Tag: carbon fiber

Citroen Saxo Super 1600

Every now and then I get a bit of a “wow” moment when a build finds it’s way to my inbox, and this rally car restoration is definitely one of those moments. The thread first takes you through the competition history of the car, before we begin the build with a very tired and damaged shell. With a donor car brought in for parts and panels we get taken along for the ride as years of automotive archeology are uncovered with every layer of paint sanded and spot weld drilled out. The owner/builder shows off his skills in everything from body work, fabrication, painting and composites. The car doesn’t look to be finished just yet but the thread is up to date.

Thanks to John for submitting. Not enough small French hatchback action for you? Try the Citroen and Peugeot tags.

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Exclusive look: Peasnell Racing Designs

I know for the most part that Build-Threads.com is kind of a one-way thing. I post, you read, that type of deal. But the truth is that I love hearing from readers via email, Twitter, the Facebook page, and the new Facebook Discussion Group. Whilst everyone’s projects can’t be featured, I still love seeing what people are up to. Most of the time it’s regular guys like myself, tinkering away at their project in the garage, but every now and then something far beyond the reaches of us common folk greets me. Just the other day, Lewis from Peasnell Racing Designs sent me a Facebook message with a few images of his work, letting me know very politely that he’d love to see his work on the site if I ever had a ‘slow news day’. What I saw left me gobsmacked, and I couldn’t wait to share it with everyone and hopefully give Lewis a platform for his work via this humble website. Before we start salivating over the fabrication and design, I’ll leave you with this quote from Lewis to remind us that, although his work might be otherworldly, deep down he’s just a normal guy like you and me…

“Growing up I loved LEGO and drawing, this is just my grown up version, I’m sure.”

Visit Peasnell Racing Designs on Facebook and give them a like to stay in touch with their future work. I’d like to thank Lewis for allowing me the opportunity to share his work with the world on Build-Threads.com.

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Fabrication 101: CBR600

When someone emails me and tells me they learnt their skills working at NASA as a machinist and composite fabrication tech, you can bet your torque wrench that I’m gonna sit up and take notice. Not only has Chris used aerospace grade aluminium and carbon fiber on this highly customised CBR, but he also puts his talents to good use making non motor-powered parts, namely knives.

Click here for more bike builds.

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Pure Vision Anvil Mustang

Late last year, shortly after I posted the heartfelt story of the FreedomBird, a gentleman named Matt contacted me to tell me about his own muscle car project. You see, Matt’s company  Anvil Auto was responsible for the carbon fiber work on the FreedomBird, so when the attention was turned to his own build, you knew it was going to be slathered with that glorious woven composite material. As you can see from the preview image, when it comes to styling this ‘stang takes a slightly different path from the norm by tweaking the Pro-Touring blueprint and borrowing cues from race cars of a bygone era, albeit with a modern twist. Enlisting the expertise of master car builder Steve Strope to orchestrate it’s transformation from render to finished product, the completed car screams American Muscle with whispers of classic European and Japanese influences. I’m a big fan, especially of those retro-inspired and drool-worthy wheels, not to mention the trick inboard suspension both front and rear.

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Sliding throttle bodies + DIY metal casting

I’m pretty sure this is the most extreme and creative use of DIY I’ve ever seen. Sure, some people have access to CNC machines, or they might be handy with a lathe, but have you ever seen someone CAST their own parts? The owner is even creating his own 16V head and a sliding throttle body setup, everything from the linkages to the carbon fiber plenum, all done by hand. Not enough, well what about a scratch-built head-skimming machine? I think you get the point, and I didn’t even mention the carbon fiber spoon…wait, what?

If anyone has the right to call themselves a “builder”, it’s this guy. The tech-savvy and fans of home-built cars will love this one. All of the hard work is being put into a MK2 Golf, but this is more about the work and parts than the car itself. If you’re a bit like me and found yourself scratching your head when you heard the term “sliding throttle bodies”, check out this link for a bit of information. Update: Or you can click here to see a Youtube video of some sliding throttle bodies in action. Fast forward to around 1:35 (Thanks Tilman)

Thanks to “Chester Rumble” from my favourite Honda forum, NWP4LIFE for bringing this build to my attention.

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Mercedes W124 500E

I was getting a few hits from Datsun Nissan Sports Cars of Finland Forums, so as usual I followed the link and found myself in a thread on their forum. This happens all the time, so I try to make a point of seeing if I can find anything to feature while I’m there. Luckily, there was another link in the same thread to the project you’re about to see here.

This build is spearheaded by Stefan who’s piecing together a super-touring styled Mercedes W124 500E, complete with a carbon fiber wide-body and plenty of CAD-drawn/CNC machined parts.

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