Louvers for a race car
I have never done it before but it did not look that hard, just a lot of cutting and prep
they get painted so I shot Duratec primer in the mold
Ply schedule: 2 plies C/F 1 ply Kevlar 1 ply C/F 1 ply Kevlar 2 plies C/F PTM&W resin
the hard part was cutting out the slots on the back of the vanes
I’m building 3 right & 3 left for spares
Again nice work. Did that part come finished out of the mold or did you have to do some extra sanding and finishing after demolding?
Great work! How did you get the fabric to stay in place, spray adhesive?
I used Duraec primer sprayed into the mold first. that gave a good surface to sand (spot prime) and paint black after the parts were made.
On one of the louvers, a vane had a small dry section and I put it back in the mold (bagged it) and repaired it. Spray adheasive was used as a tackifier to hold the many strips of C/F plain weave and Kevlar (crowfoot)
each time I made a new part I learned more about the flow pattern and added more resin feed lines. The vanes were the slowest to saturate, it was like waiting for a colt to be born.
Prepping the mold I waxed it with #8 and shot PVA. I mixed about 8 oz. of Duratec poly primer. I use it for all my parts made out of fiberglass or C/F that will get painted instead of gel-coat
I converted a harbor freight paint pressure pot, put a coffee can in it for the catch tank. Feed & vacuum lines from Home Depot
I live 1 mile from Rev-Chem and get most of my stuff from Jose’ and order direct from PTM&W for resin etc.
When I went to the SAMPE convention I brought a sample of the louver and pic’s of the mold. I talked with the guys at AIRTECH and they said you could do it but it would be a lot of work. One salesmen pointed me over to the Ritchmond booth and said don’t tell anybody I sent you and talk to them about doing it with low temp pre-preg. I’m a stubborn SOB and I knew I could do it if I planned it out carefully.
The parts will be on an LMP1 car this weekend in Mid-Ohio ALMS race.
I’m not a company or have a big shop. I do it in my garage with what resources I have. I like this stuff and like helping out anybody that is willing to give it a go
I did get some exposure to doing it on a larger scale, 10 years ago I worked for the airlines in the composite shop for 25 years (that kinda makes me sound old)I just wish I had a kid that would like to learn this and pass it on
Hey Tom,
I’d really like to learn this stuff, I mean it’s pretty much why I’m on these forums 5+ times a day to see how composites are actually made. I appreciate you posting so much of this stuff.
Tom have you ever looked into adoption? Cause you can adopt me if you want. :bigsmile: I would love to learn from a pro. To bad I live over a 1000 miles away. 
Ive made louvers many times but never using infusion, Have done them wet lay vac bag but that was hard work, cloth keeps springing off the surface untill you get the bag on. Pre-preg is fairly easy to lay up on these and by far the quickest way. Making them in prepreg also reduces the amount of trimming needed after demoulding.
Trimming of louvers is a real pain in the ar$e I can tell you that, very time consuming and it just feels like your making no progress then all of a sudden its done…
Looks like a real nice job tho tom, what car are they for?
AUTOCON LOLA ALMS series
I use a pencil grinder with a single cut burr from H/depot
to cut out the vanes. and clean it up with a 1-1/2" disc #60
it takes about an hour
the problem with louvers is tire marbles and track debris. I beefed them up with Kevlar and a stout ply sched.
the ACO has started a new trend to black flag cars with broken louvers, making the teams pit to change them out. Now IMSA is going to get on this stupid deal.
In testing my louvers have cracked/broken but stayed together and not come apart. so far so good.
the AUTOCON team is a real underdog team. Just a bunch of guys playing with the big boys, a lot of heart and dedication