Well this is sorta electronic related and i figured most people here will have experience with this. I have a Aim MXL Pista ( http://www.aimsports.com/products/mxl-pista/index.html ) Im going to be mounting this in front of the current cauge cluster on my car (non s2k) and wanted to bring the whole thing out, closer to the driver, and make the MXL Pista flush with the modling (so it would be recessed). My question is what is the best thing to use to make a molding. I was thinking styrafoam becuase it seemed easy to work with. Are there any suggestions to using this to get better reults? or anything else you may suggest to make a mold. I plan to use fiberglass once i make the molding if that helps
Thanks

 

I can answer but I don't have the time not. But if you use regular syrofoam the fiberglass will melt it in about 5 seconds This is the same as building a fiberglass sub box with that unit in place of the sub

 

John,

I always thought about shaping the foam just right, then coating it with some wax. If you want to fill it with something, once the fiberglass has set a few pokes through the wax and a small heat source (hot poker?) would empty out the cavity. Play with this idea next time you're screwing around in the shop...

 

They have special foam for these but not the styofoam... The heat from the fiberglass might melt the wax if you don't do it correctly.

 

can you just cover the styrofoam with tape to prevent it from melting through? i just need something that is easily moldable i can use to lay the fiberglass on.

 

Ok if your going to do this let me help you do it right. So you don't distroy the car and you can put it back to stock very simply.

The first thing you need is the back. Cover the whole dash with plastic. If you plan on doing this in the car then cover the entire interior with plastic just to be safe.

Now around the area your molding this into cut the plastic in the center of that location, so you can tape it down. and out of the way. Next tape off the whole section so it layes down nice and tight. Once you've done this it should look like a bowl. Next rub mold release wax all over it(the bowl area)... I mean everywhere you think you might get risen on. Next cut yourself some strips of fiberglass mat or if you have chopped mat that's fine too. Then once that's done you need to spray adhesive those in place. The risen won't dry fast enough to hold the pieces in place so you need to glue the down. Once you have the entire bowl layered in fiberglass strips or mat mix up your resin and slop it on.

Let that flash dry and add another layer (if you do this outside in the sun it will dry way faster unless your humidity is really high)

Once you have a soild back you can pop it out.

Now all you need to do is cut a wood ring the same exact size as you new cluster. Once you have that take some scrap wood sticks and mount it level so the unit car fit into it. Once you've done that you need to get yourself some fleece and wrap the front of the pod covering the whole and glue it in place all the way around. You need to pull on it so its nice and smooth, no bumps. Once that is set staple the fabric down to the ring. Next cover all the fleece with risen, making sure to also have the risen flow onto the sides. While its still wet add a strip of fiberglass to the edge around the side to bond the top to the bottom.

Once that completed and dried cut the center out. Now pop it back in place to finish the job with a nice layer of Rage Gold filler.

From there you can either prep it for paint or wrap it in vinyl.

Does that make sense to you?

 

I used a styrofoam mold for my fog light project. If you're going that route, I wrapped my molds in plastic wrap, then masking tape, then aluminum foil. Worked like a charm.

For what you're doing here though, the way darkknight described it would be better. It's a lot easier to get a smooth surface with fabric than it woulud be sanding styrofoam.

Other random tips: do not get fiberglass dust from cutting/sanding on your skin... you'll itch like hell. Also, wear a respirator when working with the resin if you're in a confined space (ie, inside your car). Nasty stuff to breathe!

Take a ton of pics if you do this project!

 

thanks, ill be sure to take pics, im working on the center console piece as we speak becuase its flat so i figure it will be easy.

Darknight: Im going to do the whole thing "free handed" as i want to be able to remove the piece im making. I picked up a piece of styrofoam and am going to mess with it and see if i cant get that to work. My plan is to take the dash pod off the car since this is were it will be fit and make my styrofoam piece to fit in there and integrate the mxl unit. ill try to get that done and take some pics this weekend befoer i attach it with fibeglass. I dont really want to use wood becuase the way i want to integrate the mxl unit it will be set in and flush and i dont want to carve the wood out or make a bunch of small peices but that may be the only way to go if the syrofoam doesnt work.
Ill keep this updated
Thanks

 

You realize your making this sound way harder than what it is right? I could do this in a few hours the way I discribed. Its very easy. Take a look at my how-to building a fiberglass sub box. That's almost the same thing.

Good luck.

 

i know what your saying and i read your sub box tutorial, i just think the way i want to integrate it will be easier with foam becuase its not just a recessed box its curved and flared and is going to have the unit recessed. ill mess with it and take a picture before i attach it with fiberglass.