Carbon Plenum

General Composites Discussions Composites Talk
#1

Been designing and building a new intake system for my Noble over the last 4 months, as I think the plastic original is so ugly and its on display on my car… not tested it yet but hope to do so in a month or so.

The engine is a ford V6 from a mondeo (UK) / Contour (US) although the car was a british low volume sportscar.

On paper for a whole heap of reasons it should perform well on my particular engine package due to the cams, turbo, redline etc etc… I had my car on a hub dyno the other week to get an actuator baseline power reading so I can do a direct comparison after its fitted.

However increases in power isn’t my main goal, I want DBW and it more efficient… and if it doesn’t work it will go in the bin lol.

I usually make my parts in resin infusion as I didn’t have an oven, but I wanted these cured to 120 deg c so I built myself an oven and decided Id try pre preg, this was my first ever part in pre preg :slight_smile:

The plenum top was a 5 part mould, but in fact it only needed to be 2 as I removed it as 2 parts leaving the others bolted together (better safe than sorry), I cured it in the mood to 80deg c then de-moulded and post cured it to 120 deg c.

Had to make 12 trumpets, one inner and 1 outer for each port.

Current plastic intake, allows me to make over 700bhp, but isn’t great for air flow, is tuned for 1500rpm less than mine and most importantly looks Ugly!

#2

Serious business Andy! How’d you enjoy working with the pre-preg, being quite experienced in resin infusion? Took me awhile to get used to handling the stuff haha.

#3

Wow! Do you have pictures of the mold?

#4

Nice work. Very.

It’s a nice change from dry layup to pre preg. Each process has it’s advantages but, prepreg is hard to beat in may way. :wink: I’d love to see what you come up with next?

#5

Not that many

Starting making the mould from the buck

Mould being made

Bagged and ready for the oven.

#6

Yes had to learn fast, I was not expecting it to get continually stickier. I used the pre preg plastic covering to stop my hands sticking which was pretty effective.

The BIGGEST revelation in the process for me was the breather cloth, made a massive difference to my ability to get a perfect bag seal every time. I used it on the rear of the mould and edges. I have been using it on the infused parts since.

Also the oven makes a difference to infused parts as they release so much easier as well.

#7

Man that looks great!

How are you attaching the bottom where the trumpets are to the top? I know nobles run a decent amount of psi unlike a NA engine.

#8

Have you used Easy Composites Unimould and Easypreg materials Andy? If not, what have you used?

Plenum looks great, good job!

#9

Oh, and my old motorsport lecturer used to say you should be confident to stand on it to be strong enough for turbo applications… how would you feel about that?!

#10

I would be happy to stand on it yes as it is very stiff :slight_smile:

To bond the lower part on i will make a titanium ring which I will thread, I will then put that inside so I can bolt the 2 parts together and bond them using structural adhesive, probably overkill.

#11

correct, 1 layer surface, then backed up by 3 layers of 450g

#12

Solid layup, I wouldn’t hesitate to jump around on that! :stuck_out_tongue:

#13

Id like to know which pre preg you are using too.

Very nice.

#14

Easypreg, Fasta. Pinhole free perfect finish off fibreglass tools every time once you’ve sorted your oven and cure schedule.

Super expensive, but it’s consistency makes it worth it.

#15

Very nice part Andy!

#16

Easy comp . It is Cytec vtm 261 in 245g and one of the mtm series for the 400 g .

#17

As an amateur I have learned as I go, had no previous experience… with taking only easy composites advice and products (as their advice relates to them) I have managed to make my entire car in carbon along with loads of other parts and not had to put anything in the bin or make loads of test parts.

If you know what you are doing you can shop around, but as a beginner/ amateur I saved loads by buying only from EC.

The plenum was the first time i had worked or seen pre preg, I took advice from them on making an oven from EC (gave me an eBay purchase list), bought the materials they recommended, watched their video… then made this plenum which came out perfectly first time :slight_smile:

#18

Your parts always look really good Andy, I’m not on here very often apart from when I’m trying to vampire advice from people to fix my issues, but I remember seeing your stuff over the last couple of years and have always been impressed… I want to go pro with my prepreg stuff so am trying to find a more cost effective way of making things, but if I was just doing it for myself I would just use easy preg and be done. To be honest it’s still a realistic option, even after investing months in trying to save cost!