Prepping the roof for carbon fiber

Tonight I began to prep the roof to receive some carbon fiber in an effort to reduce the overall weight even more. Taking weight off of the roof has the added benefit of lowering the center of gravity too, since the weight removed is up so high. My plan is to do a form of moldless composite layup, using the existing roof as a mold. I will lay the carbon fabric directly onto the roof, add epoxy, let cure then remove the carbon "cap". Then I can cut away most of the roof and replace it with the carbon fiber cap. I was really surprised at how heavy the sunroof panel was, so I can imagine the roof section I'm going to remove must be at least 50lbs.

The first step was to ensure a smooth surface for the carbon so that I don't have a noticeable spot where the sunroof once was. I disassembled the sunroof and removed all the weatherstripping. I then used wood shims to prop in in place while I used fiberglass mat to fill the gap that the weatherstripping left.

After the 'glass sets up, I'll cover it with a thin layer of body filler and then sand smooth. Hopefully this will help eliminate and hint of the sunroof when I lay the carbon.

I ordered the carbon fiber from Aircraft Spruce http://www.aircraftspruce.com/ They have a great selection of composite products...everything from fabric to resin to composite tools. It's always good to have an Aircraft Spruce catalog laying around the shop.

Hopefully I'll be ready to lay the carbon this weekend...I'll have a plasma cutter on loan and I'm very curious to see how much roof I can cut off. After the roof, I might try and make my own carbon hood and trunk lid. Maybe some door skins too :)

On another note- I spoke with John at Evil Genius Racing today about fabrication of a cage for the car. John builds cages for spec e30 class, and he is probably the best on the West Coast. His shop is about 2.5 hours from here, not too bad. The price he quoted me wasn't too bad, especially for the quality and complexity of the cage. I'm planning on dragging the car down there in mid-December to begin fabrication work. Above is an example of an e30 cage he did. More photos are available on his website- http://www.evilgeniusracing.com/