Rob x-7

I know carbon fiber is excellent for IC pipes, but how does fiberglass hold up?

TYSON

Most OEM pipes are plastic so fiberglass should hold up just fine, especially since you know what you're doing

Rob x-7

I can make it from fire retardent resin.



I cant weld so im thinking I can get that one piece smooth look and do it myself.

j9fd3s

couple issues...



1. you need something in where the hose clamp goes, we had a plastic intake on the race car, and it broke there



2. i notice with crappy fiberglass hoods and stuff, that it moves around. IC pipes will get hot



i say go for it, you know what you're doing

Rob x-7

I can bead the ends where the couplers go and can make it stronger in that area.

I can also glass tabs in like the greddy pipes I have now have for mounting them to the header panel.



then it got me thinking what if I just do the pipes in the engine bay, then what do I do where the BOV mounts- would have to make that stronger.



I was watching Barrett Jackson and the IC pipes on the Saleen S7 looked awesome, so it got me thinking to do something different.... I think I might pick away at it over the summer because I have too many other projects on the car this winter................ but knowing me I will never get around to it

mazdaspeed7

Any ideas what resin you plan to use? Ive yet to find anything with a room temp cure and a Tg high enough for use in the engine bay. Even the last resin I tried with a 350 degree Tg became noticably softer by 180 degrees. So much so that hose clamps would crush it.



The vinyl ester resin I use for budget parts and molds has a Tg between 200 and 220. It starts getting soft before 150 degrees. Most standard epoxies have a Tg between 180 and 220 degrees as well.



Oh yeah, the cloth has no bearing on the temperature tolerance, fiberglass is stable until nearly 1500 degrees, and carbon fiber even higher. The problem is the resin loses its mechanical properties at a much lower temperature, and can no longer support the fibers in the cloth.

sen2two

Mr. Hanover messaged me once on how to make intake manifolds out of fiberglass. i can find the old PM where he tells me where to get the resin and glass to do it. but if it can hold up to the heat of being bolted to the motor, and right above the header/turbo manifold. then it should be plenty fine as intercooler piping.



but how would fiberglass hold up to 20+ PSI Vs. aluminum piping. i imagine the amount of layers it would take to make them strong enough would make them heavier than aluminum ones. but i dont have to much experience with fiberglass anyways...

mazdaspeed7

An intake manifold in a n/a aircraft is a far cry from one in a turbo car. One, aircraft rarely see below 75% throttle, so there is a lot of air always flowing through the manifold. Its very hard to heat soak a manifold thats constantly flowing that much air. Second, turbos heat up the air as they compress it. Throw in being stuffed in a an engine bay directly above an exhaust that can glow red under full power, you are asking a lot.



The Tg is a resin is the glass transition temperature. In laymans terms, its the temperature where the a plastic(among other things) begins to change state. When applied to thermoset resins, its the failure point. Once a thermoset resin is taken past its Tg, its structural integrity is permanently compromised. Vinyl ester is a very common resin in aircraft building, and one of the resins listed in the article on Paul Llamars page, has a Tg between 212 and 220 degreed F. Most epoxies fall between 160 degrees and 220 degrees as well. To go above that, you are looking at specialized high temp resins, many of whom require autoclaving or at least a high temp post-cure.



I have personally tested both vinyl ester and a high temp epoxy with a Tg of 325 degrees, and found considerable weakening of the part as low as 150-200 degrees. So much so that a hose clamp would not be able to hold any tension. That testing was done with carbon fiber, fiberglass would be even weaker.



Composite piping is quite common in industries dealing with corrosive material handling, for instance, piping for sulfuric acid. But again, specially formulated resins(polyester base), and wall thicknesses in excess of a comparable schedule 60 or 80 steel pipe.

Rob x-7

i got myself involved with so much more **** with this car I cant even think about unbolting perfectly working items and messing with them anytime soon