Aug/090
Carbon Fibre Fitting & Seat Filling
Today I got underway with the carbon fibre vinyl. I wanted it around the bottom of the rear side of the cockpit. After unrolling it, I cut a piece wide enough for the section. Making sure there was enough to overlap the edges by about 1-1.5cm. I began by peeling off 2 or 3 inches of the vinyl and pressing it onto the surface. I used a smooth cloth to press over the vinyl, taking out any air and possible bubbles. I continued to remove the plastic backing until the whole sheet was pressed tightly to the surface.
I cut a 45 degree angle in the corners, so the edges could fold underneath the cockpit, this would mean no join line at all. The corners also folded nearly together because of the angled cut. At the front edge, I cut just before the start of the rounded edge. I just used a ruler for a straight edge.
I did the same for the opposite side, and then started on the back. The back would only overlap on the bottom, not the sides. It would site over the top of the two side pieces, keeping them in place tightly.
I decided to Duck Tape underneath. This will keep the vinyl firmly in place and provide a small amount of grip on the floor also. Duck tape just doesn’t move so theres 0% chance of the vinyl peeling off now the tape is covering the edges.
Then I moved onto the seat once again. I had previously cut it down, gotten rid of the excess, but now I wanted to fill any cracks and gaps. I used expanding foam for this. I squirted this into all the major cracks and also used it to build up the sides a bit – I wanted the seat to look more even than it did. This foam will expand massively, and I will need to cut and/or sand it off once its dried – usually takes about 45 minutes.
I’ve put everything away now as it was too dark to work, but tomorrow I will set about cutting the excess foam off and leaving myself with a more solid, rigid and symmetrical seat.
Aug/090
Seat Moulded, Dried, Bag removed, Cut to size.
I got up nice and early this morning to get to work on the seat. It had been curing for about 13 hours overnight. More than enough time.
I pulled the seat out of the car, noticing a few obvious cracks – off the main structure, creases were minimal. It looked good!
I pulled at the bag near the back edge of the seat and it peeled off nicely, I made a cut with a knife and began pulling the bag off the main seat. The bag removed quickly and easily, apart from those few obvious areas where cracks had appeared.
Cracks appear because the bag is folded inside itself, basically bag to bag, there are removable before finally moulding, however its difficult to remove all of them and also in this case it wouldn’t matter – the support for me is nowhere near the cracks.
The main area of the seat was pretty much crease free, a nice smooth flowing surface moulded to my shape. And no cracks in sight. The bottom front edge of the seat had a fairly big chunk that was removed, but the rest of the bottom is completely flat and support/rocking/movement is absolutely not an issue. The seat fits completely snug and firm in place.
I cut away the excess on the sides and top, in stages. The foam was too thick to go through in one cut, so I removed it in small squares and then took the top off the remaining parts.
For those cracks at the bottom, I’m going to fill those with some sort of filler, which I have yet to decide on. The cracks don’t really matter, but its just for my own piece of mind and to make the seat covering easier. Once I receive the suede, and the seat is covered, there will be no problems and the seat will look great.
Check out the pictures, there’s a massive difference between the removal of bag stage to the final seat shape. The seat feels comfy, and I could sit there for hours without a problem, this is definitely the way to go, for anyone. Let’s just hope I don’t put on any weight!
All I can say to anyone moulding their own seat is to:
- Take your time
- Be careful
- Test beforehand
- Follow the instructions as best as you can.
If you rush into it all, it will go wrong, I almost guarantee it. You will end up mixing the resin wrong, or not kneading the beads for long enough, or not staying in the seat for long enough, cutting it to shape too soon, and worst of all you will end up with major cracks, separations and creases over the main area of the seat. If this happens, its not worth using. So, as I say – take your time.
Aug/090
Seat Moulding Process
Well, that didn’t take quite as long as I expected it to! After doing a couple of further test runs with the seat mould/vacuum, the actual final mould only took about 45 minutes.
I decided to add some space inhibitors to the bottom of the cockpit. I got them from a Supermarket (they use them at the back of the fridges occasionally). I used it for the same thing here, basically to take up space inside the cockpit, so the seat’s beads could be used for moulding and not wasted filling right to the edges of the cockpit.
I did a test run with these installed and it worked far better than it had done previously. Then I decided to go for the final run.
Firstly, I let all the air out of the bag using the valve, which let the beads completely loose. I then proceeded to mix the resin. The kit provides the exact amounts of hardener and resin – 400ml and 600ml respectively. Pour the hardener in first, followed by the resin. This is thicker and will sink to the bottom. Then I mixed it all for 5 minutes. From the point of mixing, you have approximately 1 hour before the seat is too hard to work with.
Next, I removed the valve from the bag by a simple twist and pull. I lifted the hole over the centre of the bag/beads and began pouring in the liquid using the jug and funnel, making sure not to get the resin on the bag itself. This doesn’t matter, but its best to hit the beads directly rather than pouring it down the sides of the bag.
Next, I spent 15 minutes kneading the bag, mixing up the mix right into the beads. I pushed the corners into the middle of the bag to be sure they were all coated. There is a slight colour to the mix – a light grey, so you can clearly see which beads have been coated and which haven’t. The feeling of the beads was now totally different. They felt far more dense.
