cf intake and valve cover

General Composites Discussions Composites Talk
#1

i know there has been some discussion on this topic but i need some more info.

  1. I need to know why the manufacturers put aluminum bungs in the valve covers and why they use aluminum throttle body adaptors and flanges on the intakes.
  2. How do you join the cf and the aluminum parts together?
  3. How do you make the valve cover molds? Do you just make a female mold and then make a part cut out for the aluminum ring and then make another mold? Same for the intake plentum?
  4. Can anyone give me info on where to get the bladder material and how to make them? Do you make one bladder for each runner and then one for the body or is there a way to make one bladder encompassing the runners and the body?
  5. How thick should the valve cover be and the intake ?
  6. What resin systems to use?
  7. Do the parts have to be bagged? I am assuming so but do not know.

here are picture links to help see what i mean

http://www.modacar.com/products/Honda/Civic/MODAVAC/

http://store.wspisp.net/stores/ceriousperformance/catalog/2--B16carboncoverred005edited.jpg

http://www.theoldone.com/components/intake_manifold/

This is a very important topic to me and i would appreciate all of your guys’ knowledge…especially Evan cf and cf joe. thank you

#2

Any time you want to attach carbon fiber to something, you need to have a hard point to mout it to. Carbon fiber is soft and can’t handle to concentrated pressures at the bolts.

Attaching aluminum to carbon fiber is very bad if there’s direct contact. The electrode potential of carbon and aluminum are on the opposite ends of the scale. The two together will cause severe galvanic corrosion. The two parts will need to be electrically isolated. This can be done by anodizing the aluminum or by adding a layer of fiberglass between the aluminum and carbon fiber. Titanium or stainless steel works better in this application.

Ideally the hard points should be in the mold during lay up.

If you want to make an intake, you have to vacuum bag. The interior should be as smooth as possible or else you increase the boundary layer and effectively reduce the size of the plenum.