[NigelLopez]

@ccp
your quote
Secondly- As per my knowledge the main components of a car body are frame (which is fastened to the car chassis), chassis and then comes the skin (Exterior Panels).
Dont really know what u mean by frame as well as chassis,
as per my knowledge they both are the same and are relevant to Older Suvs and are also called Ladder Chassis / frames.

No modern Car, down to the humble 800 ( 20yrs old ) would ever have a ladder chassis, those are limited to Older Suv's / Trucks and maybe some sport cars. Today modern cars as well as Modern Suv's would all have what is termed a Monocoque or unitised chassis. Its designed with mounting points for suspension , drivetrain, engine, component, and is the stressed member of the vehicle.
It is not an indepentant section of the vehicle as on the frame type car construction of early days.

Crumple zones as they are termed are built into the monocoque, which on impact will just buckle, and minimise the transmission of the impact. The crumple zones are just weaker sections of the monocoque which are designed to crumple in a particular way, maybe even a particular path, thereby shielding the occupants.
The corvette again is actually a Fibreglass tub over a ladder type and this construction would be used in fibreglass boddied ( tubbed ) vehicle, wherin the chassis and body are indepentant units.

What we have attempted is fixing fibreglass skins to a Monocoque, and most of our panels will actully be bolted to the orignal metal/ monocoque
In an impact two things could happen, either the fibreglass would get destroyed or then the metal would sheer( around the bolts )

Another very peculiar reason for us going in for a much higher than desired grade and thickness of Fibreglass ( we have used Iso resin with Roving ) is the Indian Attitude to Anything Plastic.
My years of Modifying bikes and a couple of cars has shown that customers in India tend to have a phobia for plastic car components, even OE parts
Visitors to our shop so easily comment on the fact that fibreglass wont last, hence the thickness and strength,
Fibreglass bodied cars have been taboo for the Indian Public which would,
not really see the gains to have in using fibreglass. Its too early In India for fibreglass Kit cars or the even Oem to do/build Fibreglass bodied Cars.

Another very important aspect of Fibreglass is the fact that it tends to flex under extreme heat, a Fibreglass car would deterioate very fast if placed constantly in the hot sun, by going up on the Thickness we hope to eliminate that aspect.

Once again please understand that its a first attempt at doing this kind of Reskin, I'm sure its never been attempted in India, definetely not by two individuals.

Cheers
Nigel

[CCP]

@ Nigel; You have explained the construction very nicely and I understood your concept. I must say that you have taken care of the safety.

Secondly, I m not against fiberglass. However I was not very convinced with the thickness of fiberglass that you have used.

I really appreciate the kind of hard work you guys are putting in and the outcome is really outstanding.

Can you also P.M me your contact no.


Regards
Car Custom People.


REGARDS

AMIT

[bugatti_86]

Some Camaro Contribution.Bumble Bee Scheme Rules.

[manishalive]

Fiberglass moulding (furniture, safety helmets and body accessories) was done by the use of CSM (chopped strand matt) 1/2 inch strands + Epoxy and Filler (like POP), and there lied the drawback. All items made like that diintegrated with heat. And probably the reason for the disliking.

Now with the Fiberglass cloth (there are different varities of the same) things are different. The product have better life compared to previous. How ever many OEM have shifted to ABS plastic for the ease of manufacture.

As for the Accident issue, almost all cars have soft crumble jones (at fire wall for front on collision) which absorb the impact, buckle and thus safe guard the passangers. Other portions (in unitary construction) which carry load or have chassis components attached to it have high strength.

Changing the skin will not have effect on safety as long as structure is not disturbed, the skin is adding to the beauty of the car.

On an event of impact, if the skin is not buckling then definitely the impact is transfered but before even hitting the passengers crumble jones will take care of it.

A while ago I had a pleasure of speaking to Sunil. And today I am writing to say, you guys are awesome. Keep up the good work.

[NigelLopez]

Thankyou Manish for the Kind words, but i couldnt have explained it more simpler, fibreglass tech has advanced to a large extent, hence the usage of Iso as well as roving, We did not want to compromise on the glass.
On my Bikes General purpose resin with a good Gel coat did not matter as the surfaces were not large and also they have a lot of edges which helped with the Strength, but on the car the larger surfaces were a concern, we actually did initially try making the panels much more lighter, the trouble we faced was the fibre flexing while in the heat, the bonnet has actually been reworked for that reason.
Now all that required is proper fitment, surface preparation and paint.
Wonder when that would happen ???

Nigel


Some Camaro Contribution.Bumble Bee Scheme Rules.
Cool pics, If the car was mine i'd go for Yellow.
Lovely
Nigel

[SRK]

@Konjaril: Nice design.

