Fiberglass inlet manifold

[86TT]

I would be wary of making f/g inlet manifolds unless your laminating skills are VERY good , as it can be prone to delaminating from the gel coat ( especially when subjected to heat ) and i,m quite sure that if this was to happen and bits broke off they,d be heading straight for the combustion chamber

If you really want to go this route try kevlar or carbon fibre and get an experienced laminator to make it / join the 2 halves together .

[Billzilla]

FWIW here's the glass inlet manifold we had on the Suzuki in the racer years back.



Alloy tube in which the butterflys ran, but apart from that and the flange it was completely glass.

[kingmick]

I would be wary of making f/g inlet manifolds unless your laminating skills are VERY good , as it can be prone to delaminating from the gel coat ( especially when subjected to heat ) and i,m quite sure that if this was to happen and bits broke off they,d be heading straight for the combustion chamber

If you really want to go this route try kevlar or carbon fibre and get an experienced laminator to make it / join the 2 halves together .

you would never gelcoat anything near heat and you wouldnt gelcoat the inlet runners, you just spray them!
exactly right, hence why no one gelcoats them. spray a colour or clear the carbon etc.

[Ben Wilson]

still sure that a single layer of GRP will suffice?

Lol - I was never thinking about a single layer. The plan was to make the whole thing 3-4mm thick (probably thicker - depends on how quickly I get the sh1ts with smelly, itchy gooey stuff).

I built up a plaster inner mould for the inlet runners last night (based on a jenvey 45mm trumpet). Now, I've just got to find some paint which will seal the plaster and withstand the epoxy resin.

[MWP]

I built up a plaster inner mould for the inlet runners last night (based on a jenvey 45mm trumpet). Now, I've just got to find some paint which will seal the plaster and withstand the epoxy resin.

It would be great if you could take photos of your progress on this... i would like to do this in the future also.

[Ben Wilson]

I don't know how many pictures I'm going to be able to take, I don't want to get goop all over my camera

[o_man_ra23]

ditto... I would be interested in this idea for my 3SGTE... maybe even go the quad throttles for it... dunno yet. Probably end up just modifying the original manifold tho.

Cheers, Owen

[RobertoX]

my FSAE team has been using a plastic inlet (rapid prototype) for the last few years for NA, after some experience with blowing holes in it we are using a fabbed aluminium for our turbo engine. if you want it to last a long time and weight is not a huge issue I would recomend a welded steel manifold.

If you are willing to risk a bit of possible reliability then you could get some very nice contours using molded glass/carbon!

[Ben Wilson]

I've got a welded steel manifold on the car at the moment. I like the idea of the design flexibility of fiberglass. Plus I'm changing from a 16v to a 20v head, so I need a new one anyway

[o_man_ra23]

How are glass items for the strength of the faced surfaces?? would they lose strength/air tightness on the face if partially machined down to the fibre layer?? Wouldnt want it to blow apart on the joins under boost now would we?? Might wait for sumbody to test this better first.

Cheers, Owen

[Ben Wilson]

My plan is to make up metal ends and bond them to the glass while I build it. Hopefully, machining a series of grooves in the surface will be enough for the glass to bite nicely.

[86TT]

you would never gelcoat anything near heat and you wouldnt gelcoat the inlet runners, you just spray them!
exactly right, hence why no one gelcoats them. spray a colour or clear the carbon etc.

Sprayed or whatever , theres still a chance of the glass delaminating at some point , as you would,nt use a single layer of glass would you ....

Have had lots of experience making glass , carbon and kevlar bodies and various parts and unless you know what your at its frighteningly easy to get an air pocket .

Besides just glass loooks plain ugly and might be ok for a grass tracker but not your pride and joy motor

[kingmick]

Sprayed or whatever , theres still a chance of the glass delaminating at some point , as you would,nt use a single layer of glass would you ....

Have had lots of experience making glass , carbon and kevlar bodies and various parts and unless you know what your at its frighteningly easy to get an air pocket .

Besides just glass loooks plain ugly and might be ok for a grass tracker but not your pride and joy motor

i wouldnt use a sigle layer of glass for anything! yes air pockets can happen, but i havnt had one for years!
just buy a proper roller etc and you will be fine, just keep rolling. white under the resin is a good give away, of mat with no resin in it{air bubble etc}.
just give me a yell if unsure BEN.

big tip!
for a cheap handy auto clave, go to the auctions or secound hand parts stores that carry medical sterilizers. they come in diffrent sizes and you can pick them up cheap. then set them up with pump! they already have heating element and hold pressure.
i made one 7 years ago, and it works a treat.

p.s ive used fibreglass trumpets on a 680hp chev engine on the engine dyno to test diffrent runners, i have no problem with glass at all! just take your time and dont rush it!

[1jzracing]

I made all sorts of one-off intake pipes air boxes intake runners and ducts etc.

the best way is to make it from foam then paint it with plaster of paris... costs a few dollers for a big bag of it, you can build up as many coats as you need mix detergent and talk in to make it easier to sand and quicker to set just have a play with quantities

once its all sanded smooth and ready then paint it with acrylic house paint followed by a good coat of PVA (the wood glue works fine) and your ready to lay your glass or carbon straight over the whole thing. I just use polystyrene and polyester both cheep and easy

best is a thin layer of glass and 2 layers of carbon with the weave at 45 degrees. scrape out the foam, soak it in water to soften the pva and a high pressure hose helps to lift the plaster etc

it really is good stuff to play with ...have fun!!!

[Disturbed1]

theres a nissan boy getting around with a custom carbon fibre plenum... 20 psi is not alot of pressure when u come to think of it, pump your bike tyre upto 20 psi and see what it feels like