Interior Exterior
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A while back I bought some of the Reverie and Benetec Carbon Fiber parts for my car. The Benetec engine lid doesn't come with any grills or louvres, so I had to find a way to fill in the 4 large openings in the lid.
Initially I bought some black coated grill mesh from Customcargrills.com with the idea of making a frame and sandwiching the mesh between identical top and bottom frames. After asking around at a couple of local metal workers I soon realised that this would be very expensive since the 2-part frames would have to be welded, not to mention the possibility of the whole thing distorting. Also, each pair of opening is not uniform or symmetrical in shape.
After nixing that idea I contacted another guy who I read about in the local paper. This guy uses a computerized high pressure water jet to cut metal up to several inches thick within very tight tolerances. He agreed to give it a go. I got a local metal worker to make very precise templates for the two different sized openings and then took these to the Water Jet guy who scanned them into his PC and used this to cut a couple of prototypes (no engineering drawings here). After running off a couple of samples with holes of various shapes and sizes, I settled on a hex shape of approx 3/8" cut out of a 1/8" thick aluminum sheet.
I have to say that given the low tech approach of scanning copies of the templates into the PC, the end result was pretty good for a first attempt. I had the parts powdercoated and attached them to the engine lid with heavy duty double sided sticky tape. The cost of the 4 grills was appx. $300. After completing the job I was told that it actually cost double this, since there were more holes to cut than originally anticipated (takes appx 30 sec to cut each hex hole).
Although I'm very happy with the prototypes, they are not perfect. In order to reduce costs each pair of grills were stacked and cut at the same time. This caused some movement during the cutting so that there are very slight defects in the shape of the outer edges. Also, scanning the shape into the PC rather than programming with exact measurement for the outside dimensions resulted in the grills being slightly smaller than the templates - however they still fit okay although not aesthetically perfect. I also found out that the grills openings are not flat, but actually have a slight curved (concave) profile, so I had to get each grill 'rolled' by a metal shop so that they followed the contour of the engine lid. The non-uniform shape of each grill also makes it difficult to get a uniform 'margin' around the edges.
I am going to get another set cut, but this time with some changes. I originally chose 1/8" thick aluminum since I thought it would be stonger and less susceptible to breakages around the edges of the hex mesh. However, the current prototypes are very sturdy and inflexible so I will definitely go for much thinner aluminium next time (this should also reduce cutting time and cost). I'm also going to get the blank grills cut by hand before the holes are cut. This way I can ensure a perfect shape and fit.
Photos of the various stages follow.
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The hand cut templates, made from 1/8" aluminum
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Prototype grills after cutting and before powdercoating
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Close up of one of the finished grills after powdercoating
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Finished prototypes attached to the CF lid with heavy duty double-sided sticky tape. I will be looking for a more high-tech way of attaching the next set. Note the gaps between the outer edges of the grills and the side lips of the engine lid recesses.
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I also did some other mods while I was at it.
- Gas flap powder coated. Used blue anodized bolts from Racebolts.com
- RAC monolites
- CF Diffuser
- Reverie Side Scoops - Don't waste your money. They are not meant for the 11R Elise and fitting is a very painful process since only 1 of the 3 atachment points on the scoops can be used. The fit is also very poor in terms of shape and following the contours of the car.
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Sweet....
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Wow, after all the "coulda been better" comments, I was expecting those grills to look something other than kick-ass!
Very nice. Looks quite pro from here.
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Great job, Alan. Keep us up to date with your progress.
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Looks fantastic!
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Are you going to be selling these grills to any of the other board members?
You should.
Ryan
They do look top notch (especially if you can fix that LITTLE sizing issue. It's not bad IMO, but I can see where some perfectionists would think it's a bigger deal.
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Nice job! I applaud your efforts, and it looks professionally done to me!
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Just the usual questions. What do they weigh compared to stock and are you going to make some to sell? Very nice!
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The powder coated gas flap looks very nice on the car.
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Very nice
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Super cool. Can you post the template files.
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Thanks for the compliments guys. They are not perfect, but for a first pass and considering what they cost I am very happy with the way they turned out. If the next set is going to cost more, then I will expect a perfect fit.
As far as the weight, the smaller grills weigh appx. 2.5 ounces. I can't weigh the larger ones since they are now stuck on the lid but I imagine 4-5 oz each. I will definitely go with thinner aluminum next time, so this should reduce the weight.
I guess I could consider getting extra sets made for sellling on ET. However I need to determine what the new cost is going be. At $300 a set I imagine there could be quite a bit of interest, but if it's going to be $600 a set then I doubt there will be many takers. I'll report back once the next set is in progress.
Alan
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Wow, your car looks fantastic. I like the the gas door with blue bolts alot too. The grills came out looking nice, I like the contrast of the aluminum a bit more than everything being black. Perhaps blue anodized would be sweet too, but then the nice painted engine cover might show up less.
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You used tire dresser on r-compounds? Looks like you got it on the shoulders of the tires as well...
Good job!
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I really like the look ! Nice job. I think you could have a lot of interest from ET'ers, including me - with one important reservation, and that is: I feel that going from gills to mesh is pretty much an "all or nothing" thing, that if I'm going to change out the deck lid with mesh, I'm also going to want to do everything else. I've seen a few people's prototypes for the front, and sides etc. but what I'm waiting for is one complete kit of nice-looking mesh (I think your honeycomb choice was a great one BTW, at least from the photos).
Are you planning to do the rest of the car, as well ?