Who's In - JDM Legacy sideskirt fabrication opportunity

[skid542]

The fiberglass route would be feasible. However, you are still going to need a mold.

FWIW, if I were to recieve this part at my company to quote and build I'd say, for a ball park, $7000 for tooling and each side would be about $400-600. You need a mold, then you have to lay it up, and then you have to trim it - which requires another tool. Keeping in mind that my company does not do wet layups anymore and work soley with prepreg and oven/autoclave cures.

[Adam West]

Ouch!!

[skid542]

To make this out of fiberglass requires a pretty involved and time consuming process. You have to prepare the molds with the release agent and clean them after each run. That takes 20-30 min. In order to have a part strong enough you're looking at 7-10 plies. That's about 2-3 hours of layup time. Then you need to vacume bag it, that's another half hour. Then you need to cure it for a few hours and debag and clean it up. Then to trim it up is about another 15-30 minutes. Then you're ready to do the next side....

A wet layup without vacume bagging would be quicker but would not produce a consistent surface and would be considerably heavier and weaker.

There is a reason the automotive industry uses vacume formed plastic for these things .

[evolutionmovement]

Where it's such a simple design, I think it would be easier to make them out of ABS sheet and a welding kit.

[Adam West]

Not to hijack but what are the options to cut down and fit pieces from GC? I forget why this doesnt' work. Certainly enough of them for sale out there...lip too. Anyone had any luck in retrofit???

[Legacy Rally Guy]

If it's fiberglass, I have an Irish pal here in Missouri.. He's a killer body-guy and does really nice fiberglass! He's been looking for something to do on my legacy, but then again, I'm pretty far from WA...

[TheSubaruJunkie]

Will these fit wagons and sedans? Im interested as long as its not like $200 or something.

And sides would be kinda lame w/out the front and back.

-Brian

[SubaruNation]

so this is dead then?

[liquidblueloft]

will a 93 impreza front bumper work on the legacy because if it does i know a place that has a few sweet ones

[SubaruNation]

will a 93 impreza front bumper work on the legacy because if it does i know a place that has a few sweet ones

you can make it fit
but this is a sideskirt opportunity thread.....

[dscoobydoo]

Sadly,it seems that the initial start-up costs seem a bit large for us to absorb.

If anyone can find a cheaper method, then both of us would be willing to give up our set for a mold.

[Legacy Rally Guy]

I made a plug for a fiberglass hoodscoop for my legacy, we'll see how timely/cost effective it'll be. It should build some capital for my buddy to find out the general cost of making sideskirts here in Missouri.. he doesn't have a lot of overhead here, but the bodyshop is his second job, so we'll see if he can handle a few scoops and see what kind of prices we get. Anyone have some good pictures of them, so I could show him. This may get things rolling, he's been doing lots of custom stuff, so if it were already there in physical form, making a mold and duplicating it wont be so bad...

[SubaruNation]

and we're off again!
there's pics all over the site, just search it up

[Legacy Rally Guy]

Well, I talked to my buddy who owns the body-shop, he said making the mold and replicas would be no prob!

He said having a set of sideskirts to take molds from would save a bunch of fab time. And said not to worry, "Taking molds from them wont harm them" when I asked him about "possible harm to originals...

And when shipped out, they'd be finished in a gray-epoxy primer and ready for paint

He said he's not sure EXACTLY on the price costs, but he said $400 to $500 a pair. If we can get ten sets for the first order, to help offset the mold-making.

Tell me what you guys think and get back to me.

I suppose we only'd need nine more people, since I'm definitely in it for a set.

I'm thinking we might have a sideskirts soon!

Oh, and are these mounted via a 3m double sided tape or screws & seam sealerd?

[SubaruNation]

+1 for 3M
that tape kicks ass, i just used it to put on (Finish finally) my new hood scoop.
it's strong and doesn't lose its adhesiveness.... so far
Pictures pending

[TheSubaruJunkie]

I think $400-$500 for a pair of sideskirts is fucking rediculous!

But I guess I value every dollar I make.

-Brian

[livestrong14]

Way too expensive. I would never pay more than $200. Maybe I'm just cheap.

[skid542]

The price itself is pretty reasonable for the work going into them. I certainly can't knock that at all.


