Kodokan_4

My brother, you are giving me tremendous hope for the HT I want!

Your HT looks great!!!

Could you please post or PM me any details about who did it, how it was done, and how much it cost? I would be very grateful. I'm especially interested if you had to completely strip all parts from it, and if you had to replace any parts.

I will start investigating places in the US that can do it for me.


-Pete

meth

HOTNESS!!!

the_DZA

The reason I want a CF hardtop OEM style is 1)the looks @ the glass with rear defroster 3) Save the weight even if it is miniscule. 4) the looks and 5) the looks. It wouldn't be any more than a stock one. The seibon mugen replica weighs only 2 pounds more than the mugen is only 3000 with hardware!!! thats just as much as an oem one. The mugen one is like 29 pounds 10 lbs difference from an OEM one, you could save that weight by going on a diet. so weight reduction shouldn't be the reason to buy a mugen. Mugen is ass anyway, why does everyone like mugen. way way overpriced for what you get. payng for the name. as soon as i get out of college i am going to start a performance parts manufacturing company that copies aftermarket parts using the same materials and specs and sell it at 1/4 the price. But nobody would buy it because it doesn't have that retarded mugen badge that says mugen power. But i could just solve that by offering free mugen stickers, like ricers use to try to fool people into thinking that they have mugen parts in there car, to anyone who buys my products. Seriously though, I just want another option other than the overpriced bs products put out by mugen or spoon.

E36Ap1

I heard from Seibon that a rep with a translator from Mugen actually went up to there boot and said "stop copying out products" in a very rude way. Pretty funny stuff. They can't get sued I guess because Mugen copyright only work in Japan or at least the hardtop.

superslows2k

oem hardtop only weighs that much?

i weighed mine today before i had it crated, weighed in at 57 lbs i think it was

Silver_S2000

Dude that looks awesome!...Please PM me with more details..or start a new thread about your experience and how much it cost you...That looks great

METATRON

AMUSE rocks! Too bad their hardtop is over $6500.

Patsch

@Kodokan_4 and Silver_s2000:


I hope I can explain with my English knowledge.

I Think each FRP specialist should be able to cover the Hardtop with carbon fabric. However it needs already somewhat exercise, so that the surface becomes clean.
The problem are bubbles, which sit down between the different layers. Regarding some experiences I had, I think one can do this nearly only if he already tried this work few times and has some exercise working with CF-Fabrics.

The HT is prepared only in such a way, as one would make it for a paint job. In my case nothing was dismantled, but we masked the edges, rubber and glass with tape. The roof needs to be sanded and the fabric aligned and cut up to the edges. One can buy the fabric allready-soaked with polyester resin. That resin will only react by adding an activator.
Speak, you cut first the fabric into shape, align it on the HT and then spray the activator on the soaked fabric. Once everything is dry, this results in already a hard structure. The next step (probably the most difficult) is to clearcoat the fabric. This must take place in laborious work in several steps. Altogether depending upon fabric structure might be 5-10 clearcoat layers. Between each step the clear coat must be squirted again polished and again, until you obtaine an even surface. In my case the edges of the HT are simply painted black. This is nearly not noticeable and it saves to strip out the parts.


I have it done in a 1-man enterprise here in Switzerland. It is specialized in custom productions (spoilers) from polyester. It makes also carbon wrap of hoods, armatures and such things. Matter of expense is approx.. 6-700$ for the whole work for my HT over here.
Could possibly be cheaper in US since Swiss labour taxes are very expensive.


I would have loved to tell my specialist to explain somewhat more over his work in this thread, however he doesn't speaks no English at all.
It has also no homepage, but I have here a few examples of companies from my country, which are specialized in similar work:

http://www.formtune.ch/html/beispiel.html

http://www.polyforming.ch/carbon.html

Kodokan_4

Patsch-

Thank you very much for the information.

Your knowledge of english is very good, and I understand everything you are saying.

The shop that did your CF work is awesome! It is difficult to see in the photos, but it looks like the shop only painted about 5mm or less of black. Is that correct?

I believe it will cost more money here in the states, and will not look as good as yours. In my opinion, most Americans don't come close to the Swiss when it comes to pride in craftsmanship.

I'll let you know what happens. I'm going to start looking for a used OEM hard top!

-Pete

mad-dog-one

I don't get your point ... the expense of a CF top is the same (I characterized it as considerable), regardless of who's paying ... and you're correct, I only speak for myself ... did you think I was speaking for someone else? My characterization of the price of a CF top as "considerable" has nothing to do with what I could pay or what I think you could or should pay, and has everything to do with the difference in the prices of the CF hardtop and the OEM hardtop. I believe you have taken my question as if it was a argument against the CF hardtop, but be assured, I was simply inquiring about the appeal of the OEM-style CF hardtop. ... is the appeal the weight, appearance or something else? I gather from the responses to the thread that the appeal of the CF top it's mostly about the appearance and people's desire to individualize the look of their S.

Stay