Fibreglassing ?

[260DET]

Have started making moulds for the project Z31's doors and bonnet, no problem there but advice on finished product materials is needed. Considering using a sheet of kevlar in a fibreglass sandwich for the doors and say 4mm Coremat in a fibreglass sandwich for the bonnet, no chopped strand mat or CF. 

 

My question is, what  type and weight fibreglass cloth would be compatible? I'm thinking fairly light for the bonnet and medium for the doors as far as weight goes but have no clue as to cloth type. Supplier https://trojanfibreglass.com.au/store/

[PeterAllen]

Are you talking moulds or bucks?

[260DET]

Don't get technical with me Peter lol, I'm copying the original parts by fibreglassing over them to make a part than can be used to reproduce the original part in composite form.

[PeterAllen]

Deleted.

 

Bit of a senior moment. Content not topic relevant.

Edited September 6, 2017 by PeterAllen

[ZED660]

You had better get those pills out of the bottom drawer again Peter and then have a lay down in a darkened room for a while:)

[260DET]

The Z31 project is a race car so like the doors I made for the 280ZX heaps of weight can be saved, no intrusion bars or glass for a start. Bonnet has to be modded a lot and is pretty heavy too. Part of my query is about saving saving weight eg by using Coremat and kevlar. 

[260DET]

Anyone know what a gutted race car spec door weighs? S30 would be relevant. The f'glass doors made for my 280ZX 2+0 weighed 7kg bare, wondering what the longer Z31 doors could be gutted down to, any ideas?

[PZG302]

My S30 doors were around 10-15kg if I remember correctly. Just gutted all the window gear and locks leaving the door handles and basic rods needed to open and close. Used the standard door cards to cover the holes as per requirements for the category, and windows were 3mm perspex held in place by a leather strap over the frame and press stud.

 

S14 doors, I gutted one spare I had and went from 25kg down to 12kg cutting out the intrusion bar and getting rid of most of the electrics and hardware not needed. This also takes into account swapping glass for 2mm perspex. 

 

For the S14 I will be keeping the power window mechanisms and function as being a frameless design is a bit harder to keep neat and tidy. For door card I will probably get a set of Freddy's S14 door cards in carbon he has advertised as that is the neatest solution I have seen to cover everything and still make it a simple thing to open the door from the inside with the window net in place.

 

I also won't bother cutting the intrusion bars out of the other doors, a lot of fiddly painful work for three kg, plus its an extra level of safety from a big hit to the side of the car even with the very good intrusion bars my cage has. So I will save aboout 10kg in total for my doors when finished and fitted up.

[260DET]

For the S14 you have to have both a window and a net Matt? I'm planning on having a fixed window with a small slider to avoid having a net, I don't like driving with the main window open.

 

Have decided to gut and use the Z31's doors, only keep the basic door lock and exterior handle with a strap inside for the door pull and a string to operate the latch from inside. Don't think that mine will have to have door cards but thin ply or masonite would be my choice, light and cheap.

 

Modified bonnet and front nose with improved aero will be in composite as will the T roof inserts. Still looking for a suitable hard drying glue to fix them in place.

Edited September 7, 2017 by 260DET

[PZG302]

Will run with both window and net to give me flexibility in having window up or down. Will have window down when in dummy grid and push the button to have it go up for race. In wet weather will be able to open one or both windows depending on how fogged up it gets.

 

Also whatever window you use will have to withstand a force of 400N (check CAMS manual to make sure I got that right) hitting it, to replicate your bonce bouncing off it. 

 

Check your rule book, most, if not all categories will want some type of covering for safety, in a big hit your hand may end up in the door and being belted around there will get messy.

 

I looked at doing the cards cheap, but the shape of the S14 door and associated latches and so on make it difficult to do, plus the carbon door cards look very spanky, and should last forever.

 

In the Zed I ran with the window open all the time so it just used to sit in the door if I forgot to take it out.

 

As much as we all whinge about CAMS, at least they do have specs for what is required to make our cars safe for use on the track.

[260DET]

At Lakeside, when driving with the window down, a rock thrown up by the car in front came through and hit me just under the right eye. Which is one of the reasons why I prefer a closed window with a slider positioned well back.

[PZG302]

I only wear a full face helmet with visor down on the track, seen the damage that can be done when things come loose or into the cabin, some of it not very nice at all.

 

With the old Zed the seat was a fair way back and also offset to the left as far as possible, so that did help a bit, plus the window net I ran in the Zed was one of the older style fine mesh nets that caught most things as well.