here is a couple shots of a double guage pods i have started on. i have another that is also about this stage except i have not applied resin to it yet. both of these i plan to sell, and both are tests for right now. i guess i will wait and see how they come out... they should be done sometime next week when i get time to primer and sand smooth... ultimately i am learning to use fiberglass to be able to later use carbon fiber... wish me luck


both of these pics show the "pod" covered with a fleece fabric and coated with fiber glass resin... fiber is still wet in these pics. ill post pics tomorrow when they are dry.

Nice. Fiberglass seems to lend itself well to organic shapes like that.

yea it seems as though everyone is selling those now.

I have one of serious's...hes the one who made the write up for it.

good job though

yeah and it was a good write up so far... im not trying to copy his work but it was a great idea... im hoping to expand a bit and be able to make these kinds of things for other makes of cars as well as a-pillars, switch boxes ect... but as i said above, i really want to get into the carbon fiber world... no one is really putting in any effort right now for carbon parts for our cars, so im going to give it a try!


alright, this cubby is dry now... now i have a lot of work to do. i have quite a nice wrinkle in it which will require plenty of putty, primer and sanding, plus some very minor "waves" on the top... but overall a great job considering its my first try

if you really feel creative, make me a stereo head unit that is blank on the top. meaning no holes for the stereo, just the spots for the temp knobs and crap. my stereo weighs to much and it needs to go, i just don't want a hole in my dash. i'll pay if it looks good

im going to the yard tomorrow. if i find a head unit, i will make you a "blank" one. shouldnt be too hard at all.

i'm not sure if you'll be able to make it. i think you would need an aftermarket head unit and then just cover the hole on it with fiberglass or just cover the whole thing with carbon fiber. but if you do and and it works that's cool, i'll pay for it.

Your headunit weighs too much...please. Gut your entire interior, strip all your deadening, take our your spare and all that crap, take out the glove box, take out both airbags, remove random shit in the engine bay that does nothing, get carbon fiber 8 lb bucket seats

Then you dont need to drop the stereo

i've already taken out most of the interior of the car. i don't want to spend the money on the fancy stereo that i won't be able to hear since there is almost no sound proofing left in the car. i was being sarcastic about the headunit weighing to much, i want to use it to mount switches to. with the factory stereo in there i can't really do that, besides if i have a removable piece there i can fix the switches more easily than taking half the dash out to get to some of my switches presently in the car.

i want to take the blower out that sends all the air through the car but i'm not sure the dash will go back on correctly if i take that out. i'm going to send my front windows out to a friend who knows a guy that specializes in poly carbonite so i can lose a few ounces... pounds... whatever the difference will be.

well no extra headunit yet, maybe this week.

i got my second pod fiberglassed and i think it will turn out much better than the first one. its a pain in the ass to wrap the fleece and not have big wrinkles... but now i have two at the same stages, i will start sanding and primer tonight

i have all this fiberglass crap in my garage, maybe i should stop being lazy and buy a headunit of ebay and do the work myself, but thanks for looking. this doesn't mean that i'm trying to discourage you from doing it for me.

naw i dont have any problem doing one, and regardless if you do it yourself i think i will do one to see how it comes out

alright, by the way, there is a blue zx2 up at the junkyard with stock head unit if that's what you were going to use.

That's lookin hella good

have you found a good place to buy the raw materials for carbon fiber? I have the resin at work and most the tools but I'd have to order the carbon fiber and I can't do that unless we get some damage to a horizontal or vertical stabilizer. I've been wanting to make some carbon fiber stuff but I can never find a decent place to get raw materials.

