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Suggestions
Everybody has such great suggestions, thank you!
We will definitely come out with a CHMSL (3rd brake light) kit for the rear spoiler. We are also considering other LED lighting for cars, but I don't want to give away all our secrets. I'm a little leary of making fenders and other parts that are more structural because of safety concerns. Most people who run fiberblass fenders are drag racers who have complete tubular frames and bracing. Those cars are really just shells on a race car which is what the fiberglass parts were meant for originally. Plus the cost involved with tooling up fenders, producing them and warehousing them for the limited market may not be the best business move, but we'll see. Never say never. I want to keep things modular for now to make it easier for customization by my customers, but we are designing other non-stock looking parts including front and rear spoilers. I was actually thinking of a low profile rear spoiler instead of a taller one, but this is where I listen to all of you to see what people want. I will be posting sketches on our gallery page which will make it easier for people to decide. It would be nice to have enough dough to have access to a wind tunnel to fine tune the effectiveness, but for now we will have to go with looks alone. Best, MaTT ANVil |
Matt, hope you know the 69 spoiler won't fit the 67-68, too wide. The 67-8 runs a narrower spoiler.
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Matt,
Thanks for the quick response. Sounds like you guys put the work into that hood that I was hoping for. Does the current full CF hood you have really weigh less than 30lbs? Is it fully finished on the underside, including the parts visible between the bracing? How long would I have to wait for one of the current CF hoods you are making? Do you think early December might be too early for the smooth underside full CF hood to go into production? Could you PM me with a measurement off of your prototype decklid? I have a Dynacorn body and haven't found a single decklid that comes close to fitting. I need to know what the length of the rear edge of the decklid is.( by rear edge, I mean the one that would be considered the closest to the rear bumper) I am ready to get one of your full CF cowl panels. Should I just place the order online? Thanks for your time. Jim |
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Man, awesome parts you've got there! Those cowl panels are awesome, I love the grille!
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hoods & spoilers
Please allow me to reply to several posts at once in the sake of time.
We started with the rear spoiler for the '69 and are working on the one for the '67-'68. Since I have a '69 it was the natural choice for me, but my wife's cousin has a '67 that I have access to for fitting. The measurement for the width of our deck lid is 52" on the nose at the rear lip measuring from the back of the car. It weighs about 15 lbs. Our 100% cf hood weighs around 17.6 lbs. Our carbon top layer with fiberglass lower layers hood (least expensive) weighs only abut 24 lbs. I think that December is a realistic timeline for the "bare" hood with no understructure. Anybody who wants parts that we have available on our web site should order on the site. WE have a 10% discount until the end of this month (Sept. '07) so get 'em while they're hot! We already sold out of 100% carbon fiber hoods and won't have any more for about 2 months. Now, keep in mind that I am testing the market and didn't make a whole lot of them because they are expensive, so now the market is talking and I'm listening. If anybody wants to place an order for one before the end of the month, I will honor the 10% discount, just know that there will be a wait. Best, MaTT ANVil |
Matt:
What type and duration of Warrantee do your products have? Do you, "Step Cure", your products? Are your products safe to use with under hood Turbo Charging applications? (Lots of heat close to the hood over fairly short durations but occurring 100's or 1000's of times) Have you checked the stability (Warping) of the hoods in higher temperatures? (150-200 F.) Also, the Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE) is different between a cured fiberglass part and a cured Kevlar part. Given this, is there a chance this will cause de-lamination issues due to seasonal changes in temperature? (What type of chemical coupler do you use to prevent this?) What Methodology of Testing was used on these products? (ASTM ?) Have you done any testing with the Gel Coat regarding degradation due to multiple temperature cycles from below freezing to 200 degrees? Gel Coat products can discolor and/or become brittle over time. Do you artificially age your products to check for this? How about Thermo-shock testing? Hot engine to cold car wash or rain shower could cause surface fractures can occur. Here in Texas the top of our car in the summer can literally burn your hands if you touch them. I spent a lot of time in the plastics industry and once parts got to be fairly large, shrinkage under cure could become substantial, and depending on the chemistry of the resin used (DOW 828, 826, Ciba-Geigy High temp products, etc.) What kind of tolerances can be maintained with your production process? Sorry so many questions, your the prices are good and I would like to buy several items. Even with good pricing, the totals add up. I just wanted to follow up with these issues before making up my mind to order. Thanks for your Patience, Best Regards, Ty O'Neal |
Matt,
Again thanks for the quick responses. 1 more question: On the full CF hood you are currently making; Is the underside, between the bracing fully finished? In the picture on the website it appears that the cowl induction places and bracing are fully finished but the areas in between (IE: the back of the hood top) appear rough. Is that correct? Thanks for your time. Jim |
technical questions
Ty,
