(NEWEST Pictures on Page 3 - All Carbon top - hood, roof, a&b pillars and hatch)

Ok, so I've been in the interior/exterior tech area for a little while looking over and participating in discussions, but now it's time to start posting accomplishments.

I'm starting with the interior of the car as I'm happy with the performance for the time being until I get a second car, allowing the Z to be down for weeks at a time.

I will be wrapping interior pieces with Kevlar/Carbon Hybrid Dual Weave 2x2 Twill and a few carbon fiber 2x2 twill as well.

Let's begin:
Car as purchased (9/21/11):


exterior (as of 1/10/12). Only exterior difference is I removed the front mesh grill insert:



and then we start on the interior:
I purchased enough Kevlar to do the interior pieces I was looking to cover, but I will be ordering much more to do the front lip, side skirts and possible rear diffuser.

I started with the rear strut brace center cover:


Saturation Coat



(testing an idea)


2nd & 3rd layers of epoxy




Sanding/buffing/polishing. You can see all of the dimples in the epoxy here:


Installed (holes are for the "Z" to be replaced)



Through the dirty window & 20% tint


I will hopefully be getting in some extra stuff this weekend to get going on the upper/mid dash and the door accents.

 

I love the look of kevlar. Nice job.

 

Thanks. That's what I will have for the center dash/waterfall, door accents, front lip, side skirts, and a possible rear diffuser. It all just will take time before I get it all done. I should have the rest of the interior pieces done in about 2-3 weeks.

 

Looks good. Just dont go overboard with the Kevlar.

How much would you charge to wrap the rear strut just like yours?

Chris

 

I'm not going to go crazy. The front lip will just be the lower section of a Nismo V2 front lip, the sides will be flat bottoms so it would only look like a line a kevlar around the bottom of the car. The interior is only going to have just the center dash, door window switch bezels and this rear brace cover.

I don't know how much I would charge if I started doing that. It's pretty much time consuming rather than expensive material in reality. Mine still isn't done. I'm actually going to do one more layer of epoxy and resand/buff/polish it yet again just to get it 100%.

 

never seen anyone wrap the strut cover before. very cool.

 

+1 that looks good

 

I just snapped a couple pictures in the sun light. Looks a lot better in day light. lol

 

wat a weird color to go with

 

build thread is a deceiving name. I will check back in a few months.

 

Color choice is because I like the kevlar & brickyard over carbon & brickyard.

This is the start of the build thread actually. My friend's 350Z was totaled this morning. Looks like I will be getting some parts very quickly sure to his bad luck.

 

How much did you pay for the kevlar and where? I wanted a kevlar air diversion for my radiator. I found a DIY for it, but i need the supplies.

 

wow nice job on the rear strut thingy!

I took a swing at this an failed horrible....

in for more of the exterior!

 

Kevlar is about $35/yd + shipping. I actually got my materials from several different places. I'm trying to consolidate all items through one place, but haven't had much luck finding the right epoxy for my needs with the places I would get the Kevlar through.

Thanks. I was a little overwhelmed once I received everything, but I just went for it. I've worked with carbon fiber before so I know about all the epoxy characteristics. I was just worried about kevlar, but doesn't appear to be much of an issue. Exterior will be a lot more work even through less trimming/cutting compared to the interior.

Dash & window switch covers are next. Front lip & Side Skirts won't be for another month or so. Really don't want to do them til it's much nicer outside.

 

.Dash is curing as I type this. Pictures soon to follow.

 

Sneak peak:

 

Ok, so after a lot of sanding and trimming, the console is back in, but still not finished. I have to do a lot of touch up work and smoothing but here it is for now:

Just the start of the sanding





There is some weird lighting, so if you think there is a ripple, there is not. It has been sanded smooth. I will get updated pictures once we get another sunny day




I need to get the Double DIN installed as well as getting the "waterfall door" wrapped. That will be next, unless I just go with a gloss black for now.

 

Coming along nicely. For having limited experience working with the Kevlar the pieces look very professional.

 

Thanks. As you can see in the pictures, the area in front of the shift boot needs to be redone as well as some other sections too. I probably will fix them around April just before the Branson Z Fest in May.

 

it's been in the 60s the last two days up here in Nebraska and today I got out of work early so I took a few shots. Brickyard on a brick road... seems fitting... All the pictures were taken with my phone, so sorry they're not high quality.





oh, and they're building a new Nissan dealership so I took a couple shots over there too.