonding on a carbon skin will be in the neighborhood of 35 pounds. |