I placed more beads on the bottom of the bag, and fewer for the back. Then I placed it into the cockpit. I got in, and got comfy. Then, for the final vacuum. It really tightened up this time. I sat in the cockpit for 1 hour and 25 minutes total. After about 25 minutes or so the seat started to get really hot. And after about 45 minutes it was pretty darn hot. Not burning hot, just hot hot. 
I got out of the cockpit and the seat looked great. I will now leave it overnight to properly harden and cure. Tomorrow, I will begin sanding, cutting and removing the excess that isn’t needed.
On Monday, I will receive the suede I have ordered to cover it. Black Faux Suede from Ebay, it cost me £9 plus shipping – £13 total. Very reasonable. This will be stuck on with the adhesive spray I have.
I have also ordered some suitcase catches, which will keep the two halves of the cockpit together, and will look really good.
Anyway, enough rambling, check out the pics!
Aug/090
Seat Installation Test Run
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- Test Installation
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- Hoover attachment
So, I wanted to do a test run with the seat before going ahead and moulding it. The last thing I want to do is rush it all and end up doing it wrong, or just doing a bad job.
I did a couple of tests with it, putting it in different positions and messing about with the vacuum amount. For the final run, which seemed to work best, I pushed most of the beads into the middle of the cockpit and then put my weight on it, spreading it out. This provided far more support than just laying the bag in and all the areas of the seat were thick enough to mould there and then. To Vacuum the air out, I used a normal hoover, but Duck taped some plastic tubing to it, so it fitted the valve. Bodge job, but it worked perfectly.
I took a couple of pictures, and will hopefully doing the actual mould on Saturday.
P.S. I just realised I’d blurred the picture of the hoover, will get another pic on Saturday – in focus!
Aug/090
Seat Kit Arrived & Painting Finished & Decal Designs
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- Seat Kit
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- Desktop Files – Decal Images
My seat arrived today. The kit looks great, can’t wait to try and mould it. Will possibly be doing that tonight, fingers crossed! The process seams quite lengthy, but it’s best to be thorough and get it perfect than to rush it. After all, if it goes wrong, I may as well have just thrown £145 down the drain!
I think I will have to add some more wood to the bottom of the cockpit, the seat needs to be raised slightly, the front being level with the entrance to the front half. It might be possible to shift the beads enough to fit it perfectly, but I’m unsure. The last thing I want to happen is for me to end up getting pins and needles/dead leg whilst driving. That would be a nightmare.
I’m also thinking of covering the seat in either black suede or Nomex cloth.
Anyway, the painting is completely finished!
Paint process:
- Sanding
- 1st Coat of Zinsser Grey Primer
- Sanding
- 2nd Coat of Zinsser Grey Primer
- Sanding
- Grey Undercoat
- Sanding
- 1st Top coat
- Sanding
- 2nd Top Coat
- Sanding
- 3rd Top Coat
- 4th Top Coat
Glad thats over! Each of the Top coats required 16 hours drying time in between. Although it will take around 10 days to fully cure.
Last night I drilled a hole in the bottom of the front half of the cockpit for a couple of wires to enter the cockpit. I will finish this off with a silver metal disc, so the hole is completely tidy.
I also spent a couple of hours last night preparing the decal images. This was a fairly length process. Each image requiring the correct size (in CM/MM), a blank backgroud, correct naming etc. Having to pull each one off the internet in a decent size was more difficult than I thought it would be. My desktop is now littered with the files!
In total there will be 37 decals on the cockpit. This seems a lot! However, every decal on one side also needs to be on the other. And then 7 decals for the top. Just like my initial design.
If the printing company can do the job, I’m ready to go!
Aug/090
Third Top Coat & Pedal Cable Tidying
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- 3rd Top Coat Finished
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- 3rd Top Coat Front done
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- 3rd Top Coat Front done
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- 2nd Coat dried
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- Complete
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- Complete
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- Insulation tape
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- Insulation tape
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- Insulation tape
I applied the 3rd top coat of red today. I’m thinking about the possibility of a fourth, but I’m not entirely sure yet. I will see what it looks like tomorrow when it’s dried.
Yesterday’s coat looked pretty good, but still a little patchy, todays seems pretty much perfect. I’ve used a foam roller again and gone over it with a brush to remove the orange peel effect. The brush creates a far more reflective finish than the roller.
I finished off the cable tidying of the pedals today. Since the pedals will be inside the cockpit and won’t be seen the look isn’t massively important. But I did want it to be completely secure.
I took off the original insulation tape, and re-did it. I put a few more layers on and made the covering thicker. This will prevent any possibility of cross-talk between the cables. I insulated each individual wire first, and then insulated two together, and then all 4 (all clutch wires) into one group. There were a few wires that are usually quite far apart in the pedal housing, so I insulated those as well. After I finished insulating the wires themselves, I wanted to secure them to the aluminium to prevent them moving. On the back of the pedal mount, there are two grooves, so I put the wire through those and used insulating tape to secure them. Then I put the cables tidily on the base of the aluminum and taped them down.
Insulating tape is ok for a short time, but long term it’s not strong enough to keep them in place. So I used duck tape which is far stronger and sticker. I put this over the black insulating tape and now its absolutely solid.