When I get to Utah I'll have access to a large autoclave and about anything else you could think of (they manufacture parts for the F-117)

what type of resin do i use for carbon? obviously i cant use fiber glass resin right? i have a little shop that sells sheets of carbon cloth, twill pattern 2x2 for about $60 or so for a 50"x36" sheet so i might order from them. if you have any "hook ups" or tips i am very open to them!

thanks josh, i read about the zx2 in the other post. i will definitely be out there as soon as i can to grab what i can. hopefully today (wednesday) but definitely thursday

i want one...

hey repo, do you have a contour or an escort? i know some contours (lx i believe) have the same cubby we do so the pod would fit. Im not very familiar with the escort lx's but i will check some out at the yard tomorrow and see if there is any miracles i can work to try to get you a pod...


as far as an update on these two pods. both have been sanded and primered. next comes the bondo putty to get rid of the scratches, wrinkles and other imperfections. then lots more primer and sanding. finishing up with some trimming and test fitting guages into the pods. then depending on who buys them, i will paint them to their specs. due to a virus on my pc, and the "jackpot" found at u wrench it, these are delayed a bit because of my lack of spare time. this weekend looks promising to do most of the work

i found another cubby at the yard today (blue zx2) and i found a second one w/ ashtray in a contour lx that i didnt have time to pull (that will happen thursday). Those will become either triple pods or i might make a switch panel for my car out of one. . . but thanks for everyones support and i hope to keep pumping new things out to show off

if you can find it. We can use Epon 828, and curing agent U for our carbon fiber at work but since we don't carry any carbon fiber here and since it's alot better we order factory pre preg fiber (unfortunately this needs to be stored in a freezer and worked in clean rooms and whatnot, and the life span for it is not greatly long). Epon 828 is also the resin that's used to hold together the F-16's filamen wound fiberglass radome and we use it on alot of the other small fiberglass repairs, so yes the same thermosetting epoxy resin you use on fiberglass could be used on carbon fiber just make sure it's something that dries completely clear for the look. Epon 828 has a tint to it but we don't care about the kewl carbon fiber look on an F-16 go fig. Other then that odd stuff I don't know too much about any of it just what's in our T.O.'s
I'll have to get with you sometime to find your supplier :D

alright cool, thanks for the info. ill do a test sample to make sure my resin drys clear.. but by the looks of the pod, i doubt it

update!

i am putting the finishing touches on my first two double guage pods. primer, bondo and sanding, then repeating. still numerous imperfections that i am having a hard time getting out but both should be done thursday or tomorrow if i get time. i also have three new projects in the pipeline. a cubby for myself, basically it will be flat and have all my switches, knobs and other misc controls mounted to it. should end up pretty sweet. i also have a single pod cubby that will have room for switches/knobs to be mounted next to the guage. it wrapped really nice so it should be one of the best so far. and lastly i have josh's headunit that i am starting on. once i install mine i will have another spare cubby to work on, plus whatever i find in the yards this week. i also plan to search the yard looking for other cars that i can do similar work with as well as maybe start a test a-pillar pod... pics will be posted soon

have you started on my pod at all...just wondering not a big deal if you havent.i will help you too if you need me to.

yeah yours is in the final stages, BUT, i have to admit, these start off fast, but they take FOREVER to make perfect. There are always small dents, nicks and uneven spots. Its going to take a lot of primer and bondo to get these to the quality i want... but they are coming along quite nicely and i will take pics tomorrow i think to show thier progress

cool...your the man...dont worry about the final paint stage tho..im still not sure what color im going with.do you need my gauges for fitting purposes?

i shouldnt need them as long as they are 2" standard size guages. ill leave the final painting details to you but i still have to finish some other stuff

like i said..you da man..thanx again.

thanks. i know your not dying to have it yet so it may be another couple weeks while i perfect them. i really have no free time so i do them when i can. i know i keep saying it but ill post pics soon

kool...i wont hold my breath..lol.

As you can see, they are all primered.

This is going to end up being a NOS pod, a boost guage and two switches will be mounted.


These are the two double pods. As you can see, they are quite a bit of imperfections even after applying coats of bondo and primer... i think i have the PVC pipe jutting too far out causing the fabric to have wrinkles when i wrapped it, then that was amplified when it was glassed...




The flat switch cubby im making for myself

lookin good...