Hanaldo

Maybe you guys can give me your opinion, I'm trying to decide whether I should make this pipe out of pure carbon fibre or a carbon/kevlar hybrid, like this: I was thinking of doing the carbon/kevlar because I'm going to have a lot of carbon fibre items in my engine bay, I figured this might give it a bit of originality and help break it up a bit.

Haha well I would like to put mine together first to make sure the resin and adhesive systems I'm using are suitable for the heat it will be subject to. That said, I will be looking to start producing these if it is successful. I don't want to break any forum rules by discussing it too much, but would people be happy paying $250 for it? $300 including Speedflow fittings.

I bet you've spent less! Haha. Quick update, flattened the last layer out today and managed to do it without rubbing through (hazzah!), so have now done the (hopefully) final high gloss coat. Used a black pigment in this one, as darker colours will show low spots better. Will let that cure for 48 hours before I flat it down then polish it up. With any luck I'll have it finished on Monday, ready to take a mould from.

HA! Haha! You're a funny man Seriously though, if I was at all bothered by losing to people, I would have sold my car YONKS ago! Haha. My car is a perfect example of how to build a car using all the right bits, but not ACTUALLY have a fast car.

How does one plumb a gate? I believe this would pose a serious hazard and should never be done.

Nawww, thanks you guise I know right. Posted that photo on Facebook, everyone thought it was bread I'll keep updating when there's progress, posting here will probably help keep me motivated. I took the car for a drive with a mate and his Supra a few weeks ago. Definitely enjoyed driving it. Then I look down at the missing bits and my broken passenger seat rail and think of all the other peoples stolen jewelry that was in it... Hard to get over that. I should probably toughen up and get over it, because I got the car back essentially in the same condition they took it in. Not a scratch on it and even the tyres are still sweet! That's a lot better than most other people get when their cars get stolen. So I'm being a bit of a princess about it, it's just hard to ignore those thoughts.

I remember why it's been months now. Carry on, lads.

Not to mention a massive waste of expensive resin! Haha. In any case, any method of moulding using the old pipe would have restricted me to a 3" diameter, which defeats the purpose. I could have tried to add material to the outside of the pipe until it reached a 4" diameter, but it would have used a lot of materials and would not have been very accurate. Have just finished the next coat. Used a little bit of red pigment as a guide, so I know when I am rubbing through to the next layer: Well I was going for red... But I forgot that the microballoon powder is white... So I ended up with this aorta... I only did a thin coat because the surface was already pretty good, so didn't need a lot of filling. With any luck I won't rub through this layer, then I'll only have to do the final gloss coat after this one. Might be ready to make a mould from this weekend!

Haha sorry lads, just found this. I'll be honest, I don't come on here a lot anymore haha. Jayrod was on the money, after the car was stolen it hasn't quite been the same. Still considering selling it, but it's too hard to let go. I haven't quite finished sorting it out, so it's been sitting in one spot since December. Running fine, just missing few interior bits and I need to wire in kill-switches etc. As far as updates go, I guess the most interesting one is my current carbon fibre project. As Mani said, I've been doing a lot of composite work and have started a small business making and selling composite parts. I've recently deleted Facebook as well, so not even Mani or Mat have seen this one To the point, the project I am working on at the moment is a 4" intake pipe. I wanted to build something completely from scratch, and given I only had a 3" intake pipe, I couldn't use my original one as a mold. Basically I wanted the same shape as my original, except with a 4" diameter and also 100mm longer to move the pod filter further away from the turbo. So, first I need to make a 'plug', or a replica of the part I want to make. I started off with some 3D drawings in Microstation, a CAD-type software (drawn by my ever so talented mother) : From there I was able to print out the cross-sections I needed, and transfer them to some 3mm balsa wood: Which allowed me to create the skeleton structure of the part: I then needed to in-fill the gaps, so I made some low density polyurethane foam using a 2-part pour in place system. For anyone interested, this is a video showing how it is made. Super fun stuff to use. (Haveforgottenhowtoembedsomeonepleasehalp) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151868180522541 With this being the product. I made 4 of these 'blocks'. Then I used this foam to fill in the 'body' of my part: Trimmed and sanded down to size, and voila! I've successfully reconstructed the 3D drawing into a dimensionally accurate plug. From here, I filled and sealed the part with epoxy resin filled with microballoons: Then used a stainless steel and fibreglass reinforced body filler to fill in the big gaps: Flattened it down: Then used the same filler to cover the whole thing, so I could fill in any low spots in the foam: Sanded it down again, then trial fitted it in the car: Perfect fitment to the mm! That is where I am up to at the moment. Next stage is doing another coat of filled epoxy, sanding that down flat, then doing a layer of calcium carbonate filled epoxy to develop a high gloss coat. From there I will need to flat it down and polish it to a mirror shine, then I can take a mould from it. I'll keep updating here now I know someone is interested

Yeh actually I think you will find that E10 is part of a government initiative to push renewable fuel sources. Clever marketing campaigns to promote the stuff make it sound like it turns Excels into top fuel dragsters, in reality it is a lower octane fuel and will make less power. It is a fuel designed to reduce our fossil fuel usage and lower our carbon footprint, nothing else. E85 on the other hand, that's sorcery and witchcraft in a bottle P.S Woot, first post here in months

Anyone know where I can get some 3mm thick flat acrylic sheet from? Prefer local in Perth, but will do online if it's cheaper. Masters and Bunnings have similar stuff, but they are very expensive. Need it for composite tooling, so can also use polypropylene or similar. Just something that is plastic, relatively thin (2-4mm), and shapes easily using a heat gun.

