New Carbon Fiber Projects: Cabin Air Filter and ECU Cover

nachos23 · 12-01-2010, 11:12 AM

Have just completed wrapping my 1st Cabin Air Filter; think it came out great!! Also did the ECU cover and tried some new techniques on these parts which I believe the pictures will show worked out extremely well!!!! :excited:

Took some pictures of the finished products and took a couple with the Cabin Air filter + ECU cover installed. The top engine cover is off the car as I've prepped the part and will begin wrapping it today. The second cover (exhaust side) will be done as well.

Have a carbon fiber moulded top engine cover for sale. Bought it commercially before getting into wrapping myself and now have no need for it..... anyone interested in the engine cover, PM me.

Here are the pictures:

InfiniteDice · 12-01-2010, 11:35 AM

Can you make some pure CF parts and not just wraps. Really it's just one extra step making a mold. The Purpose of CF is to have a strong light part... not a fancy looking heavy part.

I'm thinking of doing this myself as I do pretty much everything myself anyways.

Eurostyle · 12-01-2010, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InfiniteDice

Can you make some pure CF parts and not just wraps. Really it's just one extra step making a mold. The Purpose of CF is to have a strong light part... not a fancy looking heavy part.

I'm thinking of doing this myself as I do pretty much everything myself anyways.

One "extra step" that will take 90% of the time and effort to make! Not even incuding price of the parts, wich will much higher considering more fiber will be needed (one layer part like the wrap will have no structural strength)...

nachos23 · 12-04-2010, 12:14 PM

Planning to play with molds, but molds require volume to offset the cost to produce. Which molds should I produce and I'm not making parts that require structural strength and finally companies like EAS (and numerous others) have made a business of wrapping parts. Another point is most "mass-produced" CF parts are now made in China (you can verify this point) and there is no way that I can compete with the chinese on costs and labour so I'm focused on making quality wraps for cosmetic enhancements to cars. My wraps are quality wraps with the highest quality control and visual appearance.

I'm focused on producing quality parts that rival the best molded parts. Another thing that I don't care for in molded parts is the way the manufacturers re-design the parts to make it easier to produce, but end-up eliminating the natural curves and flow of the piece in order to make easier to mold. The molded centre consoles I've seen for e46's are UGLY!!! My wrapping doesn't change the part's look or natural flow as it wrapped to the original part; maintaining all the features BMW engineers intended for it to have.

The molded parts I'm considering would be items like hoods where I can add a design element; like to the hood or other exterior parts.

Another issue is quality control. Once you move to molds, you loose the ability to control the fabric. Once vacuum is applied, the cloth is drawn onto part; you can't control fabric and you get the weave issues I keep hearing about.

By habd wrapping I can control the application of the cloth and make adjustments while laying cloth

canuckder · 12-04-2010, 01:04 PM

if he was wrapping full hoods or something ridiculous i could under stand about weight issues.

but for an ecu cover, thats been wrapped and adds half a pound to it. who cares,

everything is looking amazing, i can see all the lines are almost perfectly straight. ill bring that shift knob back asap, been slacking.

nachos23 · 12-04-2010, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by canuckder

if he was wrapping full hoods or something ridiculous i could under stand about weight issues.

but for an ecu cover, thats been wrapped and adds half a pound to it. who cares,

everything is looking amazing, i can see all the lines are almost perfectly straight. ill bring that shift knob back asap, been slacking.

Hey Buddy;

Haven't heard from you in ages..... Have an automatic shift knob to do now and an SMG knob to do in about 2 weeks as part of a SHITLOAD of stuff a guy wants for his HPF M3. Full intake system, intake manifold, door sills, seat surrounds, etc......

canuckder · 12-04-2010, 11:48 PM

nice business is good than, im just starting to write out the starting of the build thread. was a good 5 hours of tearing it apart.

nachos23 · 12-05-2010, 04:41 PM

Build thread? Sorry, what did I miss?

nachos23 · 12-07-2010, 05:25 PM

Buddy got his parts and had the following to say: "Parts arrived yesterday and they look great! Lake effect snow has been dumping a ton of snow on us for the past 5 days so I couldn't get amazing pics, but here are a few that I snapped right after installation. They really make the engine bay stand out, couldn't be happier with the results."

Here's the pictures that were sent (sorry for the snow; he's in NY and being buried)