Very nice truck, and a neat shop for sure! I enjoyed reading about the history of your truck, and it seems like you’re taking a very neat approach with creating your own parts from scratch! Very interested in seeing how those carbon fibre parts turn out…. Keep us updated! I’d be interested to see a time lapse of the process and what it involves.

I also do the whole ‘YouTube’ thing (check out ‘Jeremy’s Adventures’), and for me it’s a way to share my hobby with other people who also enjoy it. It helps me stay motivated to work on things when I’m documenting them. And, of course, if you hit that ‘magic threshold’, there’s the potential to help subsidize the cost of the hobby I think that at the core of it though, you really have to enjoy what you do, and make content for fun, not for $$$. Cause then the fun hobby just becomes work! Anyways, keep up the good job, and I subscribed to your channel, so I’m looking forward to seeing more of that truck once the shop is done!

 

Thank you for subscribing it means a lot as I am sure you know! That magical number is a long ways away but I am looking forward to having my hobby have some more support haha...it is very expensive! Obviously the money is the light at the end of the tunnel but, I honestly enjoy sharing my passion with people. Even if I get sick of sharing videos my automotive passion will never fade and I will always continue to tinker.

My plan is to film to my carbon fiber process actually! I was doing this run as a test sample before actually filming so I can be a bit more confident in what I am saying. I have never used this method so I wanted that added benefit. Unfortunately, I ran short of epoxy of will be buying more to finish this mold. But, I am unsure if I will be continuing this process as it is very expensive process of making a mold. I will be using the mold to play with forged carbon and normal twill weave. I want to see my results on this and if this process is worth sinking more money into it before buying more.
With that being said, I am going to be buying repop door panels and will be making a mold of those as well as carbon pieces. I can use my old process which is both cheaper and I already have a lot of the supplies on hand. I will be filming this for sure!

FYI, I have also subbed to your channel. I will be taking a look at some of your videos once I get back from work!

 

Hey all, I have another video out. The Truck is finally in the Shop!

This will be my last video for maybe a month. I have some filming to do but it is so cold outside. Luckily It seems to be warming up and I recently just bought something that will keep the space warm, expect a video on that!

 

My grey mold did not end up working. it was a two piece mold and the two halves ended up bonding together. Not entirely sure why this happened as I had thought I use adequate release agent. Pretty disappointing and a waste of probably 10 hrs. Oh, and the part I was making a mold of was stuck in the middle of an epoxy brick...total loss. At least it was only $20

Here is another mold I worked on that did end up working well using a different more common method.
Step 1: Making the flange. a flange gives you material to hold onto while working, an area to droop some excess carbon onto that is trimmed off afterwards, and a place to put down vacuum bagging tape.
I thought the panel was completely flat on the back side which would make this process much easier but the little tabs make this a bit more challenging. I cut some cardboard and laid it down. I used hot glue to secure both the cardboard to the flange and the flange to the cardboard.
Also worth noting, before attaching the flange and cardboard, I used flash tape to mask off holes.


Step 2: Filleting Wax
This first part was optional, the grooves shown below I figured were unnecessary so I decided to fill them in with wax. I did this for a few other features as well more so to block off so epoxy/gelcoat wont get inside.
The Second part is critical. I used the same was to fillet around where flashing tape was and along the entire perimeter of the part. This helps in allowing the part to be released from the mold, as well as, sealing the flange and part so epoxy/gelcoat does not get underneath.



Step 3: Release Agent
You can see all the wax I ended up using.
This step is incredibly important! Putting down release agent. I used purchased Easy Lease as I have heard it is one of the best products for such a task. Two coats down rubbing with a lint free shop towel and the part was ready.

Step 4: Gelcoat
After allowing the release agent to dry I was able to put on the first layer of gelcoat. This stuff smells terrible and I would never do this inside my house. the smell seemed to last days...lesson learned. I did two thick coats and onto the next step. Each coat was allowed to dry until it was tacky when the next layer applied.

Step 5: Fiberglass
I layed down chopped strand fiberglass once the second coat of gelcoat was tacky. This part I still need to work on my skills. I am not exactly sure how to get it to lay completely flat. I started off with thin strand in a sheet and laying it down. This worked great for flat areas but anything with a curve the fiberglass wanted to pop back up. I removed those sections and ended up ripping the fiberglass sheet into fluff and spreading it. Then patting it with an epoxy rich brush to make it lay flat. As you can see, this worked well but still not perfect.

Step 6: Fiberglass Round 2
I used more epoxy and fiber glass to make the mold stronger. I let the first layer cure completely before proceeding to the next. This layer I had even more trouble getting to lay down. I am hoping the epoxy from the second layer filled in any voids in the first.
I have seen rollers people use and may invest in one as I believes this may help.

