Carbon Fiber Intakes (Con't).

[Max]

I read this post and thought, boy does this sound familiar.  You must be
Heinrich Gerhard from H.O. Racing in Lawndale.  I work with Don Helfenstein
at Nissan and he has mentioned your name on many occasions.  Don had
mentioned this project recently and suggested that I should come by and
take a look with him sometime.

Small world.

Steve Mitchell

----------
> From: HeinGer at aol.com
> To: diy_efi at efi332.eng.ohio-state.edu
> Subject: Re: Carbon Fiber Intakes (Con't).
> Date: Wednesday, February 11, 1998 8:46 PM
> 
> As a guy who works with composites for a living (major aerospace
company), let
> me add my $.02 to the string...  First of all, fiberglass cloth will
handle
> ANY heat that an auto engine can throw at it.  I wrapped my header tubes
with
> it.  The problem with heat is the resin used for the laminate.  If you
use an
> epoxy resin like Hysol 9396, which has high strength up to about 350 deg
F,
> you can easily make an intake from fiberglass.  In fact, fiberglass is
> preferable to graphite (carbon fiber), if you are making the laminate
without
> vacuum bagging it.  Why? Because graphite fibers are much more slippery
than
> glass fibers and will tend to delaminate more easily.  By vacuum bagging,
you
> force the fibers into much more intimate contact with each other, and
greatly
> reduce the chance for delamination.  I know, because I've tried both
ways.  I
> recently completed a graphite manifold for my 66 GTO, powered by a
roller-
> cammed Pontiac 428. I also machined a 2-bbl 60mm throttle body for it (I
was
> too cheap to buy Lingenfelter's).  As soon as mr. postman brings my Accel
> computer, I'll let you  know how it works.