924Board.org

[Zuffen]

The outer side of the hatch should be used I think. The new finished won't be larger on the frame and you won't see the difference on the rest.

What about the two hatches as a mold and use vacuum to suck the air and acrylic into the space. Maybe drill a series of holes in the glass to help have suck or fill points. If there were a few casting marks they could be sanded and polished. Even if the hatch were thicker it would be lighter than the original glass.

What about cost how does it all compare?

[wdb]

the vacuum sounds like a good idea but i dont think drilling holes would be necessary,there will be a gap around the outside that will need to closed,just leave a few areas open.fill from the bottom vacuum at the top (lay mold at a shallow angle) but only a few have 2 hatches,if they make and sell them to others the cost of thier time to develope and make them,brings us right back to where we started,they cost to much.

[Richard]

To bring this string back to spoilers for a minute.....I heard but cannot confirm that the early body mount spoilers were not as aerodynamic as the hatch mount ones. Does anyone know about this?

[Peter_in_AU]

OK, how about a large sheet of lexan and a heat gun?

Anyone tried shaping large slabs of 3mm polycarbonate or lexan? Should be easy for the side glass.

[ This Message was edited by: Peter_in_AU on 2002-01-24 22:13 ]

[ricomartinez]

How hot can a heat gun get? I think you have to get acrylic close to 300 deg F to get it to flex. I have read where it can't stand temps over 200 F for long. Maybe if it is kept under stress and heated above 200 F for a long time it will hold whatever shape you want it to.

[wdb]

it needs to be heated to 170 C heres the details on how its done doesnt look hard.
http://www.theheights.schools.sa.edu.au/acrylic.html

[numbers]

Geez guys, after reading all of your posts, 600 bucks for a nice clear Lexan window sounds like a good deal.

[Peter_in_AU]

the prices at Apex Performance http://www.apexperformance.net/ look even better.

[wdb]

after reading about how to pressure form the acrylic,i'd bet,a hood and fenders could be molded, and if you really got serious,you could drill out the tack welds in the doors,and mold the exterior panel and inner frame seperatly and then glue them together,replacing all the glass,fenders ,hood and doors,with acrylic,you could probably loose 5-600 lbs off the weight of the car.

[Joes924]

Yea.. thats right poly hatches are spendy the glass 1s are dinasuars they weigh alot
..& yea the thread interesting enough ..my 2 cents becareful of air bubbles easy enough
and I dont know you might have a product that looks shitty in that it doesnt fit
I might like it though ..let me know with a E-mail ..

...Jon mount the spoiler on the plastic hatch not the body .... OK

[AppleBit]

wow- Apex looks like a good deal!

What about heat warpage or anything... I am interested

- Jon


_________________
Classic British Sports Car Restoration v6 + v8 Engine Conversion Swaps

Porsche 924 Wide Body LS1 Corvette 500 Horsepower Engine

[Peter_in_AU]

apparently the forming temperature of polycarbonate (lexan) is 190C (375F) so heat related distortion should not be a problem.

[wdb]

simple animation of vacuum forming
http://www.bpf.co.uk/pras/materials_and_processes/processes/animation7.asp
a variety of ways of achieving each step of the forming process,see tech. page for cutting,painting cementing and more.
http://www.chemcastacrylic.com/technical/mx4.htm

[Peter_in_AU]

hey wdb,

you've got so many great links for composites and plastics would you consider organising them into a post on the links section?

[wdb]

If you think they are useful,I dont mind spending the time to organize them in one place.I assume you mean the post in the body section also. do you think it would be a good idea to have sub folders in the link section,mechanical,body,electrical,etc. and if so ,should I wait to post the links. I am curious,how much data is in this board,as in mega bytes or whatever the measurement is currently at.