Step 7: Releasing!
I used wedges to get between goalcoat/fiberglass and the aluminum flange. The Easy Lease worked fantastic! Satisfying cracks or the plug(part) releasing from the mold. I slowly worked my way around and released sections at a time. The very middle of the part did not want to let go. I believe there was some type of mechanical lock not allowing the part to be released. I think some of the gelcoat got behind the wax. 45 min to an hour later of slowly working at it and I got it out.


Final steps: Post processing
Firstly, clean the mold of any wax.
As you can see my wax to cover the grooves did not end up working 100%. I will use my dura blocks to sand these down flat.
Some areas need minor attention with light sanding as well

I plan on doing a test run of the mold after the above sanding to see what it will look like. From their I have to decide my future steps. The original door panel has texture to it which was then translated into the mold. I do not want this texture in my carbon piece. Depending on how the carbon part looks, I will be sanding the texture out of it and polishing the entire mold.


Other:
I was really disappointed on the grey mold and wanted to give up on carbon together, it is very frustrating when you spend so much time and money on stuff and it doesn't work out. The orange mold ended up restoring my hopes. Now before I go too far with this mold I need to make a piece to keep my moral up. Even if the panel has texture and isn't quite perfect it will be a moral boost!
Worth noting: the mold is not as thick as it should be, I decided to release it to see how it looked. The air pockets where the fiberglass doesn't lay flat are weak spots. I did not want to invest more time and money into an imperfect mold. It does seem plenty strong and I expect to get at least one release out of it.
After more reading I found out I shouldn't use epoxy with gelcoat as they do not bond well. Vinyl Ester or poly are the way to go, supposedly cheaper too which will be nice!

 

Very cool!

 

Hang in there. This is a great vicarious experience for me. Keep up the good work.

 

One word of caution:
If you heat your garage in winter time and you have no vapor barrier directly under the metal roofing, you will have condensation problems where the metal collects and then drips water onto your drywall.
Drywall gets wet them moldy.

You MAY be able to alleviate the problem by installing cross ventilation via a gable vent at both gable ends, but likely won't totally eliminate the condensation, especially if you get snow build up on the roof.
Good luck with your ventures!

 

It has been awhile since I posted anything. Seems like most of you want some videos on the truck rather than the shop (makes complete sense!). Well we have our first video that has to do with the truck!

Unfortunately not too much wrenching but a big piece to the puzzle. Next video will be the floors of shop. I have the shop floors to finish as well as small items like trim and then I can start moving in all my tools and parts! We are getting very close! This shop building process has taken me MUCH longer to finish than I anticipated. Mudding/sanding the drywall took me around 3 months to finish due to the size, have only a few hours after work, and my inexperience. Be sure to check out my other videos if you like what you see and be sure to like, comment, and subscribe.
I cannot wait to get started working on the truck it has been over 2 years since I've turned a wrench on it!

 

I am just getting back to posting on this forum so I am just seeing this now. do you have a recommendation to what type of vapor barrier to use on the roof? this is just metal roofing screwed to the rafters. I would hate to see my hard work get ruined by water and surely dont want to deal with mold! thanks!

 

My shop is just about finished besides some minor things such as rubber baseboard, door trim/painting, and garage door ceiling braces . Tomorrow the floor will have fully cured, although I may give it one more day, and I will be able to finally move my stuff into the shop and begin working. I am curious how quickly it will fill up.

The shop started out half drywalled and half wired. I ripped out some of the water damaged drywall and noticed wiring that had been chewed through and ready to start a fire, I knew I had to do a complete gut.
I am pretty proud on how it turned out without having any prior experience with any of this, wiring, drywall, floor, etc. All in I have spent around 10g and too many hours of my own time. This project took much longer to complete than I thought as it has been about a 1.5years to get to this point. But I didn't want to cut any corners and I think this is a pretty nice, respectable first shop. Loads of light, floor that is easy to clean up, 110/220V around the shop, and heat/AC. I will have to take some pictures once I get everything moved in.
This shop is nowhere near perfect (since I did it haha) but it is very nice and I think anyone would be happy with the work I had done whenever I decide to sell. Sure, some of the drywall seems are not perfect, there are some bugs that flew into the floor while drying, and I’m sure a list of some other minor issues.
Unfortunately, the shop will look a bit of a mess as I dont have any shelves or benches and dont have the spare cash to burn right now. Pretty Exciting! Let me know what you think! And for any of you wondering a 2 post lift is in the future!

 

Finally working on pieces to my truck! Working on my modern frame swap