Carbon Fiber Front Reinforcement Panel

[Slideways]

Nice work jae! Very cool. I wonder how the CF is going hold up to 44 ft-lbs + 90 + 30 multiple times. You'll have to install it and never remove it lol.

[bigjae46]

I am fabricating a carbon front reinforcement panel. The main goal is increased stiffness. I'm confident it can be lighter than the OE part but we'll see.

First, the mold. This is the 2nd mold I've ever made. First one had some issues. This one was much better. Still made some mistakes but I think I've got it now...for the next one!





I was having some issues with my infusions. Turned out that I was using crap bagging tape. Unlike E46 M3 DIYs...there's not a lot of info on this stuff. Had to do a lot of work to seal up my ebay resin trap. Most of all, experiment with a different epoxy.



I laid up 7 layers...

200gsm 2x2 twill
600gsm 2x2 twill
400gsm +/- 45 deg biax
600gsm 2x2 twill
400gsm +/- 45 deg biax
600gsm 2x2 twill
200gsm 2x2 twill

So here is the infusion...

It came out pretty good. Had some release issues which is why some of the gel coat stuck on the part. Not a big deal since this is not a cosmetic part and very little was on the actual part.





I have to trim and finish it and then do some testing.