• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Fiberglass Parts Intrest Check

Status
Not open for further replies.
Y

yamaha racer 686

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Feb 2, 2006
Messages
3,829
Location
lancaster PA
well ive come to a point in my surfboard building where i am going to start vacuum bagging the glass to the board to make them light and strong.

I will be picking up a vacuum bagging machine sometime in the new year and will be able to bag items that are pretty much flat up to 4'x12' and pretty curved items up to 4'x6'.

i was thinking of putting a huge amount of time and R&D into doing body parts. stuff like bumpers, trunk, front fenders, hood. if there was good enough intrest

just have to make a plug, then the female mold and can go from there.

with vacuum bagging you can get almost a 50:50 ratio of resin and glass meaning everything is saturated with little excess. making the parts much lighter then their metal counterparts and lighter or just as light as the plastic pieces.

this is not a project that would be done in a week and ready for people to buy with in a month. it could how ever be ready to do the first parts by june, since i can only work on it on weekends, i have surfboards to bag up when it gets warmer, and most importantly i have to pass all my classes for the up coming semester.

so if your interested or have any questions feel free to post.

i can't do carbon fiber because that is to expensive and hard to work with, without a proper shop to do it in.
 
Nice fiberglass hoods are something I've always liked. Carbon fiber hoods scare me because they'll pop up and chop your head off in a collision. ;)
 
let me start with just oem first. then from there i can move on to more complex items.

a cowl hood wouldnt be too much harder tho a hood with vents or inlays would be a bit more difficult.

i was thinking of starting small with the fenders first.

just going and doing as much as my limited time lets me.
 
If you can do smaller parts, maybe try the dash bezel and the HVAC panel to see how well those turn out for the more complex items. Other ideas are the door handles (would be difficult) and the door opener bezels where the window switches are.
 
yea the hvac thing is a good idea. especially for us who want to get a indash setup and don't wanna mess with it.
 
KerryKool said:
If you can do smaller parts, maybe try the dash bezel and the HVAC panel to see how well those turn out for the more complex items. Other ideas are the door handles (would be difficult) and the door opener bezels where the window switches are.
Click to expand...

the only problem i see with those parts is that they are small but complex, but ill look into it.
 
PHilly said:
I'd take a OEM or cowl hood dependng on price. What where you thinking?
Click to expand...

price wise i have no idea. it would depend on the cost of all the materials to make the plug, the mold, and the part.

total cost of the plug(A) and mold(B) get divided into a certain number i can sell. then from that cost i would have to figure in the amount of time it takes me to build those plugs and molds properly(E). that gets divided into the total number of ones i can sell. then i add the time i spend making the actual part to each part(F). plus material costs of the part.(H)

so it looks like this using fenders as an example.

(A+B)/(projected number sold)=C
(E/projected number sold)=G
C+G+F+H=cost of part.

now when buying from a company they dont figure in the time of building since its salary pay. they would charge 50% to 200% the cost of manufacturing the part to make a profit.

ill try to keep the price reasonable when i start, but i do need to make a small profit or its not worth my time to make modified part.

hope that made sense.

if id have to guess i would say maybe in the range of 150-250 for fenders, oem at first then modified. but that all depends on how much resin and cloth is used.
 
Humboldtkill said:
2000 cobra R:shocked: style hood
Click to expand...
Hey that was my idea :laugh:
If you're serious about doing it, I have the top peice of a fiberglass 2000 Cobra R Mustang hood that would be perfect to mold into or build a FG hood from. It almost lays onto my stock Contour hood and looks good.
I would donate it if you're serious as long as I could get it back if you don't use it.
-J
 
biminiLX said:
Hey that was my idea :laugh:
If you're serious about doing it, I have the top peice of a fiberglass 2000 Cobra R Mustang hood that would be perfect to mold into or build a FG hood from. It almost lays onto my stock Contour hood and looks good.
I would donate it if you're serious as long as I could get it back if you don't use it.
-J
Click to expand...
Got any pics of it laying on your hood?
 
so i should be ordering the vacuum bagger monday or tuesday. have to set that up and get comfortable using it.

then its off to the junkyard for a fender.

from there its making the plug purdy.

making the mold then making the part.

im hoping to be making a fender at least by end of feb or mid march.
 
Hey yamaha why don't you make some fiberglass SVT side skirts?

Cut out those crappy jack points that fall off and just make straight clean OEM copies!

because...
a) they are a PITA to find in good condition
b) SVTs and non-SVTs can use them and they are a great cosmestic upgrade
c) They are not that curvy so you sould be able to fit them on a 4'x12' square, not to mention they are slender so you can make a complete set at once if not two sets at once. Or maybe make 3 at clip and do sets of driver sides and passenager sides. (optimize for fast production, with short turn around time)
d) clean SVT skirts without jack inserts would look sexy in any paint match color!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top