So as some may know, I ordered some carbon fiber material. It arrived thursday, but today was he first real day i got to work with it. I made 4 fuel doors, they are just overlayed with carbon, nothing too fancy yet. Just thought I would post some images and see what everyone thinks and if there is anything anyone is really interested in me trying to make. this first roll of carbon is pretty much for testing. I hope to sell just a few pieces to make back my money but mostly to learn how to work with it. I am looking for some clear resin, I used fiberglass resin on the doors below and I think a clear resin would give the carbon more shine and its "3D" look. The covers are just resined and have a couple coats of clear on them. Opinions welcome!






First Projects:

i need a custom carbon fiber hood :P

... that requires a much higher quality carbon, a vacuum chamber and a lot of money lol. ill be keeping closer to my small stuff

what about overlay on hood, trunk, and side view mirrors?

even with overlay?

the hood will look like shit, anything that large will look like shit and end up coming apart. plain and simple

so what is a $$ friendly way of having it done?

Heres a trunk that canadian dude did... Not a fan of cf stick ons for trunks or hoods, but everything else is cool IMO. Oh yeah 3m came out with this new spray on adhesive... I been told it works way better then the 3m sticky strips they put on the other side.



I used to have a cf gas cap cover on my car from CarbonByDesign, but I grew tired of it and it looked out of place, I really don't like attracting attention to my gas cap. Thank God it just had the adhesive strips and I could get off with out messing up the paint.

Is that the final product?

is that real carbon on that trunk?

and at the moment it is the final product. i have some other methods i plan to test out before i begin selling pieces i make. i am basically trying to find out what will make them look the best and last the longest

what is the email of the canadian guy?

Yes of course, it doesn't look that good, that was one of his first projects and he had trouble with the clearcoat he was using and the way he was using it.. But all that is fixed now and his shit is really coming together. Looks like you got a step in the door way too.. You could really make a business out of cf you know.. Make a lot of money......

PM'd street_tuner

yeah i realize this and im hoping to start making a bit of money on the side for myself. i have the time and effort, just need to perfect my craft

*LAST THREE POSTS FROM ANOTHER FORUM* JUST THOUGHT I WOULD UPDATE YOU GUYS TOO!

well chaps. the wait is over. here are some pics of what i will have ready this week. keep in mind i still have to do some trim work and cut out holes where necessary. also some more coats of gel coat, but you get the idea. i hope you guys like. whatever money i have left over from paying my lawyer this week will go to buying more carbon to start mass producing these parts. i am still working on prices, but i can say that the cheapest part will be climate knobs. they will run about $20 for a set, next in line being the fuel door at about $30. the vent cover piece will be somewhere between $30-$40 and the glove box will be somewhere between $40-50 . ALL parts from the interior will stay under $70, most of which being below $50 . These are VERY nice pieces and are direct bolt in replacements.

Keep in mind that all my parts are less than 1/3 of the price that others would charge to do these. An example is the guy on ebay selling CF fuel doors for our car, same as mine, but he charges $85 for his door. Also remember that I am willing to do custom work and can overlay just about anything, not just ZX2 parts. Please continue posting ideas. I am going to get a decklid to test and even give the fabled CF trunk a shot. Just keep in mind that the larger the surface area, the higher the cost of carbon is. The overall price is 75% the cost of the carbon used to make it. Then cost to cover the resin and gel coat and a little something for myself.

Here are some pics, enjoy!













ALSO, just remembered this. I currently have also begun to work on doing some sort of carbon valve cover overlay, just two seperate "U" shaped carbon pieces to fit over the "humps" on the cover. ill get pics of the fiberglass to show you what i mean. it will look super sexy when its done. im doing my own valve cover at the moment, i will post pics of it finished to give the full impression.

as well i have also done some fiberglass cubby work which will eventually be overlayed with carbon. including a double guage pod (for a local friend) and flat faced cubbies for mounting switches. i do not plan to market these or compete with nike in this area so these will be "custom" requests.


the canards are also in development. i am making fiberglass templates first, the finished products will be 100% carbon, 2-3 layers of carbon... i will also offer the canards in fiberglass for pretty cheap if you wish to paint them to match your car color.

the only real thing that is holding me back from posting prices is what i want to charge for a "core" charge. if i sold all the parts i have and got nothing in return, then people will have to wait quite a while for parts because they can only be made as fast as i can get parts from the local yard. so i plan to charge for a core cost or give discounts to those that send back their stock pieces after getting their carbon parts. i would like to just charge a fair charge for what it costs me to buy the part from the junk yard but i feel that most people wont bother to send back parts if its only a $5 discount... so im stuck on charging what the part is worth, or making the core charge significant enough that people will WANT to send parts back to get their $20 or whatever back... any input is appreciated. full price lineup will be posted in a couple days.
"the pile" . grows every week


the flat surface for mounting switches. very rough at this stage of course, only first coat of resin and no sanding.




beginnings of a double guage pod. once again, very rough but needs a good sanding and coat of resin.

here you can see what im talking about on the valve cover. these will be carbon in the end and be cleaned up. still not sure on size as far as lengths for each, i really dont want to hassle with molding around the oil hole, that would be about impossible with carbon... but these will be up being sold as a whole unit, the valve cover powdercoated a color of your choice and included with the sale, spare people the hassle of getting theirs powdercoated and people installing the carbon overlay. i also plan to get some vinyl work going and do some nice fonts saying things like "team zx2", "Zx2" ect ect and have the vinyl be applied to the carbon before gelcoat, that way the vinyl is embedded, i think it would look bad ass. these covers will also look bad ass with a 99+ or a 98 center cover... maybe QUIK will make some :cheesy:

Where did u order the carbon fiber material from? Where can U?

theres lots of palces some in stock and some not

fiberglasssupply.com
fibreglast.com (spelling)


i ordered from fiberglasssupply they seem nice and had my material in stock at a good price.

hey spec V, nice to see a new member and a nissan fan. I order my carbon from jamestown, RI . They are a bit higher than a lot of other places but always have my stuff in stock. I order my other supplies from mr.fiberglass . They carry a lot of stuff for fiberglass and carbon work. Very useful site. Since the interest for my work on here is not huge I dont post much about it. I will start a new post with all the stuff I have done. I am very happy with how my work is coming out and I hope those that see my work or purchase pieces can vouch for me

pics speak for themselves... this is the tip of the iceberg of what I can do enjoy!

I've seen all arden's Cf stuff and DAM it looks good I cant wait until I get a car together so I can have him make me some stuff!

how hard is it to do complete cf parts? you have to make a mold or something dont you? well how hard would it be to make a sub box? or at least overlay a box.

depends on how the box looks. corners are not very fun with carbon fiber

If I get a car sometime, I'll have you do some nifty stuff to it. You can charge Bryan if you want.

charge bryan? lol

Hey Kyle, I have a job for you. I will tell you the specifics later but I am sure if it turns out nice Rich will want it too. :D

well you cant keep me in suspense lol

I have sent you a PM, lemme know.

pm replied, offer made B)

YAY for red carbon fiber stuff B)