Group Buy 95+ Targa Engine Brace

[liftnot]

Gents,

We have finished the design of the targa engine brace and will have a 3D printed proto for fitment check soon. Cost is TBA and pending group interests. We hope to have 20 people for the GB to have the best intro price. After the GB, price will go up.

This is for the NA config and not for the SC version. The two tabs for the prop rod will be bonded on after de-mold made in sheet alum to keep the mold cost effective.

The radius corners of this brace is made similar to the carbon bicycle frame process to have multiple layers of UD/45/90 layers of prepreg to make it strong and durable and light. All 3 sides will be hollow like the straight coupe strut but you won't be able to see the 2 sides.

We will offer in flat or glossy. You can sign up here(no deposit required until price is determined) or PM us or 619-365-4870(leave msg if no ans.) and state the finish you want. 6 Ti bolts will be included with shipping to lower US 48. This is a special piece as it is a real upgrade, not just a mod. The OEM brace weight ~7lbs. and this carbon est. wi. ~1.25lbs. => our motto of stronger, lighter, stiffer and better parts.

 

[liftnot]

This first batch of 20 will be flat only(just like the coupe bar)...glossy finish will take more post processing and many layers of glossy coat so the mounting bolt areas must be masked off to prevent the glossy coat to crack upon torking the bolts. We will test one and see how it turns out. It may work, it may not.

1) Eric Von Prescott
2) MaxGeek = JL
3) vtecpwr
4) Juan Garcia
5) Galvin Logan
6) Tyler Rogers
7) Andy M.
8) 95gsrturbo
9) TrustJDM
10) Rick/EuroB (3)
11) Nick E.

 

[MaxGeek]

I'm interested.

 

[liftnot]

John Le, Juan Garcia, Galvin Logan, Tyler Rogers, Andy M.

Please sign up for the targa bar here for us to keep track. FB, social media are great but posting gets lost quickly and hard to keep track and we don't spend much time on FB. Unless we reach 20 people, we can't make this brace happen. This is the 1st GB for the targa brace so you will get a good deal because we need a non-refundable deposit for the tooling and passing on the savings to you.

We had a question about carbon not being strong enough.....
Unlike metal, carbon cloth is an isotropic/quasi-tropic material. Depends how and what the carbon is used. Prepreg carbon is better used for structural purpose especially in aerospace such is in this case. the common wet layup or even fiberglass can produce a nice part but it is not strong for carrying loads and it is better for making cosmetic parts such as our Type - R console. In addition, there are many layers of UD(unidirectional 0-180) to take care the X-Y load paths so the wall thickness reaches 0.150" and a few layers of 45/90 to take care the small torsional/bending load and the final layer to make it look like 45/90 but underneath is not all 45/90.

This is the beauty of using carbon..,...you can customize the layers orientation to produce parts according to your load requirement. Most bling parts that don't carry much load need not to go thru this design process/engineering.

 

[v-tecpwr]

Sign me up for glossy

 

[liftnot]

We decided to include the mounting tabs in our 3D design so its easier to print instead of bond the tabs later(production version)

We really need more folks to sign up to make this project a reality to have a better economy of scale. We do have many "new" owners that just found out about P2F so we'll answer a few questions here:

1) We are not a reseller. We design and manufacture in San Diego but will move the production to a much more biz friendly state in Jan. to keep the overhead low.

2) We don't have any parts for the S2K/WRX/FRS/Civic/Z/Miata/etc. nor planning to make carbon parts for them. We may consider making them as our capability increases but the alum NSX is much more special as a legit sports car and we may buy a Lotus Exige and grow from there.

3) We focus on improving weight reduction/distribution, lower CG/MOI/Polar moment/rotational/unsprung wt./aero. not HP or boost.

4) If you like to see more carbon parts for the NSX, plz let us know and we can discuss making them....so, plz help us to help you. We want to make more parts and the active aero project is coming along but we need more people to sign up. If you have better idea of how we can make this project come to fruition, our ears are open.

5) Prepreg carbon(aka dry carbon) is the proper name as the resin is applied on the carbon cloth in an ideal ratio so the final part is very strong and light. unlike the wetlay up process...ie. the DF wing we have weights ~12lbs. and the bumper beams we have is ~4lbs front or back. The surface areas is similar but the wing is made using wetlayup so the excess resin/glossy finish is very nice but much thicker than necessary. Prepreg method is more costly but that is how most aerospace and top racing parts are made being super light and super strong.

6) Real carbon parts(not dipped/wrapped) are expensive just like every "newer" material. Fiberglass/alum sheet/tubing/Ti/SS..etc. were high tech back in the 60's. Perhaps someday we will have different carbon tubing, plates, sheets, U-bends that we can pick and choose for our application. but for now, Dragon Plate NY is a good source but we don't have applications to use them as our stuff must take certain amount of load.
Metal is a matured industry and almost everybody and weld and cut and the stocks are cheap and cheerful even Ti and Mg. Carbon used to be super expensive but now just expensive. Another 40-50 yrs. carbon will be a lot cheaper so if you are in your 20's, you are lucky.

