Has anyone one here worked with carbon fiber?

I'm thinking about making a carbon fiber center console that matches my original but without the bin and ashtray. I plan to install gauges inplace of the ashtray and bin.
This is what it looks like:


I have an original piece that has not been modified at all that I can use to make a mold.

i did carbon fiber back in the day with my dad making rockets. I'm sure with an unmolested center piece it'd be fairly easy to do. shouldnt be too expensive parts wise either.

I have a buddy that does his own carbon fiber. He could do it for you or at least get you started in the right direction if you wanted to do it yourself. He's the one that paints my parts for me, and buffs the car too. He CF covered the entire back of his S2000, and it looks pretty good. He was going to do Simon's whole dash before but I'm not sure what's going on with that.

speedjunkie wrote:I have a buddy that does his own carbon fiber. He could do it for you or at least get you started in the right direction if you wanted to do it yourself. He's the one that paints my parts for me, and buffs the car too. He CF covered the entire back of his S2000, and it looks pretty good. He was going to do Simon's whole dash before but I'm not sure what's going on with that.

Intresting. I would like to make CF peices. Even a dash. Wonder what weight savings that would net me? That is my next direction I am going with the 8. Light weight. Problem is I want full interior still.

Slowly making the 8 ligther is my goal for the next 3 or so years. I just need to find out how much CF doors (front & rear) and fenders weigh compared to stock. (They will be painted)

I messaged a guy who sells the doors on ebay and he said the box he ships them in is rated at 15lbs w/packaging and all. So if he is telling the truth it's about 7lb.s per door compared at 36lbs stock.

I just need to save up $. Going all CF will cost more money than I spent on my turbo kit. Will it be worth it if only 100Lbs of body panel will be shed?

Guess the only thing to test it would be making a pass at bandimere with just me then either have 100lbs added to the car or have a person that weighs 100lbs less than me drive it down the track.

Well, he COVERED his car, and I think he was only doing a cover for Simon's dash too, but I believe he can make the CF piece by itself as well. I'd have to ask him.

good to know Eric.

I will take a pic of the dash piece out of the car.
Here is a pic of about what it looks like:

speedjunkie wrote:Well, he COVERED his car, and I think he was only doing a cover for Simon's dash too, but I believe he can make the CF piece by itself as well. I'd have to ask him.

Well that doesn't help. I think it would be a little difficult to do the whole dash. Heck I even think it'll be hard to do Chris's dash peice because of the tabs. I wouldn't mind trying though.

GR-8 wrote:Well that doesn't help. I think it would be a little difficult to do the whole dash. Heck I even think it'll be hard to do Chris's dash peice because of the tabs. I wouldn't mind trying though.

the tabs is what worries me about it.

I don't think it'd be that hard to be honest...Chris when you have a weekend free lets try and get together and see what we can do. The hardest thing is going to make the mold I think.

tbot wrote:I don't think it'd be that hard to be honest...Chris when you have a weekend free lets try and get together and see what we can do. The hardest thing is going to make the mold I think.

cool thanks

Why not just cover it with carbon fiber material and seal it yourself? It's an intense process but it just involves lacquer and its incredibly durable. My ex had it done to his Audi S4 and it looked pretty legit.

bellalyssa wrote:Why not just cover it with carbon fiber material and seal it yourself? It's an intense process but it just involves lacquer and its incredibly durable. My ex had it done to his Audi S4 and it looked pretty legit.

I'm not wanting to do it for a carbon fiber look although I like the look. The reason is I am removing the bin and ash tray and replacing that space with 4 gauges. The original plan I had was to take the center console I have in the car and plastic weld the 2 holes I will end up with, than cut the 4 52mm holes. I think doing it will end up costing about the same and be just about as had as doing it out of carbon fiber.

bellalyssa wrote:Why not just cover it with carbon fiber material and seal it yourself? It's an intense process but it just involves lacquer and its incredibly durable. My ex had it done to his Audi S4 and it looked pretty legit.

Not a bad idea. I think Chris doesn't want to destroy the original peice though. Seeing how old the car is.

This thread is making me wanna try doing some interior peices. Maybe after my car is completely tuned.

If all turns out good maybe T-bot, Chris, and I can open a Custom CF Parts Buisness?

GR-8 wrote:Not a bad idea. I think Chris doesn't want to destroy the original peice though. Seeing how old the car is.

This thread is making me wanna try doing some interior peices. Maybe after my car is completely tuned.

If all turns out good maybe T-bot, Chris, and I can open a Custom CF Parts Buisness?

I'm not so worried about the original piece because I have 2.

Here is a 5 minute photoshop of what I'm wanting: