New Body Kit Designs and Accessories

[ctrancgtm]

Hi, my name is Chris and I live in socal

I've been thinking for the past few months about designing a body kit for the s14 kouki and zenki but was to chicken shit to express my ideas because i was afraid to get flamed but honestly i could car less.

Heres the breakdown

Bodykits would consist of:
-Front bumper
-fenders
-Hood
-side mirrors
-side skirt
-overfender/half fender
-rear bumper
-trunk
-spoiler lip

Accessory would consist of:
-Slim,light door panel (for roll cage apps)
-dash (for custom gauge, switch panel setup)
-console (for custom fusebox location, cup holder, hydro brake cover)
-trunk tire rack (for all those weekend drivers without a trailer who stuff their cars with tires)
-Taillights
-Rear seat delete (not really sure if I want to yet)

Body panels will first molded from foam. Foam because 1) its easy to work with and I have some experience with it 2) I don’t have access to a 3d scanner and programs.


Other plans are to design:
-Widebody sw20 mr2
-Datsun s30
-I have some in mind but really can’t think up them

But this project would be just for the s14 zenki and kouki only because that what I have access to. If things go well, I will extend my designs to the s13 and to the cars above.


This is a high-risk operation.
I would like some feedback to see if it is even worth it.
Suggestions and questions are welcome as well.


Thanks,

Chris

[xoxide]

Will this project be running on hopes and dreams? Sounds like it is... You will not get very positive feedback with these kind of posts. If you want honest feedback you need to give us more to see than just a list of your plans.

You say body kit, whats it going to look like? clean? ricey? made of unicorn blood?

[DRIFTER-M]

Main question:

Can it help my car do the Harlem Shake?

[EnemyS15]

I'll take a kit made of unicorn blood with wide body Jesus tears.

[chuki.s13.coupe.]

Good luck..

[Broadfield]

I will start off by saying there would be a LOT easier ways to make money.

If these were going to be OEM quality urethane and metal then great. But to make perfect fitting anything, especially fiberglass, is a huge undertaking and you will be remaking your molds often to keep a tight tolerance in the finished product. The startup cost will be high to make all of these molds... fiberglass mat/cloth and resin aren't cheap. Let alone just nasty to work with when sanding and forming.

If you wanted to make one single thing that you could make a killing at for a little while, I would suggest a fiberglass S13 OEM K's aero bumper. They typically go for upwards of $1000 now. Get your hands on one and make a copy of it... I'm sure you could sell fiberglass copies of them for $400.

[Trinidrift3]

^i agree with toby

people will no doubt buy nice replicas of oem/aftermarket aero, my self included. finding things like silvia aero side skirts and xenon aero is quite hard.

also what are trying to do? produce a new style body kit? or make money? i think it would be wiser to work on replicas first. and maybe work on your own full custom kit during your spare time

[ctrancgtm]

Originally Posted by xoxide

Will this project be running on hopes and dreams? Sounds like it is... You will not get very positive feedback with these kind of posts. If you want honest feedback you need to give us more to see than just a list of your plans.

You say body kit, whats it going to look like? clean? ricey? made of unicorn blood?

Sorry for the lack of info, I had everything written out and zilvia kicked me out and deleted everything. I just don’t want to say something and not come through with it. My look that im going for is aggressive. I have research a couple of companies that can produce molds kit but I am still researching. But obviously my plans aren’t going to happen overnight.

Originally Posted by Broadfield

I will start off by saying there would be a LOT easier ways to make money.

If these were going to be OEM quality urethane and metal then great. But to make perfect fitting anything, especially fiberglass, is a huge undertaking and you will be remaking your molds often to keep a tight tolerance in the finished product. The startup cost will be high to make all of these molds... fiberglass mat/cloth and resin aren't cheap. Let alone just nasty to work with when sanding and forming.

If you wanted to make one single thing that you could make a killing at for a little while, I would suggest a fiberglass S13 OEM K's aero bumper. They typically go for upwards of $1000 now. Get your hands on one and make a copy of it... I'm sure you could sell fiberglass copies of them for $400.

Originally Posted by Trinidrift3

^i agree with toby

people will no doubt buy nice replicas of oem/aftermarket aero, my self included. finding things like silvia aero side skirts and xenon aero is quite hard.

also what are trying to do? produce a new style body kit? or make money? i think it would be wiser to work on replicas first. and maybe work on your own full custom kit during your spare time

Thanks for your input, but my goal is definitely not to make money. I just wanted to create an opportunity to people to see a different style kit instead of the same stuff over and over. That statement doesn’t mean I hate on oem stuff. There are plenty of oem replicas companies to produce those kit.

[ctrancgtm]

Sorry for short response I was out of the house.

My plan was to: carve the body kit out of foam, fiberglass, then post it up to see if anyone would be interested. If I have any buyers then I will proceed. But If nobody likes it I’ll throw it in the trash.
Honestly, I’m not trying to compete with the big companies like Vertex,Origin,Version Select,TRA, and etc. Even if I wanted to they would just take a shit on me.
I just want to come up with a new design. That’s it, I’m not planning to make bank off of it. I was just thinking of different ways to help drifter ,autox er, time attacker , and daily driver. Just wanted to bring idea that I see many people complain about that’s all

Thank you Trinidrift3, Toby, and xoxide for you input again. I might get into oem aero but I have to see.

[Corbic]

Where are your sketches?

[ctrancgtm]

Originally Posted by Corbic

Where are your sketches?

I'm finishing them up right now, I should be able to post this week.

[victorw210]

Check out fiberglassforums. They have a whole section with build threads of custom body kits step by step as well as replica bumpers and what not.

[TougeLove]

i say go for it, but i know people in the industry with fiberglassing, kit making skills that don't attempt this because the costs up front. Your best bet may be to pay someone to make your design (mold) then test it out on your car. if it looks right and fits PERFECT, have them make some more off the mold. I have seen about 10 kits from people who attempted such a venture only to realize how much it actually cost and the R&D of engineers it takes to make it sit flush with the existing bumper beam, contact points etc.


i would try and make additions first. fenders are easy in the context of front and rear bumpers.

if you're using foam this should be done in 5-8 years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHdJYL7iiRk

[ctrancgtm]

Originally Posted by victorw210

Check out fiberglassforums. They have a whole section with build threads of custom body kits step by step as well as replica bumpers and what not.

Thanks, It’s an awesome site!

Originally Posted by TougeLove

i say go for it, but i know people in the industry with fiberglassing, kit making skills that don't attempt this because the costs up front. Your best bet may be to pay someone to make your design (mold) then test it out on your car. if it looks right and fits PERFECT, have them make some more off the mold. I have seen about 10 kits from people who attempted such a venture only to realize how much it actually cost and the R&D of engineers it takes to make it sit flush with the existing bumper beam, contact points etc.


i would try and make additions first. fenders are easy in the context of front and rear bumpers.

if you're using foam this should be done in 5-8 years.

How to make a body panel from scratch. Step by step using Clay Sculpting - YouTube

Thanks for your input, I’m planning to bring my spare parts over when I fly back to New Orleans to start on a few things.
I’m currently working on a rc drift s14 shell and molding my designs on it then painting it to see how it would look under the light. Will keep you guys update

[conrad_s13.5]

It really depends on the design(s). Id start with drawing/sketching/planning ideas.

Then posting those up and getting feedback

[ctrancgtm]

Originally Posted by conrad_s13.5

It really depends on the design(s). Id start with drawing/sketching/planning ideas.

Then posting those up and getting feedback

Thanks, I'm hoping to finish it by the end of the week. I'll keep you guys posted!

[spray2020]

if you aren't worried about not making a killing doing this, and just want it as a challenging project, then here are some of my suggestions:

I would suggest using chavant modeling clay instead of foam. Why? Besides the fact of it being some what expensive, but re-usable - you can really fine tune your shapes and forms based on the clays temperature while hand forming or carving or sculpting the clay. I'm not saying to build the whole form out of clay, but just the outer surface, the inner surface can be a wood skeleton. Then make your initial molds from this, then perfect the first castings and make your master molds from that.

If you have tons of money, then i'd opt to get your clay forms 3d scanned and have a cad guru 'perfect' your scans to be ready for 3d printing and molding.

But if you cant do any of the above, then yeah- knock yourself out and get some foam and start cutting and sanding away.