Fire extinguisher location.

Thanks for that mate, agree with all the above points. The car does already have a 5-point immobilizer and alarm system, and I always leave it in gear when parked outside. Steering wheel at full lock is something I generally do, though will always do from now on. My car is always parked in my garage and is never visible outside except for when I am driving in or out. So really my plan now is to make it as hard to steal as possible, even if they do get my keys. I will definitely be setting up several kill-switches, and my idea with the keypad was more to add another layer to those kill-switches. I just thought about what I would do if I was a thief. If I was trying to steal a car and it wouldn't start, the first thing I would do is check for kill-switches. If there was a keypad there, I think I would be misled into thinking that was the issue. I would probably give up then and there, but say I took the time to pull everything apart and bypass the keypad, the car then still wouldn't start. At which point I could either waste MORE time looking for kill-switches, or move on. Then after all that if they do still manage to steal the car somehow, I will have the GPS tracker as a last resort.

Oh I am very much aware. Currently looking into getting roller shutters on all the windows, and security screens on my glass sliding doors. In the mean time I have a rather heavy 250ft/lb torque wrench sitting here beside me, would be a real shame if I were to accidentally swing it in surprise at somebody coming through my window...

Thanks Gavin, replied. Can anyone tell me what the 'fail-to-drive circuitry' function does? I imagine it is automatic rearming of the device if the car isn't started for a period of time? And is there any way to obtain the installation instructions, Sanji only give them out to dealers by the looks of it...

Yeh the cops were equally amazed. Said they've never seen one left in such good condition. I do think they weren't done with it yet, that we got the car while they were in the process of robbing another place. Consider myself very lucky though, and it's a huge testament to the good that Facebook can do.

Yeh apparently the car can do it, not confident at all that I could pilot it haha. 0 interest in trying either, god damn. I've got shit to live for, I really feel sorry for people that decide their lives are so worthless they would risk throwing them away like that. As for motor, it still wouldn't go over my insurance excess. 3k excess, even if the motor was completely farked, I'd still have to fork out for it. Unless they funded building the motor

Hey all, I know this topic has been discussed before, but a search didn't bring up any recent topics and didn't really answer my questions. So, after getting my car stolen from my house last week and being fortunate enough to have recovered it, I'm not going to make the same mistake of being complacent again. I want to make a multi-layered security system for it, ie. hidden kill switches, keypad immobiliser, GPS tracking, the works. The car already has an alarm and aftermarket immobiliser, but that doesn't help too much when they get hold of my keys. Now then, what is a good solution for a keypad immobiliser? Will be looking to install myself. At the moment I'm leaning towards Sanji - wireless, and comes from the crime capital of the world. Troy, if you read this thread, I'd value your input here. My other thought was to create one myself. Originally thought it wouldn't be too hard; keypad switch wired to relay, relay to ignition. But this probably wouldn't be as simple to do as I thought, as it would need to rearm itself when the ignition is switched off, plus not sure how it would work with programming a code. So unless someone here has the know-how on how to do that, I'll go with an off-the-shelf item for effectiveness. Any help would be much appreciated, Cheers, Martin.

Nope, just the generic jaycar ones Just make sure you get the ones with the plastic cover. Last thing you want is these terminals arcing out on something under there.

Yeh it's getting towed to my mechanic and full mechanical check. Will also purge the fuel tank, full oil and filter changes etc. Unfortunately I know for a fact they've been raping it. Don't want to disclose too much here, but I have got witness accounts. The trouble with my car is the flex fuel tune wasn't finished. It wasn't meant to be driven hard on 98, that was only supposed to be a last resort type thing. But these guys have taken my car with a completely empty tank, and no doubt have no idea what E85 is. So they would have filled it up with 98 at a minimum but most likely 91 even. Then have been smashing it all over town, were involved in a high speed pursuit with police on Wednesday night, etc. I will be very surprised if there is no damage.

Car was left in Swan View, Brown Park.

Yep, gonna be making a keypad ignition cut and getting Gps tracking. Won't be as simple as taking my keys next time that's for sure. Realistically I know they can still steal bit if they really want to, but it makes it harder for them and gives me a chance. I am thinking of selling the car now though. As much as I would miss it. I don't know if I will be able to enjoy it as much now, knowing what it's been through and what it's been used for. Not sure, need to have a good think about what I want now.

Yeh well, all I can say is don't get complacent and make sure you keep your insurance up to date. I thought I was safe here but that rocked my world.

Hey mate, Should have PM'd me! Haha. Basically you've described what you need to do, so now it just depends what devices you are going to have running off this. For me it was mostly gauges, plus there were a couple of other things. Gauges use very little current, so they are easy to set up for. But I did still use 12ga wire to supply the distribution blocks, and that would be more than ample. No way you're gonna have over 50a of current draw unless you're rigging your fuel pump up to this as well So what I did was 12ga wire from the source to the block, and to bridge each terminal on the block. Then from there you only need the correct gauge wire for the device, so whatever size wire your gauges or whatever run off. As for sources, earth is very easy, that's just any earth under the dash; there's plenty. Then for constant 12v, you can either run a wire from your battery, or you can locate your audio systems constant 12v supply. I preferred to do that, as I don't like having things coming off my battery. Especially when that is in the boot and this is under the dash, just unnecessary mess. You can get your ignition 12v from your audio as well. Illumination I spliced into the little ring of light around my cigarette lighter. Again, the things I'm running off it draw very little current so I'm not worried about overloading that circuit at all.

Yeh. Gonna bring them a bottle of wine today haha. Facebook, has its uses.