7) How do you make sure your parts have no voids?
Legit question. Wetlay up process will induce voids so small that you can not see with your naked eyes. Prepreg/vacuum bag/oven helps to minimize tiny voids which will have effect on the structure of the final part. We will purchase an ultrasonic inspection unit but for now, you can use a tuning folk and test the part. It should ring with no buzzing. This is a quick and easy method to hear if the part has tiny cracks that is not visible. You can do the same to a forged crank vs a cast crank. you can definitely hear the difference as the forged crank/part will ring much longer/louder than a cast part.

8) Here is the real take away. Even if you don't want this part or need this part. Know that we can now product a hollow carbon tube that is stiff/strong/light. the coupe bar weights 50% less the oem steel but that was not the reason we made it. We wanted to see if we can make a carbon tube like a carbon bike tube for our application. We made a honeycomb/carbon bar and that was crazy strong and light but not straight. We made a bar from structure foam and that was less than 200 grams and super strong but too costly. We are very happy with the coupe bar and know it weights a lot less than any alum/SS/Ti bars on the market and allows us to make other parts. So if you are into real upgrade parts, take another look to help us keep going so we can make more carbon parts for this special sports car.

 

[liftnot]

We produced a 3D print targa brace for fitment ck so if you are interested, you can reply here. We don't expect any fitment issues but we still need to make tooling for the sides and the price is pending on number of people willing to sign up and pay a deposit. If not enough interests, we will/can not make this happen.

OEM weight = ~15 lbs. w/o steel bolts
P2F Carbon = ~<2lbs + 6 Ti bolts

PM or ask any questions here.

 

[Blue Batmobile]

I dont see any images.

B@t

 

[95gsrturbo]

I would be interested in this depending on price
Just saw the link via Facebook
It may need to be promototed more to get more people interested as I just saw it

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

 

[TrustJDM]

Interested but dependent on price as I already have a stmpo bar, but see this as a nice alternative. Is it possible to provide an estimated price at different numbers reached or will this project move forward at 20+ only? Thank you

 

[liftnot]

I would be interested in this depending on price
Just saw the link via Facebook
It may need to be promototed more to get more people interested as I just saw it

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

Interested but dependent on price as I already have a stmpo bar, but see this as a nice alternative. Is it possible to provide an estimated price at different numbers reached or will this project move forward at 20+ only? Thank you

short ans. = we are on FB of 4 different groups under NSX***** u can search for us, every time we have something to offer, we post there too besides Prime. but it gets pushed down and lost quickly. IMO, social media is not a good tool for marketing. In a way, we rely on word of mouth and return clients who understand what we do as we are not a reseller. We made to order so we don't keep stock.

long ans. = Prime, PM, call, email, text is better for ans. questions and discussions. There is no rush for making new parts as nobody is racing the NSX with high pur$$e for reward. Not everybody like what we do as we focus on light weight and driving dynamics so when we post on FB, its gets "pushed down" quite quickly just like here IMO. We spend most of our time to bring/figuring out product we want to make for this tiny market because it is one of the best sports car ever made, not in steel. :wink:....we have a coupe so we made the straight bar regardless the number of people and knowing many already have the Carbing, Stmpo, Comtech, XYZ bars, we want one in prepreg carbon so we can make other parts that can carry load.

Prepreg carbon is expensive to make compare to regular carbon and at the qty. we are talking about with zero economy of scale, it may not happen which we think it will be a shame. The manufacturing process is cut and weld like metal which is cheap and cheerful. We will not do that for the NSX.
so far we only have 9 people interested which makes no financial sense to make it as we still need to make the tooling for the two sides and at only 9 pieces, it won't be cheap. So, once we price this for qty of 10 and we will post the pricing before we start the tooling KNOWING there might not be anymore interest. This happen to the straight bar which at the intro price is the best time to buy but even at $550 shipped, it is still a great price but many compare this to the metal bar in pricing only.

Having said that, we already spend $1.2k+ for the 3D proto, design, analysis knowing this product may not happen. We will ask for a non-refundable deposit once you agree to the price to show that you are more than just interested. If everyone is focus so much on price, eventually, we will offer product to other sports cars ie. Lotus. This weight saving for this part is ~7X of the OEM and the STMPO bar is also quite nice and heavy being metal, even the Ti bar is not light.
We love to make more prepreg carbon parts but you need to help us to help you. We are slow but we do deliver.

 

[liftnot]

Corrosion Concerns

Qs on corrosion concerns as real carbon fiber is conductive when used with different metallic material but the electrical potential is small between Ti and Carbon but for your peace of mind, you can do this:

1)use a thin fiber gasket
2) use anti-seize on the thread
3) thin coat the ends of the bar with Plastic-dip spray or something similar
4) thin coat the mounting area on the car

There is a thread on Prime on this topic as well.

 

[EuroBoutique]

good afternoon, we would be interested in perhaps a few of these!

Great work!

 

[james0933]

Hello,

Are the anchoring points precisely drilled so that brace is held in place by the strength of the bolt or stud, instead of bolt tension just clamping the brace down?

 

[liftnot]

?....6 anchor points are drilled.... mounting is like OEM with Ti bolts, no studs. See the coupe bar thread for more detail.