cmarkovits

Hey all, I need to do some repair to my carbon fiber door on my 991.1 Cup... Does anyone know what resign / epoxy to use? This will be my first time doing any work with carbon fiber, so admittedly I still need to do some more research, watch some you tube videos, etc., From what I've heard so far though, it's critical to use the right resign or else apparently the new material won't bond properly to the factory material. Anyone know what type of resign to use? Thanks in advance!

Corey

AlpineCoupe

Can you post pictures of what damage you need to repair? I can probably provide some guidance if I a
have a sense of the damage.

cmarkovits

@AlpineCoupe thanks for any help you can provide. As you can see, I've already sanded down the door in preparation. I have been very careful not to sand through the carbon fiber (where the door isn't damaged).

The top as some punctures where the driver's side mirror folded back and got crushed into the door. (had an off-track excursion and glanced off a tire wall). Towards the bottom, those are linear cracks, which as you can see, I have started to sand down into as prep to layer in new material. I haven't gone any further than the top layer of carbon fiber though since it seems like there really is only 1 or 2 (?) layers, and then there appears to be a different material below it???

Any help the community can provide is appreciate - thanks in advance!

carbondan

To really do that properly, you'd likely need to use a vacuum bagging process, that would be the only reliable way to get the replacement carbon fabric to form-fit around the voids. Any technique short of that, the carbon fabric you lay up will protrude well up off the surface.
If you have a local boat repair shop, they may be willing to do it for you. Some bicycle repair shops may be willing to do it as well.

AlpineCoupe

I have to agree with the other poster. The door has a honeycomb core which is what you see as the layer under the carbon.

Do you have access to the damage inside the door? Did the damage go all the way through? The vacuum bag process could work better from that side to keep the repair from sticking out too far...

I also think that a boat repair shop might be good to get an opinion. I'd take a look but I'm a bit far from you.

Francesco996

Seriously, the whole thing will be painted right? I would just fill it with some good epoxy bonder like hysol or something (or some EP resign with a litle carbon flakes), sand it down and call it a day.........the part has no structural purpose

cmarkovits

@AlpineCoupe - yes, I can access the inside... I was giving it some thought on how I could do a vacuum bag and believe its actually pretty achievable. Getting to a couple of the lower cracks in the door would be a challenge for sure, but it might be possible. I'll have to give it a look into that a little more... Also, good idea / call on maybe having a boat repair shop take a look at it...

All of this aside though, the key thing that a couple carbon fiber / composite shops have told me is that it is really important to know what kind of resign the door was originally made with. Its one thing to be able to mechanically repair it, but if I'm not using the right materials, it's all for not. I'm hoping someone here might know...

I already reached out to PMNA and their response was to buy a new door.

cmarkovits

@Francesco996 - Yes, you're correct, the whole thing will be painted. That said, I do want to repair it properly. Is that structural enough that if someone leans against the door it's not gonna crack? I thought the right thing was to build it up in layers. I could be wrong - I'm still trying to figure it out (Carbon Fiber / Composites are not something I have had to do before).
-Corey

Francesco996

I've done composites for a living........I can't see it properly in the pictures, but if there is a honeycomb inside well then you don't have to worry at all about cracks if someone leans against it. Sure, use some good bonding stuff