Something w/ rabbits. 72.5 pages of BS

[SVO]

I'm getting a bit of a tingley feeling :wavey:

 

[crazyflights]

That little weld is a major benefit of TIG welding I think!, Looks great your crazy LOL

 

[Rick]

I like the AN swap. Very nice indeed

 

[IZwack]

Thanks!

So time for the lower radiator shroud.

And then I said hey, what a wonderful kind of day, if we can learn to work and play, and get along with each other. Wait, thats from Arthur (thats PBS - for the newbs). So i said hey, lets break out ye old composite technique and see whats up. So I made a wireframe for the radiator's main shroud from 1/8" steel rods:

Got it all taped up (epoxy resin doesnt stick to packaging tape), and proceeded to lay down a layer of fiberglass and then carbon fiber. Unfortunately, the resin I used was just absolute crap (the type from car stores - Pep Boys). The resin would not set correctly -- cured fiberglass strands should cut into your skin once properly cured but this particular resin remained soft and the fiberglass would not penetrate my skin (after 24 hrs of cure time). Fortunately, there's a West Marine 20 mins away and I went with a gallon of West System and taped up the wireframe again. Unnnnfortunately, I wasted most of what little carbon I had left on that POS resin. Oh and the tape was "heat shrunk" with a heat gun.

So I only had a tinsy bit of carbon left so I used that on the perimeter. I ordered more but it probably wont be here till sometime this week. But anyways, here is what I had this afternoon with a few layers of fiberglass and a bit of balsa as a core material to provide some more rigidity.

But in hindsight (it wears corrective contact lenses), I came back home tonight, felt the results and I dont think I needed the balsa - the surface feels nice and firm even with just the fiberglass. But I think I will lay down one layer of carbon (as soon as that material arrives) just to be on the safe side.

 

[CopyKat]

As for the slave cyl the older 91ish is an aluminum housing and the fitting pin is shorter, alot liek the AN fitting you got. I don't know how confident I would be in a weld on something like that. Just something to consider.

Isn't fiberglass fun? How did the celo tape fare with the heat of the curing resin?

 

[cybergasm]

Why is it every time i look at this thread i feel like i am having my nose rubbed in big pile of doo doo ? :scratch:

 

[Dannyboy]

August of this year! Its a self imposed goal we set at the last RC run cauz quite a bit of us didn't have a working trail vehicle.

As for the rear quarter, its all still there. Ill get around to modifying that in a little bit.
Posted via Mobile Device

This year??? You have less than one month to be one year behind of a statement you made last year.

 

[IZwack]

This year??? You have less than one month to be one year behind of a statement you made last year.

Hey! Lets not remind me about my project management skeeellzzz.

 

[Albino 94LTD]

Hey! Lets not remind me about my project management skeeellzzz.

What project management skills???

JTSmith will pass you in less than 2 weeks (prolly already has):

 

[Turdle]

Ouch. Iz I think I would take that personally if I were you.

 

[IZwack]

Isn't fiberglass fun? How did the celo tape fare with the heat of the curing resin?

It held up just fine - no melt through or anything. And I went with the slow hardener so the exothermic release of heat is typically slower than the ones from auto-part stores (the energy being released is spread out over a greater amount of time so the temperature achieved is lower at any given point in time).

Ouch. Iz I think I would take that personally if I were you.

You bet I am - I already have 2 FBI agents watching Albino 94LTD's front porch - just waiting for the go ahead. There's a dude, sitting in the bushes man. Does he have a gun?! I dunno man! I dunno! What, what? Red team go! Red TEAM GO! (Half Baked!!)

 

[IZwack]

Roll of carbon came in. Vacuum bagged it on:

(salsa bottle used as resin collector lead to plenty of salsa eating that night

)

Exterior of shroud:

Interior finish was obviously much better since that was the side that was curing against the tape (fully aware of the small voids in the first few layers - didn't vacuum bag ):

Made up some tabs (4 layers of carbon) and epoxied it onto the shroud:

Overall piece came out to probably 1/4 or 1/3 the weight of aluminum.

 

[jwrezz]

Very cool indeed! Pun intended!

 

[IZwack]

I was almost finish with the radiator shroud's tabs but the TIG welder went POP and no more power. I dropped it off at the local welding supply for repair. Sigh.

So I worked on the air intake filter box instead. I went with a panel filter for a 3.0L v6 Plymouth Grand Voyager (also used in a handful of other cars including the 80s VWs). For my reference, the filter is Purolator A23465.

Not much to see for now but this is the lower half of the filter box bagged up and curing (3 layers of carbon, 4 around the edges - with PVA as release agent):

 

[IZwack]

Well that intake box was a fail - it's a bit too tall and would block part of the driver's view.

Anywho, the adapter to use the 4.0L SOHC's hydraulic pump pulley on a generic hydraulic pump came in. Unfortunately, the Harbor Freight tap I was using started to deform so I stopped before I snapped it in the hole - so I only finished tapping one of the bolt holes.

The master velocity stack also arrived - made from delrin. A negative mold will be pulled from this via latex rubber and the result of that will be used to cast the six end-product velocity stacks.

 

[cybergasm]

hmmm That master Velocity Stack looks just like the pump in the Previous Pic :scratch::

 

[IZwack]

Its fixed now okay.. OKAY?!?! sheesh, slavvvee drivers! :

 

[section525]

Stats of said pump?

Can you make me a carbon fiber wing for the jetta? tahnks,

 

[IZwack]

Stats of said pump?

Can you make me a carbon fiber wing for the jetta? tahnks,

Ah I knew I forgot something - 0.61 cu. inches in displacement.
https://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?catname=&qty=1&item=9-7789-A

From what I've read, thats on the big side for a single-hydraulic system (no rear steer). But the mounting bolt pattern is universal so if its not the right size, swapping in another one should be cake. Also, before anyone else pops one of these into an Explorer, remember that these types of pump do not have an internal bypass so something will go boom if you deadhead the system and dont use an external pressure regulator.

As for the Jetta - sure thing, let me crawl back up to your garage attic and start working on the mold.

 

[BKennedy]

Okay, Could you make me a new fiberglass roof for my horse trailer?......and half doors for the Explorer?.......and a ............wait........I know there is more, I just need to sleep on it. I will get back with my full order later.

Where, oh where did you learn all this about fiberglass?? Tell me, Pleeeeaasseeeeeee!!!!

Oh, I can call off the FBI for you if you wish, but I think you like having your own personal tail..
If you want to get rid of them, just try the "bannana in the tail pipe" trick.