making large fiberglass parts

hi, sorry to bust into your forum for this question, but i tried all the car forums i belong to and they all say just buy parts and connect them.

im starting designs for my next project car a nissan 240sx. please leave ricer comments out cause i hate them too. i want to make a 1 piece hood/fender part from fiberglass. since i havent done anything larger then a kick panel for a speaker this is kind of a big thing for me and i want to get it right. i prefer building all my car parts then buying stuff already made. this way if it breaks im the only one to blame not some company that will say its not thier problem when it most likly is. id like to think about a little larger cowl but if i can nail a bone stock looking part that would be awsome too.

my main idea is # lightening up 100lbs is .1 in the 1/4 i figure to make it sturdy it will probably be less then 100lbs lighter but every bit helps. i want it to be sturdy for daily driving not crack off in a year. and yess i am taking safty precautions of rollbar system.

i forget which year corvette had it but the entire nose and fenders came up as the hood opening. that what im going for. id like to have the whole thing lift up to the nose instead of just the hood to the windshield. its something i have never seen on a 240 let alone on a lot of cars. and it would make getting into the engine and tuning the suspention much easier.
anyhelp is apriciated. if this is to much trouble for you guys then just please delete it.
i need to know the best way to do it, materials and all for not breaking the bank too hard.
thankyou
flyboy367@aol.com

 

more than one car had / have a hood / bonnet like that.
once made one using the original parts as female mold but found most of the work in the hinging and locking system. also check the DMV.

 

Welcome aboard, flyboy!
What you describe sounds closely related to the hood/fender mechanism of most tractor-trailer cabs (the whole hood, fenders, etc. tilts forward on hinges as a single unit). Might be worth looking at a Freightliner for inspiration on the hinge/latch system.
If you want to keep the shape of the existing parts, you can probably mount them on some sort of temporary wooden framework and use them as a plug. You'd need to fill the gaps with something and flash-tape over the seams to get a smooth surface, and you'd probably want to vacuum-bag the part.
Was about to suggest you find a paint shop that can do 90 Celsius and use prepregs.... that would be expensive though. Wet-layup fibreglass with a foam core (Airex, etc) is probably the route to go. If looks matter, you can make the exposed layers out of carbon-fibre twill. (Then everyone'll think you have a custom carbon body.)

 

Maybe you could post a picture. Maybe you could say how much money you wanted to put into the project. To get it to look good , you will have to have considerable skills in things like bodywork and finishing, manual muscle motor control skills, be mechanically handy, have a workspace and some tools and be able to pay a lot of attention to details. If you don't have much experience with fiberglass and bodywork it is sort of a complicated project to begin with. I splashed a mold for a 1 piece hood/ fenders for a Lotus race car. Splashing a mold is easy since you don't have to design and make a plug to begin with, but it still involved making a 9 piece mold because of all the negative curves and flanges. I didn't have to do any designing on the hood as far as strength, attachment points, clearances etc. as I could more or less copy what I splashed the mold off of, but laminating involved cores, stringers, imbedded metal reinforcing, a good amount of restricted "overhead" work done blindly or with a mirror and attention to detail to keep the weight the same as the 13 or 23# original, I forget which.
What does "nail a bone stock looking part" mean? You might be able to splash a mold off of your project car with some preparation but you will still have to engineer the construction of your new hood as far as strength, attachment points etc. The Lotus hood had 2 (?) sockets in the back windshield area that fit onto pins on the car frame and somewhere on the front 2 (?) of those quik release pins with the cotter pin sort of thing to secure it, the whole hood/fender lifted completely off the car and set aside.
Here are a few moldmaking sites that you have to join to ask questions. They are for models and other sorts of odd things but molds in general are similiar and people there might know of a site pertaining to what you're looking for. Good luck. Sam
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/moldmaking/?yguid=152114484
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MOLDMAKINGGROUP/?yguid=152114484

 

huh, i have only made small parts like speaker enclosures. i kinda had the idea in my head to wrap the hood and fenders with foil then plop down my materials on that. there are places that sell fiberglass fenders. maybe if i picked up them and a hood it would be easier in the long run to glass them together and make a frame to mount it on for the flip up. right now i dont have a big budget or really time. just trying to get ideas. id like to buy a house this summer first

 

Buying the hood and fenders and sticking them together sounds like a plan. The tin foil idea could work as long as there were no negative curves that would stop you from getting the piece off the car, but you would still have a lot of body work to do to get it to look decent. Sam

 

one piece front ends

Have a look at the drag car scene and see how they get round the problem of hinging and lockdowns etc . Choose your materials wisely when you are making the finished parts assembly . There are a lot of things to take into account making car body parts.
Just mould off a car and set it up and remake the part inside the mould you make off the car .
It'll be big and floppy when it comes off , make sure it has some framing to support it and wont distort out of shape over time .