Carbon Turbo intake's ?

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#1

Am I wrong in this appproach ?: I made an aluminum intake for one of my turbo charged Z’s. My Idea/approach is to make a mold of it (clamshelled)…then make the two halves with CF,bond together with Epoxy and continue to wet layup further layers until a sufficient build is had. Clear coat with as high a heat clear as I can find.
The areas of the plenum which need a dense build for hardware would perhaps be blocks of CF that I’ve pressed/forged for machining and then bond to the tubes/runners. I have tossed the use of aluminum for expansion differences.The heat of an intake in a non-crossflow head can be extreme.

:?: You might think"whats wrong with just making them out of aluminum ?"
…Nothing ,other than that is also very time consuming and it heatsoaks.

I only plan on making about 10 of these total unless I can devise a less labor intensive way.

I’m asking: Does anyone on this board have experiance at this type of work ?? :slight_smile:

I’ll try and post a pix…Vince 8)

#2

thats purdy

http://www.icancomposites.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=336

this guy here is doing the same thing you are looking to do. the same way you are saying you want to do it.

#3

Thanks Zerodaze ! :stuck_out_tongue:
But chances are Saxman’s plenum will not be in a “Boosted” environment."see"Carbs below it !(Saxman,…chime in if I’m wrong re: that) .

:!: A Intake that includes CF mounting parts for “fuel injection” and “head mounts” along with pressures internally exceeding 20-25lbs of boost can be put under an emense amount of stress !

So I was hoping that some structural engineering might set some fundamental minimums on the laminating steps besides “guessing” ?Or overbuilding unneccasarily.

Saxman,that intake you’ve done DOES look nice ! :slight_smile:
…Vince

#4

his plenum is for induvidual throttle bodies, and if i am not mistaken is going to be for a boosted application (i am working on a very similar project)

i just figured his project is a start on what your doing (minus the runners)

anywho, that car is really sexy. i cant get over it.

#5

yes… mine is for a boosted application… granted it’ll never see over 10 psi though, so I imagine something for a z will see more heat… also, mine won’t see nearly as much heat as it doesn’t actually ever meet up with the head of the engine. I don’t have mounts for the fuel injectors or for a flange to meet up with the head as that is all contained in the throttle bodies, so I don’t quite have to worry about the stress that you are

so far, i made it exactly as you’ve listed… I made a plug for the part in high density foam, then pulled a mold off of it with a vacuum form machine, making a polystyrene mold

I then laid up my part, and popped off the two halves

I spent a while trimming it up… reinforced the seams with a strip of carbon on the inside and on the outside. I’ve since added several layers of woven fiberglass to add some strength and bulk… i will be adding several more layers of carbon before I’m finished. I plan on making small runners so that I have clearance for bolts to mount to the itb’s

haven’t really considered compressing carbon and working it… I was planning on laying up 10-15 plys or so between two sheets of plexiglass and letting it cure… should give me a good flange to bolt up to the itb’s

right now, I’m workign on making it air tight… I poured a little bit of water into it, and notices drips forming on the outside, so it’s leaking a bit… I’m hoping several more layers will help to reduce this

#6

Yeah…that IS a nice piece Saxman ! :slight_smile: So you ARE doing a blow-through carb,cool. I’ve also got a set of triple 44mm Mikuni’s and a stainless twin turbo exhaust manifold I had considered doing in a blow-through with …I just was abit unsure of the venturi vacuum caused by the boost ? I’ll get to that another day.

Nice mold too Saxman ! I’ve yet to build a vac box/table. I bet that’s a good time saver. :idea:

                         ................Vince 8)
#7

actually not a carb set up

they’re individual throttle bodies off of a honda crb 954rr

set up for fuel injection

the vacuum form machine is a wonderful tool to have… great for making wet lay up molds(I’m sure it’d work for vacuum infusion too if you reinforced the mold)… sadly, I don’t own it… it’s something at school I get to go use as I want

#8

Oh yeah,I see now! Nice. Are they a larger bore I.D> than you started with factory ?
They should make a great "howling :twisted: " noise combined with your new CF intake plenum ! I can’t wait to hear the CF version of the aluminum one in the Z. It sounds tough already around 6500-7500 RPM .

It flowed SO much better than the restrictive factory intake that I blew 2 Garrett T3’s (thrust bearings) until I got the return spring rate,blow off valves dialed in.What an oily mess in my intercooler that was.I had to Go through a 5 gallon pail of Laquer thinner to get to rinse clear ! :roll:

Saxman…so how many layers do you think you’ll end up with total for your HP goals ? Or better yet,…how thick a crosscut depth ? .125 ? or thinner ?

Next Spring I get to finnally start on doing simmiliar parts for my RB26DETT and All Wheel Drive 240Z. I’ve had it on a cart for about a year staring at me every time I walk past it in the shop…it seems to say “YOU LOOKIN’ AT ME ?” :twisted: :lol:

Makes me feel like the worst kind of “ENGINE ABUSE”…know what I mean ?
…Vince 8)

#9

Vince you should lay up the 2 havles with the thickness that you want, then put them together. It’s pretty time consuming to do it the other way regardless of how many parts you are producing. Getting the nice and smooth finish at the end would be harder to achieve to and you will end up with a larger OD than your original piece.

I don’t know, maybe I read it wrong.

#10

factory is a single throttle body at 58mm or so and a really restrictive intake

these add up to about 82mm of surface area

the idea with the individual throttle bodies is to significantly increase throttle response, boost low end torque, and remove most of the turbo lag… trying to get the power application of an n/a car with the hp and torque numbers only a turbo can provide

#11

Yes,I think you got me Evan…and that would seem to reason ,on the final exterior finish.Outside increse wouldn’t be a big concern (within reason) …It’s the inside that needs to stay big/original to mold.
I’ll do some “applied force” research and see if I’m overthinking this abit ! :wink:

Saxman…You got that right (about response time ) I couldn’t believe the difference that manifold upgrade made ! :shock:
It felt like a 150hp power adder (ass dyno ) lol.
…Vince 8)