You obviously know a thing or two about plastics and bring up some good questions, but first, I feel compelled to say the following: People have been commenting on our quality and decent prices. Most American companies that manufacture goods that are labor intensive, from hand lay up composites to consumer electronics and medical products, have them manufactured over seas. Even the computer you are using right now is more than likely made in China. Most cell phones and i-pods are made in China. It's the only way to bring products to the American market that are affordable. I remember when made in China meant crap. Well, with the influx of western manufacturers forced to go overseas, along with it came all of the technology and know how. I've been to China and I've seen it first hand. They have everything they need to make products there as well as we can here, but the workers aren't going on strike. They work hard and and it is highly competitve, so they are eager to please (kind of like it was here back in the 30's through the 50's). Now, I don't want to go into a social disertation here, so I'll just say that I did look into making cf parts here, but I was quoted almost the same price that my current retail prices are. On my last trip to China, I visited several factories and met with many factory reps and came away more impressed than my last trip 6 years prior. So, in order to meet my goal of making cf parts at an affordable cost with quality at least as good or better than the sheet metal parts that are currently available, I had to have my parts manufctured in China. I also have an industrial design firm that develops all kinds fo products for all kinds of companies including Fortune 100 companies that manufacture almost all if not all of their products in China. If you go to many of these companies, you won't see any manufcturing done there. It's the new paradigm of business. Design, engineer and market the products here and manufacture over there. If you go to Apple, who has some of the best designed and made products on the market, you won't see any manufacturig done there, but they still employ a lot of people mostly highly skilled labor. Anybody who owns a business in California knows that manufacturing here is almost cost prohibitive because of air quality regulations high cost of living, etc. I'm all for the environment, but I'm also a business man and a car guy who wants to provide products to this market. That being said, lets get on to the technical stuff. Based on the past products made by my factory who has made hoods etc. for import and domestic cars and motorcycles for several years, the quality is as good as can be produced without using aerospace practices (read cost prohibitive). Based on other hoods produced by this factory that have been used on cars with turbocharges and race cars, my products are safe to use with under hood Turbo Charging applications. They have done testing at race tracks in the past as high speeds without any adverse effects. I've also done my own tests on cars that run hot and left in the sun with no yellowing, fading, delaminating or warping. All of our carbon car parts are made with high temperature resistant raw material, including resin, gelcoat and other material. There is a UV protective clear coat on all cf surfaces. As you know, nothing lasts forever and any plastic left out in the sun and the elements will eventually degrade. But, who in their right mind would leave their nice car parked outside for years after spending so much time and money on making it pristine? I've seen BMW convertibles that have dteriorating seat belt buckle housings because they were exposed t too much UV. It's just the nature of plastics. However, the factory that is making my parts has left a hood that they made out in the sun for 2 years without fading. Because the clear coat is the same as what is on the surface of modern automotive paint, you can polish it to bring back the shine if it ever does become dull. With the proper care, our cf parts should last for a lifetime without fading or delaminating. I guarantee our parts won't yellow, fade or delaminate for one year after purchase. We have a limited warranty that our products are free of defects in material and/or workmanship for the life of the product under normal use and environmental exposure and conditions (not for race applications). These warrents don't currently show up yet, but will be written into our terms and conditions. Steel has a CTE of 11.1 and glass is 8.5. The CTE of carbon fiber is nearly Zero, the CTE FOR fiberglass is very low, so the total CTE can be nearly ignored. So the shape of a carbon hood has very little change from Summer to Winter. We aren't currently using kevlar in our parts. It's true that thermoset plastics continue to cure for a long time after their intitial demold time, but so does concrete. They are almost completely cured and very stable with the fiber reinforcement after the initial thermal reaction has cooled down. I am not making highly structural pieces like fenders and core supports, because of the structural implications. For now, I will stick with parts that aren't relied upon to hold the car together. I am an honest and straight forward guy and don't want anybody to have any misgivings about what I am doing and how I am doing it. I am very excited about Anvil and it's potential in the growing muscle car market. I want it to be a company that provides quality custom parts that people want at a price they can afford. It can't be all things to all people, but we will do our best to satisfy our customers needs. I welcome any questions anybody has. Thank you for your support! Best, MaTT ANVil |
underside
Hi Jim,
The current hood we are producing is unfinished under the understructure, so if you wanted to modify it by removing the middle part of the understructure you would have to finish this area to smooth it out. Just remember to leave the structural layer around the perimeter of the hood in tact to keep the hood rigid. You would have to blend in this area with fiberglass and spray the underside black to match. We will be coming out with a smooth underside hood in a few months. Best, MaTT ANVil |
No problem here
waiting for a cool splitter
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Matt, this is really exciting for all of us. You have taken "aftermarket" to totally new level. I wish you a best of luck and when my project comes to a pont when body panels are considered i am seriously thinking your parts. Spoilers for sure now! |
Apparently, my online order 2 days ago got there just before the 100% CF hoods ran out of stock. I'll post some pics when it arrives ...
