[Current Project] Carbon Fiber Diamond Tucked Padding On Door Panel Blanks

[LostInTransit]

Update:

The 5 yards of diamond tucked carbon fiber from Fabric Empire arrived this afternoon in pristine condition. Now onwards to taking some measurements and marking some cuts and pinning some seams. Though I may not get these done right away as other matters need to be attended to. ordered a rear set of the 40mm lower springs for the van..
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[LostInTransit]

Update:

After months of being pulled away from completing the panels. I can finally say I'm done or at least all of the panels have the diamond tucked carbon fiber material on them. I'll be installing the rear barn door panels first as these will not need any extra speakers mounted to them. As for the sliding door panels, these will have to be left uninstalled so that our audio guy can make alteration to these as to allow for new 6 inch speakers. Yes we're upgrading the sound system in the van. granted the stock/factory system is very powerful, But we can't leave well enough alone. heading over to the audio guy at the end of the week to have him take a look at what needs to be done with the sliding door panels and possibly installing a couple of floor board woofers.

I'll post pics of the panels tomorrow.

[Rsurfer]

Can not open your attachments.

[LostInTransit]

Thats because at one time, I thought I'd never return after learning Mike left the forum. So I deleted the attachments a few months back which I can't go back to correct them as I'm not allowed to edit my old post. The only reaosn I returned is because of people like @SNP209 who's taken an interest in my work.

[LostInTransit]

Here's all the diamond tucked carbon fiber panels for the 2020 Connect. Four smaller panels will be installed later this week. While the two larger panels will be installed at a later date. These will need to be left off the van while our audio guy attends to the new sound system. The larger panels will get a 6'' inch speaker installed in them.

Three reasons for the installation delay:

➤This makes the second time in 4 months we've cracked the windshield. The first time our insurance paid for it.. this time we'll have to take out of pocket.

➤I've been so focused on locating the performance sway bar that I just didn't have time to complete these.

➤The barn doors need their vapor barrier replaced. if these are not replaced, moisture will enter from the rear doors and contaminate the press board the diamond tucked is attached to. Once this happens.. the panels will warp and the material may flop or flake off.

With plenty of material left, I'll be working on creating a spare tire cover for the 2005 Thunderbird wheel mounted inside the van.

TIP: In order to allow the material to stretch around the corners, one must remove the foam padding from those areas. You'll need approx. 1 3/4 inched of over hang as to allow for proper adhesion to the boards. Also having a low setting heat gun allows the material to be stretched along these corners. Just do not keep the heat gun on the material too long or risk losing the luster of the material.
TIP II: Make sure you mark each panel's origination as to how you want the material to lay. I wanted all the diamonds to run in the same direction without my marks I could have flipped some of the material and it would have bene a mess to clean up or straighten afterward. One thing that helped with the material origination is that one side of the panel was smooth while the other was rough. The smooth side got the material adhered to it.

Lastly, We've reached a point where I'll no longer post images of the interior. So if you want to see more, you'll have to visit car/van shows in the future.

[LostInTransit]

Update:

Want to see and hear more about what's going on with our project? Then follow us here: Slammed, Stance & Speed – Medium and yes I said hear more.. medium has a new system that will read to you or you can read the blog yourself.

[LostInTransit]

Since 2019, It's been extremely difficult to locate a home for my post and projects. being banned and shut down by a number of other forums located across the web. Plus, I'm not able to maintain a blog sites listed above like I wanted to. The format just doesn't suit me. Writing a blog of sorts and not having anyone read it is just as good as keeping the images and post offline. My options are running out, but at least the diamond tucked carbon fiber still looks good and we've been distracted by other improvements to the van to focus on the spare tire cover. But we need to as we have several events to attend this year as we've been invited to participate.

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