carbon fiber hatch

[b18accord]

alright so i cant find a carbon fiber hatch for my 87 accord lx-i i was woundering if some1 already has one or kno where i could get one from

[RAZR]

The reason you cant find a CF hatch is cause they dont make them

[2oodoor]

would be cool if they did cuz these hatch lids are heavy as hell

[itzdave]

Its really just the glass that makes it heavy...

[b18accord]

word i wanna get 1 and plexyglass the window ^__^

[weaselor]

I wish they did.

[mykwikcoupe]

FAL is located in auburn or kent near me and dave. they have on their website a group buy option. I believe if we can get a commitment for 10 or more? Ill check later we can have a run made of lexan. They make scrathc resistant and normal lexan windows. I have thought about it many times but never justified the expense of all those windows myself. If we could cut over 30 lbs off the hatch the struts would never fail again!

http://www.flex-a-lite.com/auto/html/flexite-molded.html

yep we need 2 good pieces of glass and 10 committed people. If I had more free assetts around I would put the money down and sell them after I had 10 trustworthy people saying its a go but since I dont Im not sure how itll work out?

[turabaka]

FAL is located in auburn or kent near me and dave. they have on their website a group buy option. I believe if we can get a commitment for 10 or more? Ill check later we can have a run made of lexan. They make scrathc resistant and normal lexan windows. I have thought about it many times but never justified the expense of all those windows myself. If we could cut over 30 lbs off the hatch the struts would never fail again!

http://www.flex-a-lite.com/auto/html/flexite-molded.html

yep we need 2 good pieces of glass and 10 committed people. If I had more free assetts around I would put the money down and sell them after I had 10 trustworthy people saying its a go but since I dont Im not sure how itll work out?

I'm down. Been thinking about switching out to lexan for awhile for weight reasons. It'd be nice to get the rear side hatch glass pieces as well.

[mykwikcoupe]

The side windows appear mostly flat so they would be a cheap copy. the only reason Ive found for the not road legal use is the plastic cracks in an accident and could cause sharp edges. the glass is a laminate and safety tempered so it shatters into a thousand pieces and wont cause gouging as bad a a single sharp edge. Personally I don't see that happening in the rear of the vehicle. Ive seen these hatch pieces sell for nearly $400+ so if anyone is truly serious I would call and find more info but can we even find 10 good members who would vouch?

[turabaka]

The side windows appear mostly flat so they would be a cheap copy. the only reason Ive found for the not road legal use is the plastic cracks in an accident and could cause sharp edges. the glass is a laminate and safety tempered so it shatters into a thousand pieces and wont cause gouging as bad a a single sharp edge. Personally I don't see that happening in the rear of the vehicle. Ive seen these hatch pieces sell for nearly $400+ so if anyone is truly serious I would call and find more info but can we even find 10 good members who would vouch?

Yeah. Finding 10 hatchback owners that actually care enough about weight reduction to spend money on something like this is gonna be hard to do. Definitely find out how much it would cost per piece for the group buy. At $400 bucks I'm probably not gonna be able to put in the cash for more than 1. As much as I'd like to be able to.

[turabaka]

On a side note. Why could we just not use sheets of Lexan? Set it on top of a piece of hatchback glass and mold it to shape with a heatgun. Does lexan not react well to heat?

[b18accord]

sounds pretty gud idea to me only problem is ima be from for the next like 2 months... im getting the rest of my peices now 2 get ready to put a LS (b18) in my accord. i was asking b.c after the swap is done i would love to loose sum of this weight =D

[87roach]

On a side note. Why could we just not use sheets of Lexan? Set it on top of a piece of hatchback glass and mold it to shape with a heatgun. Does lexan not react well to heat?

I have found that it bubbles.

This might be avoided by slowly heating it but I couldn't tell you.

[turabaka]

I have found that it bubbles.

This might be avoided by slowly heating it but I couldn't tell you.

I was reading up on it last night after I posted, and it looks like it reacts well to being molded in an oven on low heat. I imagine it could be done with rivets and a heat gun on low heat. Rivet the piece to the car one section at a time and mold with the heat gun as needed.

[b18accord]

I was reading up on it last night after I posted, and it looks like it reacts well to being molded in an oven on low heat. I imagine it could be done with rivets and a heat gun on low heat. Rivet the piece to the car one section at a time and mold with the heat gun as needed.

Sounds like a mission lol

[gp02a0083]

plexiglass / lexan or whatever , its usually polycarbonate, decent strong stuff. You would need to get it heated to about 140*C ( 283 *F) around its deflection temperature. Even heating of the lexan is probably important when keeping it transparent (no hazing or cracking). also an autoclave might work well when the lexan is heated under pressure, that may solve the bubbling issue.

just crunching the #'s here if i calculated this right here is the difference between glass and lexan.
rear hatch area is roughly 1702 in^2, assume that the glass is a 1/4 in thick would make it 425.5 in^3
Density of glass - 0.091 lbs/in^3 - glass wt = 38.72 lbs
Density of lexan (polycarbonate) 0.043 lbs/in^3 - lexan wt = 18.29 lbs

should be about a 20 lb lighter alone just by swapping the glass.

i would try installing the lexan on a spare hatch, if it doesn't work out and you break the glass its either paying around $400 for a new piece or finding a junkyard one.

[Dr_Snooz]

To what extent is the Lexan going to reflect UV rays? More specifically, automakers put tinting in auto glass to reflect solar energy and preserve the interior. Is something similar available for Lexan? I know they have smoked Lexan, but is it UV resistant? If not, you'll have one heck of a hot, bright interior in the summer months.

[gp02a0083]

Snooz , could probably get one with UV additives, obviously this drives up the cost. Ill test a piece of Polycarbonate (lexan) on Monday or Tuesday at work, its from McMaster-Carr. Very optically clear , but scratches like a bitch easily. IMO for a DD this is a waste of time, for a true full out race car it would be better suited.

[lostforawhile]

we use lexan at work on the airplanes, you need to bend it in one piece, we have a mold in the shape of the windows, then a bunch of heatlamps above it, you close the lid with the heat lamps and let the lexan warp to the shape of the mold, it's tricky to get just right without bubbles.

[b18accord]

we use lexan at work on the airplanes, you need to bend it in one piece, we have a mold in the shape of the windows, then a bunch of heatlamps above it, you close the lid with the heat lamps and let the lexan warp to the shape of the mold, it's tricky to get just right without bubbles.

with all the stress and time it seems like to get that to work i think i raither buy it legit -___- lol

[2oodoor]

let me clarify that lexan a plexiglass are two entirely different things ok

also there are several different grades of lexan, and the optical grade is expensive very expensive. Unless you can get it from some surplus or free it would not be worth the effort.

I suppose you could go for 1/8 thickness regular lexan and use a set of louvers so it couldnt be seen. Alumininum rivets with a rivet washer and hi grade ge silicone.

Carbon fiber a hatch lid really may not be so difficult if you don't be over particular about it. There really is not much contour or panel space to be concerned with for refinsihing.