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I'd love to see a Carbon Fiber SS style hood for a first gen camaro. :yes:
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Matt -
In addition to your body panels, have you have a nice market for interior panels too. Door panels, inner rear panels with speakers, kick panels, center consoles, etc. Also, if you made a nice CF gauge cluster for 67-68's to replace the flimsy Covin Classic one, that would be great too. |
A real carbon center piece for 67-68 dashes would be bought ASAP by me. :unibrow:
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Interior pieces
You guys must be reading my mind! I plan on doing a custom center console that is made up of several pieces so the consumer can further customize it by addding foam and leather to top area that come in contact with skin (like arm rests, etc.) and leave the sides as bare cabon fiber. Other areas might be begging for paint or aluminum trim. I am looking at Camaro consoles and other GM consoles of the era to use as design influence, but come up with a totally unique design. I might even include a cup holder or 2 if people say they want that. We'll definitely make a carbon I.P. (car design speak for instrument panel). I think the second gen has a nice I.P. already, so making a carbon insert is a piece of cake. The '67 & '68 aren't so bad unless you want to add more guages, but it's pretty simple, so it would be easy to make a panel that fits right in. The '69 Camaro on the other hand is a mess with that clock in the middle at an oblique angle that matches up to the overhang on the dash pad and the recessed guages, it's going to take some manipulation. I'm sure we can design something that is cohesive and functional. The thing that makes it hard to make an ergonomic design for the gauge cluster is that everyone wants to use a steering wheel that is much smaller than stock with a thick rim , so it's hard to see the gauges. For this reason, I'm thinking of moving the smaller auxillary gauges on the second gen out so you look at them over the wheel instead of inside the wheel where they get blocked by the rim on modern day aftermarket steering wheels.
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Matt: Thanks you for taking the time to address my questions. (I know they were very very specific, and you chose to be, "Frank" with your answers. I appreciate that) I'm impressed with you being able to put these types of parts together anywhere in the world and keep things coordinated enough to deal with the types of customers on this board. (They are informed and insist on good quality control) I look forward to adding some of your parts to my car as that part of the upgrade rises to the top of the priorities list. Good luck with this endeavor, and I look forward to many more "Options" for us to choose from. Thanks again, Best regards, Ty O'Neal |
A CF dash like the design of the DSE panel would be great. Maybe with a glove box door.
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Matt,
I just ordered a full C/F cowl panel in the nick of time. The internet was down out here. I will place an order for your first full C/F smooth underside 2 inch cowl hood as soon as you guys put them up for sale. It will be bolt on and use the same latch, right? I envision this hood being like the one stenod made for Mark Stielow's Camaro X? Anyway, please let us know if your future production plans change. All I need before paint is a hood. That and the wheels I ordered from Bonspeed 8 friggin weeks ago. Thanks for your time and for bringing these products to the market, Jim |
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Yes yes yes !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
smooth underside hood
Jim,
Thanks for your order and your support! Yes, the smooth underside hood (or as I like to call it, the "bare" hood) will be a bolt on piece and use the same stock latch. The bare hood will be good for clearance, but remember, if you are using a carburator, the cowl induction only works as a functional apparatus if the hood is sealed to the air cleaner. Otherwise, a cowl hood just acts as an air extractor, except for at very high speeds whereby air rushing over the hood and hitting the windshield creates a high pressure area forcing air into the opening at the rear of the hood. Our current hood retains the true cowl induction set up, meaning the cowl area under the hood is fenced off to the rest of the underside which, in turn, will create a ram air effect at high speeds. If you are running fuel injection, you can use our upcoming bare hood and just leave the vent open in the back or seal it off making the cowl induction raised bump a means to allow for more clearance (or a more agressive look). Eventually I will come up with a cf carb pan and foam seal that will replace what is currently on the market. Best, MaTT ANVil |
I would be interested in a C/F center console trim panel for a manual trans (T-56) to fit a '69 Camaro, and possibly a guage pod simialr to the Autometer setup for the front panel of the center console... any pretty much anything else you can make for the interior. Maybe even an insert to cover the opening behind the shifter trim in the same console (seat belt buckle opening)... or hell just make a conpete center console for the Camaro.
