Cntrion Build Log for carbon fiber, doors, fenders, hood and trunk
 

I thought there may be some people who might appreciate the process we are going through in making the composite parts for my 69 Nova project. Feel free to comment on any of the pictures I post...

As of today we have a complete mold for the trunk. We are currently working on smoothing the insides of the door panels and making all the edges smooth and also blocking the door skin.




As a personal note: I do not like the look of bare carbon fiber parts nor will I make any bare carbon fiber parts. I am using carbon fiber for its strength and material properties, not its look. The doors will look and operate just like a steel door. No one will be able to tell these parts are carbon fiber unless I tell them...

some pics of the trunk mold

pics of the doors where we are smoothing the wrinkles around the inside edges and blocking the skins. You'll notice a lot of the recesses of the inside of the door are gone.

I am waiting on a few supplies to make the first trunk lid. i got 200yrds of carbon fiber last week but not my fiberglass that i need. I cant wait to see the first few parts.

Are you going to reinforce the hinge and latch area with some kind of steel insert?

Nice work and pics :thumbsup:

We are going to use floating nut plates for the hinge mounts, very similar to the way the factory mounts the steel doors. The hinge points will be reinforced with extra carbon fiber and kevlar on the stress points. I am also going to add a crash bar to the doors that will be used on the street on cars that dont have roll cages. Maybe I shouldnt use the word crash bar, but that gets the point across.

Thank you very much, Its nice to have some support and words of encouragement.

Fantastic! My Nova could use a diet of carbon fiber!

This is my Big block chevy block from dart. Aluminum, 4.6 bore, cnc clearanced for 4.75 stroke, brass lifter bush, 4 bolt billet caps. I was a little shocked when I picked it up out of the box and put it on the shelf... 85 lbs.... engine will be 565 cubes. All part of the slim fast diet program for the nova.

enjoy the pics of the engine as well... the intake is a Kinsler Cross Ram. It will give me an intake runner length of 28 inches... Torque anyone??? should have 600ftlbs at 2000rpm and max at 850ftlbs by 4800rpm...

here is a progress video of the molds for the doors and a quick tour.

Very Impressive.

Thank you!

In a couple weeks Ill have the molds done for the window frames. Those will be the most complex. 3-4 piece mold for the frames...

We are also contemplating making the hinges from carbon fiber. They would be surprisingly easy to form and mold since they are stamped from a flat piece of steel...

We would mold in replaceable brass wear bushings. maybe even use carbon hinge pins. I could even use lighter tension springs since the composite doors will be lighter.


Any Ideas?

I agree. You seem to have thought things out very well....:thumbsup:

Tell me, are you going to do any interior door bracing for side impact protection?

I was going to ask if you planned on reproducing any of those parts, but after watching the video, it looks like you're already going to. :cool:

Any word on when the parts will be ready? I'm definitely down for a set of doors and trunk lid, maybe more if you have plans for any other parts. And I'm actually stoked that someone is making parts for a Nova first instead of the Camaro. :thumbsup:

I have thought about this a lot. I could make a serious door brace and tie it into the latch and hinge points if someone wanted one of these door sets for a street car, but I am hesitant. I really don't want to take someone's life into my own hands by saying the doors have side impact protection. The end user will have to use their own discretion.

With that said. I have designed a carbon/Kevlar door brace that will be available upon request. It will only add about 4-6lbs to the door. I am talking about a serious brace here as well. In my humble opinion, the composite doors with the brace will be MUCH more durable than the original metal door. Remember that novas don't have the crash bar that camaros do. Look forward to some very entertaining videos of destructive testing of these doors. (10lb sledge hammer beatings, 45acp rounds, run over with a truck, etc...)

I am hoping to have the molds done in 2-3 months. I have one guy working full time and one guy working part time on the project. Plus me coordinating the project...

I am making fenders and hood as well. I could make inner fenders, but since my car can't use oem inners, I would have to have a couple people interested in buying them before I would make the molds.


I am making these primarily for my nova project. The main reason I'm selling parts is to offset the expense of producing the molds. I'll have 6 months labor plus materials just in the mold sets. But of course, the final product will be worth all the extra hours we are spending making these parts perfect.

Feel free to ask questions about the process, and everyone please share ideas if you have any...

I cant wait to see the final product.

Wow I might have to buy everything you make, then! :lol:

Interested in the inner fenders, actually, since I need to modify mine since my wheels hit them under compression. Need to modify them where they bolt to the fender and possibly widen/lengthen them, so I might just buy yours if they fit what I need. :D

I cant wait to get them done as well:) :)

I really like camaros, AND I really like novas. I would like to make all these same parts for a camaro as well. Camaro parts would actually be easier than these parts.

Any progress on this?

I need me some carbon fiber for the Nova! :_paranoid

Here are some pics. Ill post tonight explaining the progress...

more pics

Awesome, I was just afraid you'd given up on making the parts. Can't wait for them to be ready! :thumbsup:

Any progress here? How is this stuff holding up?

Carbon...
 

Really nice! Keep up the good work.

The guy hasn't logged on since March. If he comes back, I'm sure he'd appreciate the comments.

good job, i plan on doing this as well for the same parts. I will atleast TRY to get the inside of mine to look showable, but paint the outside.

Bump, anybody know what ever came of this?