Making molds of a part or 2
Couple of questions:
Do you have a photo of the final outcome on the rear side panel trim covers for convertibles? Do the early A kick panels with speakers allow the airbox door to open? Do you have prices?
only a few answers right now. and none of them any fully positive for you.sorry it's a work in progress as money allows me to proceed. and long winded too!:D
Do you have a photo of the final outcome on the rear side panel trim covers for convertibles? No I'm having a size issue with the part. It shrinks slightly with the plastic and I don't like the way it fits on my side panels. (too short both ways to hit the bottom SS trim (1/16)correctly, and not hide the back part of the fiberglass (1/8) I am resizing the mold to better fit the panel by cutting it in quarters and adding 1/8th of an inch each way and refinishing it. I will show the finished panel on my(both sizes) side panel and put in my car so you can see the way it fit's. I might leave the back side(well area) a little long since I have 2 set's of side covers that are different in that area. you can trim to fit or leave it a little long (1/8).
Do the early A kick panels with speakers allow the airbox door to open? YES/NO, good answer right:banghead:. The drivers side does allow opening but the passenger does not and this time.(I screwed up and mounted it higher than the drivers side going off the older notes and measurements I had)on the mold.
that's the reason I'm changing the mold again,and again (plus he want's to run a double piece vacu-form part to save on plastic wasted) I can't blame him on that one.
the later ones I still have to go over to waggins and see if he will let me test fit the part on his car. so I can't tell you that. it seems that the 1/2 of one set I didn't need done first got done first and I have no way to check it for correctness easily. and the passengers side still looks ugly(really UGLY).
Do you have prices. not at this time since I have not got a price quote from the vacu-former on a good run on any set of parts yet. or even a good run on a full set!
I'm having a size of run/pricing issue with him.
I needed him to get the early A stuff done first( side panels and kick panels are needed for MY car TOO! I'm the guinea pig) since he wants to run more and more of the parts in run's of 100 and charges me 50 bucks per change ( I make the change on my mold not him) . Which I definitely can't afford to do at this time. I am talking to another vacu-former shop that said the they will do smaller runs using my molds,which will be slightly more expensive but affordable. but I have to fix them if they break them,they do not fix molds. so I'll have to be there when they run my molds.
I do know the early A's will be cheaper than the later A's due to the mold simplicity.(flat panel original style and the speaker kick out) and the side panel trim covers should be similar to the later A's cost according to the vacuformer due to the heavy undercuts in the pieces. As soon as I get a complete set made of each part done to my liking and cost (I'm picky about the fit and durability of the part) I don't want to be on par with cheap "Chinese crap" but nice quality parts I'm proud to put on my car. I'll post it here with prices, Right now with alll the things happening I have only been able to get one side done of the later A's and not been able to test fit it on any car yet. as for the glovebox I'm waiting on a quote to do a sample run after I finish the epoxy mold with the new shop.
Another quistion (by 66DVERT)
is it a concours resto part. NO they are not and will never be! I want these parts made for MY car only originally. but decided that others might want/need some similar type of parts. They are a part that fit's as good or better than the original but will not rot(kick panels, glovebox) Yes they will mimic the shape of the part they are supposed to be but will not pass a "numbers matching original resto" if you really look at it.sort of like an oil filter wix/fram/mopar filter fight, they all do the job but the Wix is better and the mopar is correct. I did not want to try(cost and licensing, been there, done that, won't do it again) and make a restoration Mopar part with the part numbers and logo stamped on it. I wanted something that will work,look good and not rot/break like the originals did. I'm using thicker plastic or more durable type of plastic. ABS vs styrene or ABS vs glove box cardboard. so far a slow work in progress and not very much forward progreess at that. 1 step forward and 2 back.. it's driving me crazy! AND broke with all the changes.