S14 body kit reinforcement idea? What do you think?

[kouki_drifter]

Ok I just got an ED V-speed 2 body kit in for my 97 s14 kouki, and it was cheap so of coarse it's a thin kinda weak kit. I bought it cheap because I'm going to be drifting this car and I didn't want to go out and get a $1000 + kit if it was possibly gonna get shit on drifting. So I came up with an idea to kinda reinforce this kit to kinda make it a bit more durable, so I'm thinking of using felt on the inside of the bumpers and side skits to reinforce it, what do you think of this idea I've built custom speaker Boxs like this with felt and fiberglass resin and I gets pretty dam solid so I'm figuring if I resin the backs of the kits to adhere the felt to it then soak the felt with resin it should stick well and give some pretty good reinforcement. Give me your thought and ideas on this, I will be working on my back bumper first so I will post pics as I go along

[dawagarage]

interesting concept, never heard of (unfamiliar with) applying felt to something to increase rigidity. why not just lay down more fiberglass?

[revcyanide]

http://reportyourcomplaint.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Great-Stuff-insulating-foam-sealant-review.jpg

is all you need.

[Chaluska]

i think he means to use felt + resin bonded to the back of the bumper... im pretty sure if you hit a wall/car at 20+ mph, no amount of added fiberglass will absorb that impact..

if your worried about rock chips and road debris, then i suppose that would definitely help strengthen the fiberglass shell.

If you are scared about scraping the bottom of the bumper, make a front splitter out of 1/2" plywood, mounted with metal supports to the core support.. that will stop your bumper from taking any impacts first.

[kouki_drifter]

interesting concept, never heard of (unfamiliar with) applying felt to something to increase rigidity. why not just lay down more fiberglass?

Because Fiberglass is more expensive and only comes in small sheets. With felt its cheaper by the yard and it can be applied as one solid pice making it stronger then Fiberglass applied in sections leaving the possibility of a weake spot. I don't know my theory? I think I'm going try it

[kouki_drifter]

i think he means to use felt + resin bonded to the back of the bumper... im pretty sure if you hit a wall/car at 20+ mph, no amount of added fiberglass will absorb that impact..

if your worried about rock chips and road debris, then i suppose that would definitely help strengthen the fiberglass shell.

If you are scared about scraping the bottom of the bumper, make a front splitter out of 1/2" plywood, mounted with metal supports to the core support.. that will stop your bumper from taking any impacts first.

Yes that is exactly what I mean but what I'm trying to achieve is the ability to purchas a cheaper kit and make it stronger and more durable then it comes for a small amount of money, increasing its overall streangth, durability and the longevity of the kit. Because right now its do thin it seems like to me that with the intense shaking and bouncing around of drifting it would break at the mounting points and fall off for one or if you were to even lean on it it would just break

[Om1kron]

buys shitty kit, spends 2-3in materials to reinforce it... =/

[kouki_drifter]

Na no more than $150 at the most to reinforce full kit, felt $1.50 a yrd, fiberglass resin $35 a gal, a body kit as thick and strong as a $1000 kit but you only payed 1/2 price for it! Priceless!:D

[Butcher240sx]

It wil work fine. I've built speaker boxes like that also. Alo did door panels for my RX7 like that too. Another good thing about it is if it does crack and break the fabric will hold all the pieces together for a possible fix later.

[kouki_drifter]

Yup that's what I was thinking, cool I guess I got a new project on my hands I will post pics of the progress

[Dorifto Machine]

Post pictures for sure , interested in seeing the outcome.

[Om1kron]

Na no more than $150 at the most to reinforce full kit, felt $1.50 a yrd, fiberglass resin $35 a gal, a body kit as thick and strong as a $1000 kit but you only payed 1/2 price for it! Priceless!:D

still fits like dogshit, painted with subpar materials... yeah that is priceless. :gives:

[kouki_drifter]

Actually it don't fit to bad does need some finessing but not to big of a deal:naughtyd:. And yes I will post some pics as I go along

[kouki_drifter]

I just bought all the materials needed including:
4 Paint brushes, 1 gal of Fiberglass resin, and 4yrds of black felt and it cost me a whopping $60 lol

[ultimateirving]

U will have a hard time getting that "Felt" to absorb the resin, Normally the felt is GLUED to the outside of speaker boxes.

[kouki_drifter]

well thats not the way Ive done boxes, i usually build a frame out of wood and staple and stretch the felt to it and then saturate it with the resin it usually takes about 2 coats to full absorb the resin, so this should be the same. I just did the drivers side side skirt i will post pics soon

[kouki_drifter]

drivers side side skirt
cutting out the felt
http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee379/kouki_drifter/1341897652.jpg

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee379/kouki_drifter/1341897788.jpg

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee379/kouki_drifter/1341897682.jpg


rear bumper
http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee379/kouki_drifter/1341897907.jpg

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee379/kouki_drifter/1341897880.jpg

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee379/kouki_drifter/1341897960.jpg

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee379/kouki_drifter/1341897849.jpg

[kouki_drifter]

the side skirt needs another coat so id say 1/4 of a gal of resin per side skirt to get it saturated and absorbed well so 1/2 for both sides and probably about 1/2 a gal per bumper if not a hair more, so about 2 gals to get the job done, if i buy another gal that will put me at about $100, $50 less than i estimated before, still not a bad price. the side skirts were about 1/2in short as people have said before about the ED kit which is not a big deal, and the rear bumper fits very well except its sticking out about 1/2in from the quarter panels on each side which isn't much to fix either. i haven't test fitted the front bumper yet but so far not to bad of a kit for the price. i will be doing the passenger side skirt tomorrow and possibly the rear bumper, i will post pics as i go along.

[sharpe_corners]

Cool idea. Im going to do this on a old kit and see what happens.

[kouki_drifter]

hell yea! do it man post pics of your kit and let us know how it worked out for you.

[kouki_drifter]

Both side skirts are done, at first they were thin and flopped around easily and were light when picked up, when flicked they sounded like an empty glass. Now they are much more solid, when picked up they stay pretty solid and when flicked they sound like a full glass "more dense" and are much more solid. With the felt applied and dried the side skirts are twice as thick, I think the idea is a success. I will post pics of the front and rear bumper once done.

[dawagarage]

thats an ED rear bumper!? i gotta say that it doesnt look that bad!

[kouki_drifter]

Yup I got the full ED kit bumper fits pretty good just about 1/2in to Long on each side but that can be pushed in and bolted down, the side skirts are about 1/4 to short on each side but no big deal to make fit and I haven't test fitted the front bumper yet still got to take off oem but I will post how that fits also

[kouki_drifter]

heres the fitment of the front bumper, i will post pics of it being reinforced soon http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee379/kouki_drifter/1342506190.jpg

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee379/kouki_drifter/1342506228.jpg

http://i1224.photobucket.com/albums/ee379/kouki_drifter/1342506254.jpg