But I'm with a lot of people, I couldn't justify that kind of money on sideskirts .

[Adam West]

I'm tentative. My problem is that I'd need a lip and tail skirts to go with. I think I've got the lip figured out but...

$300 might be the sweet spot...

[Legacy Rally Guy]

I think $400-$500 for a pair of sideskirts is fucking rediculous!

But I guess I value every dollar I make.

-Brian

Um, I dont think it's too pricey.. True, it isn't cheap, but then again... these aren't hondas.... So there isn't going to be orders of a few thousand...!
Here's an equal quality - WingsWest...

$300 on sale for a honda civic... *keep in mind... the sheer number of hondas..*

http://www.customautotrim.com/bodykits/ ... _96-00.htm
And they're nothing special, just skirts...

I think "fucking rediculous" would be paying $450 for a pair of cookie cutter-honda sideskirts... So chill with the tone or pick some more constructive vocab...

I can understand people not having the available auto-budget for uniqueness... but if one decides to own a Subaru, it's kinda like, der... not cheap for any modification. But just think about the whole eurathane or similar plastic ... yup.. 5k... and that's READY for production... no product yet... and tying up a machine... like a 200 ton press costs an ass-load, so one would have to punch out a nice lot of parts to offset the intial costs... and pray for 50 people to buy.

Fiberglass gives the lesser volume buys a better fighting chance of not downing in parts/debt. And my buddy's a pro. I've seen those ebay-cheap body kits and they were horrible and a pain and totally showed you got what you paid for.

And the 400 to 500 price isn't just poped from the mold and mailed, it's fully ready for paint and install...

I paid 460 for my 69 mustangs Maier Racing trunk lid... and I love it... I had to save for six months, but hey.

So if you're going to flame me, fine whatever, do it in a pm, but I'm just trying to get something cool out there for us legacy owners. AND if things dont become a charity case for him, if he can make it worth his while and not feel like he's working for five bucks an hour, It'll be easier persuade him into carbon fiber trunk lids and hoods... But one step at a time.

[Legacy Rally Guy]

I'm tentative. My problem is that I'd need a lip and tail skirts to go with. I think I've got the lip figured out but...

$300 might be the sweet spot...

That very well may be approachable, we'll need a few more than five orders though to offset his mold-making...

[SubaruNation]

I think $400-$500 for a pair of sideskirts is fucking rediculous!

But I guess I value every dollar I make.

-Brian

I think "fucking rediculous" would be paying $450 for a pair of cookie cutter-honda sideskirts... So chill with the tone or pick some more constructive vocab...

we just got done with AMR engineering so i understand the vocab personally

and yeah that kind of is alot, unless they were different than just "jdm" skirts... like they said "legacy central" or something cool on them which would make them only one of a limited number.
then i'd be down

[TheSubaruJunkie]

If they were side skirts and front and rear then I could convince myself to spend 1/2 a paycheck on them.

But for just sideskirts I'll deal w/out. I can spend $400 to lower my car alittle and have the same look.

[Legacy Rally Guy]

I think $400-$500 for a pair of sideskirts is fucking rediculous!

But I guess I value every dollar I make.

-Brian

I think "fucking rediculous" would be paying $450 for a pair of cookie cutter-honda sideskirts... So chill with the tone or pick some more constructive vocab...

we just got done with AMR engineering so i understand the vocab personally

and yeah that kind of is alot, unless they were different than just "jdm" skirts... like they said "legacy central" or something cool on them which would make them only one of a limited number.
then i'd be down

hehehe! now that's what i'm talking about! this is the kind of brainstorming we need! And I was just razzing Brian on the vocab to lighten the mood, if indeed he was angry or not.

Kinda like a subaru's FUBU.. Though "for legacy owners, by legacy owners... hmm... FLOBLO would sound strange..

maybe "For Us Legacy Lovers, By Legacy Owners of the Net" Full Blown would be cooler sounding. Just random ideas

or "Legacy Central" in recessed letters option for those who want exclusive parts... ofcourse permission with the head site-dudes/dudetts.

[Adam West]

Uh, we're talking about lowering costs here. We just need some darn side skirts and need them to be as afordable as possible...my two cents.

How about this for an acronymn? KISS (Keep it simple stupid)...

AW