Nose Job

General Composites Discussions Composites Talk
#1

It’s been a while, but I picked up this stuff yesterday

the project with the nose’s is to make this one

look like this one

reason being that it just works better. They are C/F with 1 ply Kevlar. (and make the spare hood fit also)
Looks like I’ll be splashing some polyester on the the one and making parts to co-cure onto the other after I get the chain saw after it.
I’m using PTM&W epoxy & I’m fixing the wheel tubs and making a mold for better hood louvers while I’m at it.
the car is a Jag with a very HP ford block. the car & driver holds track records all over the place and won the national championship’s 2010 the body is all C/F

#2

looks like I’ll be doing some grinding first. the Kevlar is all soft toast.
maybe I will just make a new section, cut out the damage and bond it in.
If anybody is interested, I’ll take pic’s as I go

thats what you get when you hit a traffic cone @ 120mph

#3

lol you should see what boron does when birds strike vertical stabs and speed brakes…

that actually looks very very good. i can only imagine what a fiberglass air dam would look like under the same circumstances…

im deffinately interested in the repair…

#4

Same here! I would love it if you posted progress pictures and whatnot. I’m very unfamiliar with composite repair.

#5

actually I have seen what Boron does. while I spent my 30yr. tenure as a composite technicion in avaition I worked with Textron & Sandia Labs for certification of comerical airline use of Boron repairs. I’ve have had bird blood on me:(

#6

Cool project. But not worth it to just make a mold of the complete bumper and make full replacements?

#7

last night I did some grinding on the inside. also did a few wet layups to start holding some of the shape as I get to the nasty section. a few plies of C/F and a ply of Kevlar was in order.
I put peelply over the wet layup and hit it with a heat gun and dry brush to get the resin flowing, dab paper towel to soak up some of the excess bled thru the peelply.

this is what it looks like after I yank off the peelply

I use an arsenal of grinders and sanding tools, here is some of the ones I use. many are the same with different mandrils so I don’t need to change often

#8

WoW that’s a lot of sanding tools!!!cool project!!

#9

the front of the nose is in bad shape and the inside is messy.
as I have the other spare I went ahead and made a splash.
I covered the area with 2" flash tape- waxed it with #8

and brushed on some red tooling gelcoat.

then a few layers of 2oz. mat with polyester lam resin.

I’m not getting too crazy here, it only took about an hr. & it’s racecar grade

#10

whoa, whoa whoa there… tell us about that Red Duratec stuff.

Is it polyester, or vinyl ester? Is it a stand alone tooling gel coat? What is the service temperature of that red stuff? Where did you buy it? I can’t find that on Duratec’s product catalog

Thanks for posting all this.

#11

the Red Tooling is a polyester that I use for fiberglass and has good body, polish’s nice,and easy to repair. I get it local at Revchem here in Van Nuys CA. I don’t know what the S/Temp is but I’ll look

#12

I’ve got another project going on at the same time and needed to work it. It’s a quarter panel clip for a Lola 88/90.
once I got the part I made some tooling and references and cut it down the center with a skill saw. then a router to take the top plies off 2-3" in for the splice. used structual adheasive and a few plies of C/F with one ply Kevlar.



#13

a piece was made from the splash and cut to size by drawing the outline of the cut out damaged section
.

I use a silver pencil to mark on carbon, and a 90 high speed to trim it

.
the back side was layed up wet. because of the preload of the damage I did not lay up the whole patch until this kicked off and tooled up.

Also working on making parts up from the hood to co-cure on the spare. I brushed on the gel coat, I’m not too concerned about how it looks for now. It’s just a tool

I use a glue gun the make quick flanges, and use cheap mold wax to soak the cardboad with

more later

#14

plies on the outside


this nose has been repaired and painted way too many times

#15

Get the driver to learn and drive… :slight_smile:

Nice blue mould, carbon reinforced!

Well done on the repairs, you seem to know your stuff.

#16

the bonder in the background could have told you that…

funny story… could have purchased two wichitec bonders with heat pads working condition for 20 bux each… didnt have time to go to the atm. and didnt know what it was worth… stupid 20yr old airmen with no money. we threw them away because during an audit we had too many machines and had to get rid of them through the dmro. i hate myself for it.

#17

Believe me, I know enough people with A-class tools that can make an unbelievable mess.

Also, the best woodworker I know makes everything using a pencil, a yardstick and a pint of beer… OK, a bit over exaggerated, but his tools are very, very basic.

#18

the wheel tubs where all mucked up I had to pre-cure some c/f-Kevlar to splice in and do the best economic result. they had a bunch of gaffers tape and sheetmetal plates pop-riveted on

fender molds made from the a. hood for the b. hood mod.


as well as the sides of the a. nose

I’m going out to find paint today to spot it in. I need to deliver this stuff this week. it will be at a race next week

#19

after I did the paint last week it’s way home in the a.m.