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smooth cowl panel
I had a request to make the cowl panel for the '67-'69 Camaro without the holes cut out for the vent area (in other words, no vent area just carbon fiber all the way across). I wanted to see if there was a market for this. Another version would be a smooth cowl panel without vents and without wiper holes. I could even make it with the raised areas around the wiper holes smoothed out, but that will take making another mold. I would like to get feedback to see if anyone else thinks there is a market for this. Anyone care to resond?
Thanks! MaTT ANVil |
Hey Matt, if you could make a hood like what's on Charlie's Mule, you might have some business there. People with turbo's and superchargers typically go in or about these locations. The vents are not only effective, but cool looking to boot. https://lateral-g.net/lillard/11.jpg
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hood vents
Oh Yeah! That's what I had in mind only a little different. Very cool look, literally and figuratively!
MaTT ANVIL |
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Here would be the HOT seller.. a CF rear spoiler with a built in LED third brake light. Trust me on this.. :) |
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Besides, I'm closer than you are! :p Now go finish that bad ass car of yours! |
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The car's almost done. 2 more things left. |
'67/'68 Camaro
It's always nice to be fought over :lol: :willy:
But seriously, I will be needing a '67 or '68 Camaro for a fitment model as I get a little further along on the follow up to the '69 rear spoiler we are making. I do have access to my wife's cousin's '67, but I don't want to wear out my welcome with him. I would greatly appreciate whom ever wants to work with me, and there will be plenty of opportunities for upcoming parts. Just PM me and we can sort it out. Thanks! Best, MaTT ANVil |
Anytime :thumbsup:
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I'm not sure anyone has mentioned it yet or not, but is there any chance of, Hiding the windshield wiper arms?
Who all her would be interested in it? Thanks, Ty |
hidden wipers
Ty,
That's an interesting idea. Kind of like a lot of the '70s GM cars where the hood came back to the windshield and flared up t allow a gap for the wipers and the venting for the heater/AC (I wonder why no cars use that anymore?). It would be as if you grafted the cowl panel to the back of the hood and made it one piece and flared it up in the back. Heck, you might as well graft the header panel on the front too, that would give you a long hood like the second gen Camaros. The only problem I see is that the hinge position might have to change in order for the back of the extra long hood to clear the cowl and windshield when it is opened. If it does clear, you wouldn't have that safety slot under the hood to look through in case the hood flew open while you're driving. That would take some experimenting, but it would make for a streamlined look without so many gaps. Another thing that might be hard to get around is that the wipers sit proud of the surface of the cowl panel, so they may have to be repositioned deeper into the cowl so you don't end up with a really high hood near the windshield. MaTT ANVil |
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Given how my car seems to be a target on the roads do you have any body panels made of nerf? ;) |
Matt,
When will the full CF decklid/ spoiler be available? I am interested. 52" rear length may be exactly what i am looking for. Let me know. Jim |
deck lid & spoiler
Jim,
I'm working on getting the shape and fitment just the way it should be before I ramp up production. If all goes well, I should have production parts by December, maybe sooner. Did you get your cowl panel yet? MaTT ANVil |
I got my CF header panel and cowl panel today! These parts are amazing! Great quality and they look awesome! Quality pieces, if you guys are even considering these I'd suggest jumping on them, you won't be disappointed!
Thanks for helping out with the Patriot Dream project, Matt! http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...20Camaro/1.jpg http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...20Camaro/3.jpg http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...20Camaro/4.jpg http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...20Camaro/5.jpg |
Matt,
The cowl panel did arrive at my Parent's house. Thanks, they sent me some pics. It looks great. Do you still think you might have the smooth underside cf hood out in December? I will be your first customer once you make those available for pre-order. Same for the decklid/ spoiler combo. What is your priority of work for upcoming new parts? I know you are busy, but I ask because I am prepared for paint in December and want to know if the smooth underside hood isn't going to happen in the next few months. Have you had any other requests for the smooth underside hood? To my knowledge there is only 1 other company making them. I think you will sell quite a few, especially if the price is in line with your other products. Talk to you later, Jim |
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