Racing seat strength?

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realitycheck

Silver - Posts: 751

Joined: September 09, 2004

Posted: January 27, 2005 at 4:03 PM / IP Logged

Alright guys pretty soon when it warms up, i'm going to be attempting to make my own racing seats for my mustang. I know the design of what I want to make and all that. I am going to make a fiberglass/foam sandwich piece. So I will construct the seat out of foam and then cover it in fiberglass. I've been reading though on different strengths of glass, and my question is this. What should I cover the foam in???? Should I start off with like a layer of roving and then put a layer of mat on it, then another layer of roving and then mat, and the same thing one more time???

Or should I do something different, any suggestions please. I need it to be super super strong since this will have to hold the weight and pressure of me in it and stay together in case there was an accident.

Learning the trade one fiberglass creation at a time!

realitycheck

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Joined: September 09, 2004

Posted: January 28, 2005 at 8:36 AM / IP Logged

Anyone, Anyone, Bueler

Learning the trade one fiberglass creation at a time!

realitycheck

Silver - Posts: 751

Joined: September 09, 2004

Posted: January 28, 2005 at 1:17 PM / IP Logged

Anybody have any clues???????

Learning the trade one fiberglass creation at a time!

bluetruck

Copper - Posts: 115

Joined: December 26, 2004

Location: United States

Posted: January 30, 2005 at 2:40 PM / IP Logged

hmmmm... do-it-yourself safty equipment may not be the best idea. it will cost you more to build one than to just buy a racing seat from sparco or something.

auex

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Posted: January 30, 2005 at 10:20 PM / IP Logged

I was going to say the same thing. I wouldn't trust building my own seat. You should think about modifying a pre made seat.

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oonikfraleyoo

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Joined: January 04, 2005

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Posted: January 31, 2005 at 12:13 AM / IP Logged

I would lean toward the last two posts. But if you were to build your own seat I would start by making a steal skeleton and then covering that in foam. Then cover the foam in fiberglass. Then possibly some foam padding on top of the fiberglass. The fiberglass should be fine supporting your body weight. One of the alpine cars ( I think the civic) Has a seat that they made and the website has a few pics in the install section that may give you some ideas. But that car was not intended to be driven. With the steal frame, god forbid you do have and accident and the fiberglass fails, you still have something holding you down. Still though I would consider modifing a premade seat. Better safe than sorry.

realitycheck

Silver - Posts: 751

Joined: September 09, 2004

Posted: January 31, 2005 at 7:33 AM / IP Logged

Yeah I understand that, but actually I can make one cheaper than sparco sells them for. Plus I really want to try and see if I can do it or not. Thats why I would just like to know what would be the strongest way to build it.

Learning the trade one fiberglass creation at a time!

DukeDuke

Silver - Posts: 206

Joined: November 01, 2003

Location: United States

Posted: January 31, 2005 at 9:45 AM / IP Logged

Man, fiberglass is strong, however holding a 200lb man, with an impact at 60 mph, I think you are gone buddy, if fiberglass seats were safe and cheaper to make, companies would be useing it and so would APC and Sparco... just my 2 cents, however, if your are going to try it just to try it and NOT install it, go for it, i think 15 or 20 layers would be good if you plan on sitting it in a lot(around the house or whatever) but do post pics if you do it... good luck man, I agree with them, go to a junk yard and pick up a couple garbage seats, and mod the hell out of them, that way you have a metal frame and some foam already, and recover to your likings...

Duke Duke

realitycheck

Silver - Posts: 751

Joined: September 09, 2004

Posted: January 31, 2005 at 10:38 AM / IP Logged

Well does make fiberglass racing seats almost everyone single one of their one piece seat is made of fiberglass. http://www.sparco-usa.com/pseats_comp.asp?id=82 and if you continue to look at their website you'll see a whole lot more. I know it can be done I just need to know the highest strength glass to make it with. I've been looking into what has the highest strength and i'm thinking the roving and some of the continuous strand mat, is probably going to be the strongest.

Learning the trade one fiberglass creation at a time!

realitycheck

Silver - Posts: 751

Joined: September 09, 2004

Posted: January 31, 2005 at 3:43 PM / IP Logged

Well guys I think I found my combo, of glass that I need to use. This is my roving I will be using http://www.uscomposites.com/specialty.html , 18oz woven roving, first layer then come back and apply this. http://www.uscomposites.com/cloth.html this is a 8.9 oz fiberglass cloth which is a satin weave so its a lot stronger than the plain weave. What you guys think??

Learning the trade one fiberglass creation at a time!

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