Carbon fiber body panels for a ‘72

[bigmuddy]

Thanks Steve, yeah, I’ll do those if I can’t find the carbon fiber. I’d love to get all that weight off from way up high though. I’ve also seen hoods buckle in the middle with those, so I’d need to add more weight with supports. But that would be the top option, I agree.

With the new versions using hood shocks and the included long metal strap that gets glued underneath to stiffen things up, you would need to have a very compromised hood for it to buckle IMO.

 

[Thaddeusrex]

Not sure exactly what I would charge, need to do a cost breakdown of all the materials, haven’t priced carbon in a few years. Definitely don’t aim to gouge anyone on price, especially fellow board members. But it would definitely cost more than a fiberglass hood. Not a super definitive answer but it’s all I got for now!

The guy on Ebay (link above) wants $3K and won’t share any details of its origin. Too pricey, and too sketchy for me. It’s great that we have this dialogue going Dylan. Maybe if you move ahead, you can bring us along for the process? Maybe even on YouTube? I’d follow you for sure, and it would give buyers a ton of confidence To buy.

 

[Dylan_Shaffer]

I’ll definitely do a build thread at minimum to document things, never done the YouTube thing but I could give it a try. I’d also agree 3k is steep, these are broncos and not Ferraris! I still haven’t done the full cost analysis but I imagine the price will fall between the 1-2k range to make it worth doing. I’ve started ordering materials and getting my garage organized/set up.
I checked out that eBay ad, definitely lacking in the info department and the website linked on the listing is also lacking in info. The inner edges look rough but the outside doesn’t look too bad is all I can make of the ad. I’d also be suspicious if there’s not a ton of info or discourse, many aftermarket carbon parts are carbon on the outer layers and fiberglass on the inside, with a thick coat of epoxy/clear coat to mask defects.

The hoods I do will be all carbon and will be made using the vacuum assisted resin transfer method (dry fabric layup, vacuum bag and then pull resin through under vacuum), oven cured (room temp cured carbon shouldn’t be used for hoods due to the heat they’ll be subject to covering the engine bay) and then clear coated for uv stability (optional).

 

[Thaddeusrex]

I’ll definitely do a build thread at minimum to document things, never done the YouTube thing but I could give it a try. I’d also agree 3k is steep, these are broncos and not Ferraris! I still haven’t done the full cost analysis but I imagine the price will fall between the 1-2k range to make it worth doing. I’ve started ordering materials and getting my garage organized/set up.
I checked out that eBay ad, definitely lacking in the info department and the website linked on the listing is also lacking in info. The inner edges look rough but the outside doesn’t look too bad is all I can make of the ad. I’d also be suspicious if there’s not a ton of info or discourse, many aftermarket carbon parts are carbon on the outer layers and fiberglass on the inside, with a thick coat of epoxy/clear coat to mask defects.

The hoods I do will be all carbon and will be made using the vacuum assisted resin transfer method (dry fabric layup, vacuum bag and then pull resin through under vacuum), oven cured (room temp cured carbon shouldn’t be used for hoods due to the heat they’ll be subject to covering the engine bay) and then clear coated for uv stability (optional).

That’s a reasonable price range IMO. Exciting stuff. Do you incorporate hinge and latch hardware? I’m curious how that works with carbon fiber so it doesn’t have weak points where it’ll crack. I’ve never worked with the material. Does it crack before bending and need reinforcement at stress points where metal is attached?

 

[sprdv1]

Side hustles are good. So let’s see what kind of interest we can gather.
I even have things for other cars that I’ve always wanted in carbon fiber, but never really thought much about it for the bronco.

make that extra jack

 

[sprdv1]

I’ll definitely do a build thread at minimum to document things, never done the YouTube thing but I could give it a try. I’d also agree 3k is steep, these are broncos and not Ferraris! I still haven’t done the full cost analysis but I imagine the price will fall between the 1-2k range to make it worth doing. I’ve started ordering materials and getting my garage organized/set up.
I checked out that eBay ad, definitely lacking in the info department and the website linked on the listing is also lacking in info. The inner edges look rough but the outside doesn’t look too bad is all I can make of the ad. I’d also be suspicious if there’s not a ton of info or discourse, many aftermarket carbon parts are carbon on the outer layers and fiberglass on the inside, with a thick coat of epoxy/clear coat to mask defects.

