Aftermarket Rear Swaybar - Aerospace Style.

[Crazy_pilot]

Finally got around to installing this in my car:



It's the stock rear bar with several layers of carbon fiber wrapped around it, Energy urethane bushings, and OT's $20/20 min mod for the endlink bushings. Final diameter of the bar is between 26.5 and 28 mm.

Impressions: I doubt I've had as much of an effect as Nevin's 22mm bar, although I'd have to drive both to compare. The carbon may be stiff, but it's not that strong. The car drives nicely with this setup and the rear seems to have more grip through the corners. That said, I'm far from an expert and may be suffering from the butt-dyno complex.

A couple more shots:





As far as I know this hasn't been done before. Possibly for good reason, there's a good chance the carbon will simply split apart under the twisting. Meh.

[Wikedjuggalo]

I applaud you for attempting something new. Who knows maybe it will hold together?

[NikFu S.]

What was your cost?

[Crazy_pilot]

My cost... About $7000. But that includes a free tuition. I made it at school using surplus supplies.

My program has a full composites lab (carbon, fiberglass, vacuum equipment, autoclave...) and we get donations of materials from various aerospace companies across Canada. Pre-preg composites (cloth with resin already added) expire after a certain amount of time. While they're no good for building airplanes anymore they still work well enough for anything else. We got a pile of material in January. So much in fact that we didn't have room for it. Pre-preg is temperature sensitive and must be kept in a freezer or the epoxy will lose it's effectiveness. Solution: Throw out oldest stock and use the room for new stuff. A few of us kept the throw-out material and made some little things. One of the guys took the remainder of the roll home to sell off by yard/use for projects.

My teachers all encourage us to experiment and discover for ourselves how to do things beyond the regular curriculum.

[Freeman]

Originally Posted by Crazy_pilot

My cost... About $7000. But that includes a free tuition. I made it at school using surplus supplies.

My program has a full composites lab (carbon, fiberglass, vacuum equipment, autoclave...) and we get donations of materials from various aerospace companies across Canada. Pre-preg composites (cloth with resin already added) expire after a certain amount of time. While they're no good for building airplanes anymore they still work well enough for anything else. We got a pile of material in January. So much in fact that we didn't have room for it. Pre-preg is temperature sensitive and must be kept in a freezer or the epoxy will lose it's effectiveness. Solution: Throw out oldest stock and use the room for new stuff. A few of us kept the throw-out material and made some little things. One of the guys took the remainder of the roll home to sell off by yard/use for projects.

My teachers all encourage us to experiment and discover for ourselves how to do things beyond the regular curriculum.

That's awesome..

[NikFu S.]

Neat. Maybe we can help you come up with some other uses.

I don't really have any ideas, unless you want to make some carbon fiber pants or something.

[NeedForSpeed]

Originally Posted by Crazy_pilot

My cost... About $7000. But that includes a free tuition. I made it at school using surplus supplies.

My program has a full composites lab (carbon, fiberglass, vacuum equipment, autoclave...) and we get donations of materials from various aerospace companies across Canada. Pre-preg composites (cloth with resin already added) expire after a certain amount of time. While they're no good for building airplanes anymore they still work well enough for anything else. We got a pile of material in January. So much in fact that we didn't have room for it. Pre-preg is temperature sensitive and must be kept in a freezer or the epoxy will lose it's effectiveness. Solution: Throw out oldest stock and use the room for new stuff. A few of us kept the throw-out material and made some little things. One of the guys took the remainder of the roll home to sell off by yard/use for projects.

My teachers all encourage us to experiment and discover for ourselves how to do things beyond the regular curriculum.

I love applied creativity
I also see some gold wheels,
and a funky exhaust

[icingdeath88]

...carbon fiber hoods, trunks, fenders, driveshaft, and doors or something.

How bout carbon fiber sunvisors, lol? I mean, anything at this point would be great.

[SilverSpear]

Originally Posted by NeedForSpeed

I love applied creativity
I also see some gold wheels,
and a funky exhaust

Why do you guys always think that a CF part should always stay CF? It will not look good on the SVX, ever!

The trunk is something worth looking at, so as the hood.

I have personally lifted a CF hood for the STi once... oh man I could swear holding it using only two fingers!

The doors cannot be done, at least cheaply.