F-40 Bodywork: How much of it is fibre-glass?

Voila!

 

My point is that nobody could make such an ignorant statement if they had indeed lifted an F40 rear section. Yes, I'm only about 150 pounds and I can lift it by myself but that doesn't make it light by any means.

 

I wouldnt call kevlar light but I havent picked up a f40 anything!

I have had kevlar on my head and it gets heavy quick!

I wouldnt say carbon fiber is light either not to pick up by yourself anyway!

My aircraft is built almost completely of carbon fiber and its only 45,000 lbs or 99,000 kilos yes very light!

 

I never said it was a light part. As a matter of fact I said that particular part was indeed heavy due to its size, and would be even heavier if it was a different material!

Try reading everything before making idiotic statements....

 

Yes I have. The images are posted in the USA F40 thread. The roof is carbon-fibre.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

The rear hood of the F40 is HEAVY? Hardly... come now girls.

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

You must be hanging around our English friend too much Joe.

Come on now, carbon "fiber" LOL!

Actually aren't the floor boards carbon fiber and the roof, like most of the body is carbon kevlar composite? That is what I have read here before.

 

The roof of the USA F40 with the headliner removed. Carbon-fiber...

Joe
www.joesackey.com
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Wow, how did I miss these pics! Almost makes me think you should have left the headliner off.

On a side note, that is carbon kevlar composite. Not just carbon fiber, you can tell by the color and weave being a little different then say the floorboards which are carbon fiber.

 

I think we are splitting fibers

Joe
www.joesackey.com

 

I wonder if that will take a bullet well?

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but there isn't much (if any) carbon fiber on the F40; carbon kevlar was the strongest/lightest material being used on the car at the time. Molded fiberglass is very weak, you can practically tear it with your bare hands (graham may need to take a pill ). If fiberglass is there I honestly have never seen it. I understand it may be present in a composite form in the almighty overweight US bumpers. But I thought the rest of the car was carbon kevlar with no carbon fiber? This is a great thread Graham, as I have often wondered myself, not how much is fibre-glass, but how much is carbon fiber?

 

Well to my knowledge, going by what I have seen and read is this:

Most of the body, carbon kevlar composite.
Floorboards and parts of the chassis, carbon fiber.

Among other things of course....

 

I seem to recall one of the F40 brochures has a pretty diagram showing what each panel is made of. Perhaps someone involved in the pissing competition can go and search it out

 

Maybe you need to go back and read your own post.

 

Wow, you really have a hard time reading. I said the material is very light, yet very stong. Meaning as a whole. I never said that particualr part was light, I actually said it was gonna be heavy due to its size.

 

Some of the ducts are made of fibreglass,, I have found in many F40's that alot of bigger parts have fibreglass in tight corners where the person making the parts must have got a little lazy and cut short the carbon/ kevlar and put more fibreglass in that spot ..

 

Holy thread resurection!

Yes I have also seen chopped strand fibreglass in tight recesses of F40 panels, mainly the rear clip. There is no pure carbon fibre in an F40 it is all varying weaves of carbon kevlar.

I recently saw some pics of damaged panels where honeycomb is exposed as well which I had not spotted before.

 

Hi Team, I just came across this thread and thought that as a repairer with 1st hand knowledge of fixing dozens' of damaged Ferrari F40s' you might be interested in the following .......... Obviously with out laboratory analysis it's impossible to know the exact lay up of materials and methods used in the construction of these parts, but from what we have seen here at Mototechnique Ltd F40 bodywork is predominantly made of woven Fibre Glass with a final surface layer of Carbon Kevlar laid down as a decorative finish ......... That is not to say that it is a poor piece. Incredibly stiff and light weight components can be made from woven Fibre Glass; it's the resin type which is really important and the material to resin ratio ( more material and less resin is the goal for a light and stiff part ......... Epoxy or Vinyl-Ester resins are normally chosen and are infused under vacuum for this type of bodywork in what is called the Resin Infusion Method, as shown in my attached photos.
Close inspection shows that F40 bodywork utilizes a layer of " Honeycomb " between the layers of Fibre Glass and it is this profile which you see grinning through the paint ......... not the " Carbon Fibre " weave as is generally thought. These Honeycomb witness marks in the finished paintwork suggest to me evidence that a " pre-impregnated Fibre Glass material was used most likely in an Autoclave oven as it can be seen that the resin only adheres to the upper and lower surfaces of the Honeycomb and doesn't flood into the cavities ( which would carry a weight penalty and no doubt render a heavy and brittle part ) The front foot boxes and sills are of a similar construction but use a thicker Honeycomb and more material which add much to the torsional stiffness of the chassis. I hope this clears up some falsehoods and misunderstandings ....... if anyone has an opinion which differs I'd be very interested to learn more, happy daze, Kev Sports Car Restoration, Vintage and Classic Car Restoration, Surrey, London
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Thanks Kev for confirming my observations. Lots of myths regarding the construction of the F40 debunked, the techniques used were cutting edge back in the mid 80s but no that complicated to achieve. looking at the sections I would suggest only the structural elements were autoclaved back then, the exterior panels often appear simply layed up given the courseness of the inner exposed faces, no obvious compression.

 

Not the best photos I have ever taken, but gives you an idea:
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So it's a sandwich composite of GF mat+honeycomb core+carbon kevlar fabric?

I'd be grateful if anyone could post this diagram!

 

Everything in one photo above, fibreglass cloth, chopped strand glass, plain carbon kevlar weave, honeycomb and gallons of excess polyester resin!

If that were made today it would be one layer of carbon twill, followed by a lightweight soric, a layer of carbon kevlar twill and infused with epoxy resin under vacuum and be half the weight and twice as strong.

 

Im sure theres some pepperoni in there if you look hard enough