The hoods I do will be all carbon and will be made using the vacuum assisted resin transfer method (dry fabric layup, vacuum bag and then pull resin through under vacuum), oven cured (room temp cured carbon shouldn’t be used for hoods due to the heat they’ll be subject to covering the engine bay) and then clear coated for uv stability (optional).

100% brother...

 

[m_m70]

I’d also agree 3k is steep, these are broncos and not Ferraris!

Never know it looking at the prices the last few years just for used parts. Thanks for keeping yours real! You could probably ask 5 to 10k and have folks lining up with their wallets out. Just what it's turned into.

 

[Dylan_Shaffer]

That’s a reasonable price range IMO. Exciting stuff. Do you incorporate hinge and latch hardware? I’m curious how that works with carbon fiber so it doesn’t have weak points where it’ll crack. I’ve never worked with the material. Does it crack before bending and need reinforcement at stress points where metal is attached?

I could definitely add in all the mounting hardware if that’s desired. I really like the stainless hardware wildhorses provides.
All of the hard points will have extra plies of carbon as well as aluminum bonded into the laminate to help distribute loads. Carbon is generally better than fiberglass as far as cracking goes and can take a good deal of flex before it goes but it’s generally best to mount to a solid point, unless you go crazy thick on the laminate. The aluminum will be coated prior to bonding in and wrapped with a single layer of fiberglass to prevent galvanic corrosion (you need to isolate the aluminum from the carbon as they don’t play nice together).

 

[Thaddeusrex]

I could definitely add in all the mounting hardware if that’s desired. I really like the stainless hardware wildhorses provides.
All of the hard points will have extra plies of carbon as well as aluminum bonded into the laminate to help distribute loads. Carbon is generally better than fiberglass as far as cracking goes and can take a good deal of flex before it goes but it’s generally best to mount to a solid point, unless you go crazy thick on the laminate. The aluminum will be coated prior to bonding in and wrapped with a single layer of fiberglass to prevent galvanic corrosion (you need to isolate the aluminum from the carbon as they don’t play nice together).

This is quite an education, thank you.

 

[Boss Hugg]

Is there a difference in resins between 'glass and CF?

 

[rydog1130]

I thought about doing a dash, hood, door panels etc then life happened ... married, kids etc ... i have rolls of fiber and matting just sitting lol ...im glad someone is picking up the torch!

 

[Quick & Dirty]

Is there a difference in resins between 'glass and CF?

Glass is usually done with polyester resin because it's cheaper and easier to work with, but also works with vinylester and epoxy. Carbon needs epoxy resin, which is more expensive, and stronger.

 

[Dylan_Shaffer]

Fresh Steel hood came in to make a mold off of. I forgot how heavy these are!

 

[Dylan_Shaffer]

I thought about doing a dash, hood, door panels etc then life happened ... married, kids etc ... i have rolls of fiber and matting just sitting lol ...im glad someone is picking up the torch!

Definitely feel the life happens part! I’m prwtty busy with work and general life stuff. I’ve always wanted to make carbon bronco parts, going to do my best to prioritize this over some other projects I have going on.

 

[Thaddeusrex]

Fresh Steel hood came in to make a mold off of. I forgot how heavy these are!

Dude, nice board too! Did u make that?

 

[Dylan_Shaffer]

Dude, nice board too! Did u make that?

I wish! Always wanted to try making a board from scratch. This board was a Craigslist find, it’s a Walden

 

[spap]

Is there a disc if you live in orange. haaaaa.
I'm glad your local

 

[Dylan_Shaffer]

Is there a disc if you live in orange. haaaaa.
I'm glad your local

Definitely simplifies the shipping aspect!

 

[Dylan_Shaffer]

Quick update here on timeline, been getting slammed at work as we close in on finishing a project. It will probably be like this for the next three weeks. It will likely be 2-3 months to have complete hoods. I was a bit optimistic with my first timeline. Still making progress though!

 

[hossbronco]

I’m definitely interested. I need a hew hood at some point because of collision damage (from a previous owner). I considered fiberglass, but it’s so heavy anyway, I’d rather just go with classic steel.

You’ll probably sell quite a few stock hoods, but I’d be interested in a hood with a more modern hood scoop. Maybe it’s not possible with the body lines, but I’d love to see a hood with a wider, lower profile scoop like in these photos. All the hood scoops I’ve seen just feel like they stick up a mile, probably because of how norrow they all are.