If possible do make rendering in daylight with different colors.

By the way what software are you using?

[manishalive]

Originally Posted by NigelLopez

Thankyou Manish for the Kind words, but i couldnt have explained it more simpler, fibreglass tech has advanced to a large extent, hence the usage of Iso as well as roving, We did not want to compromise on the glass.
On my Bikes General purpose resin with a good Gel coat did not matter as the surfaces were not large and also they have a lot of edges which helped with the Strength, but on the car the larger surfaces were a concern, we actually did initially try making the panels much more lighter, the trouble we faced was the fibre flexing while in the heat, the bonnet has actually been reworked for that reason.
Now all that required is proper fitment, surface preparation and paint.
Wonder when that would happen ???

Nigel

My pleasure, I was speaking to my friend who has domain knowledge on composites. Some points of our discussion.

Plastic composites

three processes

1. hand layup

2. injection moulding

3. Compression moulding

All cloth materials are either by hand layup or compression moulding.

Injection moulding will have less strength as the strands size will be smaller.

Now composites may use

1. Strands / rowings (ropes) / Cloth (it can be carbon fiber or glass fiber)

* Process is the same for carbon fiber and glass fiber.

2. Resins

3. Pigment

4. Filler like POP in basic form

5. PP (poly propelene) for areas not visible and ABS for all visible, class A surfaces.

6. Now a days there are various additives available to enhanse the product one being UV protection. That is a very common one.

The cycle time for normal sheet metal is less as compared to composites. Also composites tend to be costly. Around the globe (Except India) car companies spend a lot on product devlopment and take some risk and many high end cars are made out of composites. In India, it is like the proven solution will be favoured by the companies.

Hope this info is of use to all. I will post more info later.

[NigelLopez]

Thanks Manish for the Info.
I guess we too are on the right track, although we do not use Pop on the final pieces and have opted for good isogelcoat and are using Isoresin alongwith the roving as shown earlier.
We have explored carbon fibre too, but we found it frightfully expensive,

We are looking at producing carbonfibre lookalike products, though.

Anyway thanks for the info.

Nigel

[manishalive]

Originally Posted by NigelLopez

Thanks Manish for the Info.
I guess we too are on the right track, although we do not use Pop on the final pieces and have opted for good isogelcoat and are using Isoresin alongwith the roving as shown earlier.
We have explored carbon fibre too, but we found it frightfully expensive,

We are looking at producing carbonfibre lookalike products, though.

Anyway thanks for the info.

Nigel

Good to hear back, The current process it think is what is best possible . And info was for the less knowledgable folks.

[jaisha8]

Posting some images of the Camero scale model that I have at home. Just in case it could be of some use.

[sanjeevkanjoor]

Hi Konjaril,
How's this dash? sorry for the poor picture quality!

[CCP]

Two more mean Muscle car (MUSTANG) Pics.

Pics from carcraft.com

Regards

CCP.

[manishalive]

guys, check check, no updates. Please we are eagerly waiting for them. atleast some rendering / cad images if not the final outcome of interiors.

[konjaril]

Originally Posted by manishalive

guys, check check, no updates. Please we are eagerly waiting for them. atleast some rendering / cad images if not the final outcome of interiors.

Hi guys, hi Manish i am sorry i have not been consistent nowadays. the work on the conti is not at all progressed from the last time. but wait! there is a damn good reason for that.

The w126 is almost done! the car was not easy as it seemed , the car had some bad rusted spots, the interiors were a mess and falling apart the wood trims were popping out,speedometer readings were all destroyed from the oxidized aluminium and so on, So we stripped the car apart except the engine and now the paint job is done, the wood work redone, some cosmetic touches and the car would be assembled in a matter of four to five days and then..
the conti work starts and starts big time, we aim to finish the car till august (the contessa)

[manishalive]

Originally Posted by konjaril

Hi guys, hi Manish i am sorry i have not been consistent nowadays. the work on the conti is not at all progressed from the last time. but wait! there is a damn good reason for that.

The w126 is almost done! the car was not easy as it seemed , the car had some bad rusted spots, the interiors were a mess and falling apart the wood trims were popping out,speedometer readings were all destroyed from the oxidized aluminium and so on, So we stripped the car apart except the engine and now the paint job is done, the wood work redone, some cosmetic touches and the car would be assembled in a matter of four to five days and then..
the conti work starts and starts big time, we aim to finish the car till august (the contessa)

Oh wow that is too great, but you have deprived us of both. Can we see Work in progress pictures of the W126