Thinking about doing composite parts again...

[Blacdout96]

Holy ABS plastic batman!! the fit n finish on that is horrid!! 6LE's ideas are there, but his finished product never seems to be. How does that adhear in there? find a person with a junk center console,and I'll do one better where I'd tape off the surrounding area, make a piece that acutally forms to the curves by sanding it ( like a piece of 10lbs foam) and make molds off of that by gluing or screwing to a piece of wood, IO could basically build a better one with stuff I could find around the house . find 10 people who might want one, and I might be interested in building it.

[V]

my friend has several parts produced for MR2s by a company out in PA and he says its all for a great price, he just had an MR2 dash shell done for his car. I may go through him to see what prices i can get. As for those radiator shrouds, GM sells them for 387+shipping, so to sell them id look into having 20 made and able to sell for around 250max.

this is the mr2 dash

[Blacdout96]

That's pretty awesome. That takes some time because it's several parts that are built, and then molded together, and then sanded and buffed to appear as one piece, very hard to do with bare carbon fiber since you see where it ends, and if your measurements are off, it won't fit right, or bolt up properly.

[KirkEvil]

ls1 head plates would be very profitable for you. Along with the fuse panel covers in the engine bay. A ls1 pcm cover would be nice too.

[Blacdout96]

anybody got an A/C control block laying out for trash?

[redsoxsstink]

id be interested in the plastic around the hvac vents, and the plastic piece that snaps off around the radio controls

[sweetbmxrider]

Originally Posted by Blacdout96

anybody got an A/C control block laying out for trash?

The thing with the knobs? If so, yeah from my 95 maro

[Blacdout96]

does that also fit the 97-02 dashs?

[sweetbmxrider]

I looked up part numbers and they are different. I don't know how the later ones look dimensionally.

[Blacdout96]

[Blacdout96]

I think I'm going to start out with A/C delete panels just to start out small. Fiberglass is cheap, so I wouldn't worry if I screwed up a large part, but carbon fiber is completely opposite price wise I think I'll get the panel from Max the king to do 97-02 and if I can get a hold of sweet, and his setup is 93-96, I'll make then for both interior styles.

What do you guys think, interested?

Ah, another quick question, is the firebirds overall dimensions the same as the camaro's, or would I have to make a set for bird owners too?

[Blacdout96]

Want to thank Sweetbmxrider for getting the ball rolling by sending me an A/C switch panel to make it a delete panel. Crappy weather is crappy right now, so hopefully next week I can begin filling in the holes, smoothing out the part, cutting off unnecessary tabs, and setting it in a surface to make a mold from. It's going to tkae me a bit to get this sorted since I don't have much free time now that my work screwed with my schedule....AGAIN

[sweetbmxrider]

Can't wait to see how it comes out!

[Blacdout96]

Originally Posted by redsoxsstink

id be interested in the plastic around the hvac vents, and the plastic piece that snaps off around the radio controls

Not to be rude, but what is this plastic piece that breaks around the radio controls? news to me, and pics?

[Blacdout96]

Alright guys, I've been thinking over on how to do this A/C delete panel, and there's three options to go with.

Cheapest- Make flat pieces of carbon fiber, cookie cut them out, and have them applied with adhesive.

Pro - cheapest to do and would hold up well.
Con - If you wanted to apply gauges, unless you use the 3M special composite adhesive, over time they will wear out the adhesive and it will come off.

Moderate cost - Build a mold to make the plate actually encompass around the secondary part that holds the switches and lights, and glue it on.

Pro - would hold up a lot better to usage of switches.
Con - you would need to modify the secondary part slightly to make it work. There are four tabs the old unit clicks into. You would have to cut those down with an exacto to get it to fit.

Expensive - Make an exact replica of the front panel with the holes for the tabs to clip into. I would have to manually cut each tab after pulled from the mold.
Pro- No cutting, no gluing
Con - Expensive

If you guys wanted to, if I make the moderate style ( which I recommend) you could send me your A/C control unit, and I'll modify it myself, purchase the special 3M adhesive ( goes for about 70 bucks a canister!!) AND ill even lighten it up even more then after all the switches are removed. let me know what you guys think. I'd really hate to just make flat pieces since it wouldn't allow me to have fun with this project, anybody could do it if that was the case.

[sweetbmxrider]

What would the prices look like generally speaking?

[Blacdout96]

When I get home today, I have a cheat sheet of prices from a couple companies, ill get a general price. I'm only going to use 1 layer of 2x2, and then one or two unidirectional for build up, and strength.

[WiMiMc]

Originally Posted by redsoxsstink

id be interested in the plastic around the hvac vents, and the plastic piece that snaps off around the radio controls

the bezel? if yes then me too! one for a double din (if it wouldn't cost as much as the ones i see for like 150

[Blacdout96]

Just worked on the A/C panel yesterday. Glassed in the holes, and gave it strength so it doesn't flex as much while handling it. I do need to get some newer resin, the stuff I have is a little thicker then usual to work with, so it was a pain in my ass to get it to soak through the matting. When I get the chance, I'll take some pics to post up.