Carbon fiber on my fiber class cowl hood?

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#1

I have a custom made Carbon fiber Cowl hood on my RX-7. I bought the car with the hood and I plan on keeping the hood because I personally like it. The underside has a few blemishes I think I can patch with just some epoxy/resin.

I would like to cover the cowl in carbon fiber kind of like a racing stripe. Then blend it in and have the hood painted. The carbon will be left exposed with clear coat and the rest of the hood will be black. What would be the best way to go about this so it looks good and doesn’t come apart?

#2

I like the style of your hood, and it appears functional as well. I am assuming that you don’t have access to the mold, and that the notion of putting a fake carbon fiber film on a real carbon fiber hood, is just plain wrong. I can see that your main problem is that the texture of the exposed carbon would be rough, requiring a lot of clear and wet sanding. I’ve never tried it on a part nearly this large, but stretching shrink wrap over the lamination might cut down on some of the clear and sanding. Hopefully there is a better solution for you. I’d be interested to learn what it is.

#3

Some shops are starting to do some pretty big carbon overlay jobs so it’s totally possible to do. From what limited overlay work i’ve done on pieces, it’s typically done with a laminating epoxy resin coat that I let tack up (around 1 hour after applying) and then carefully lay down the cloth onto the resin. Once it dries, it’s a process of applying thin coats of epoxy resin over it and lightly surface sanding in between. Once the fabric is fully coated, then used a polyester clear (Duratec sunsheild) in a few layers with surface sanding in between until it’s level and cosmetically dialed in. Not sure if thats the “right way” to do it but it’s turned out nicely on some of the items i’ve done and no signs of delaminating. For a hood, it’s a LOT of work but should look good when done. Hope that helps.