[ctrancgtm]

Originally Posted by spray2020

if you aren't worried about not making a killing doing this, and just want it as a challenging project, then here are some of my suggestions:

I would suggest using chavant modeling clay instead of foam. Why? Besides the fact of it being some what expensive, but re-usable - you can really fine tune your shapes and forms based on the clays temperature while hand forming or carving or sculpting the clay. I'm not saying to build the whole form out of clay, but just the outer surface, the inner surface can be a wood skeleton. Then make your initial molds from this, then perfect the first castings and make your master molds from that.

If you have tons of money, then i'd opt to get your clay forms 3d scanned and have a cad guru 'perfect' your scans to be ready for 3d printing and molding.

But if you cant do any of the above, then yeah- knock yourself out and get some foam and start cutting and sanding away.

Thanks for your suggestion! I’m not using clay is because I don’t know too much how on how to handle it, how it dries, and how much to use. I’ve used foam before but I have to look into the clay. But I talked to my uncle and he recommended me molding it on an rc shell so later he can scan it. Thanks again for your feedback.a

[Paint209]

in for the designs!

[eddieflo]

we want to see what your plans will LOOK like

[Nezahualcoyotl]

what type of body kit is it going to be? is it gonna be a bolt on kit, or would a "professional" need to install it?

[S13-JOhNy.]

Make a wing like the miatas for an s14.
For those that have oem bumpers and think rocket bunny is too aggressive.


Mazda Miata TougeRun Rear Trunk Spoiler 1990-1997

[chinabean]

just subscribing for the sketch/drawings of dreamed aero lol

[ctrancgtm]

Hi guys sorry I'm kind of behind on a lot of thing because of school, but I will be done with this by the morning. I'm sculpting as I type. so don't expect too much right now. Here it is at 1:10 scale to prove I'm not bullsh@)ing.





Nothing major yet just threw some clay on.

[1slicktwo4oh]

More power too you, if i had the time or skill i would make my own too.....a carbon fiber or fiberglass dash, door panels with OEM features(ie; arm rest, door handle, speaker cut out, ac vent cut out, just like a oem replacement) not blank door panels or dashes would sell. Not a dash cap, but a full dash replacement IMO

[ctrancgtm]

Originally Posted by S13-JOhNy.

Make a wing like the miatas for an s14.
For those that have oem bumpers and think rocket bunny is too aggressive.


Mazda Miata TougeRun Rear Trunk Spoiler 1990-1997

My design is something like that. It’s very subtle.

Originally Posted by Nezahualcoyotl

what type of body kit is it going to be? is it gonna be a bolt on kit, or would a "professional" need to install it?

Mostly bolt on. It just makes everything easier. But I would like the over fender to be molded just cause I hate expose rivets and screws

Originally Posted by 1slicktwo4oh

More power too you, if i had the time or skill i would make my own too.....a carbon fiber or fiberglass dash, door panels with OEM features(ie; arm rest, door handle, speaker cut out, ac vent cut out, just like a oem replacement) not blank door panels or dashes would sell. Not a dash cap, but a full dash replacement IMO

Thanks dude, I wanted to do the whole dash because i see lot people just hack up the dash and drill into it.

[ctrancgtm]

Sorry for not updated in a week. Things haven’t been going like I plan. My Grandpa went to the hospital and was diagnosed with stomach cancer. The day before that I was supposed to finish the clay model but ended up running out of clay.
I was carving the car for 4 hours a day and it seem like I wasn’t getting anywhere. And then the headlight were too big and I position the passenger wheel 1mm off of center and the whole model was off.


I looked up some 3d programs I could use. I first downloaded Autodesk 3ds max but didn’t know how to use it so it was pointless. I then downloaded sketchup8 from Google and kind of got used to it fast. So forgive my slowness and choppiness of the render.

Here’s is the rear half overfenders:




Lol at the 18x20 wheels I download from google

Sorry for the wait

[The_Creeper]

I kinda dig that rear over fender.

[ctrancgtm]

Originally Posted by The_Creeper

I kinda dig that rear over fender.

Thanks man!!!

[EDacIouSX]

this looks interesting. but seriously, you should consider making a profit on the stuff that you sell. and when you say break even i hope you mean you are paying yourself for the labor to produce these. That's how non profit orgs work, all the money they bring in is spent on the company/business operations at the end of the fiscal year..



Btw i also second s13 coupe aero bumpers as well as s14 navan bumpers.