Okay guys,

Here's the whole story. I'm about to yank my front bumper off to get my clear diffusers and Hella dual air horns installed, so I figured while I have the car apart, I should go the full nine yards and cut out the fake air ducts on the front of the car (these have always annoyed me in their lack of functionality). So, I decided to make them useful and will be adding brake ducting to them.

Here's a couple of pictures of what it's going to look like finished:





This is a picture of the OEM vents. My attachment solution will be way slicker.



What I'm basically doing is this:

I'm running a duct behind the cutout bumper opening. I will be fashioning my own grille to cover this ducting as I find the Axcilla grille style not to my liking.

The outlet of the duct is 3" in diameter. I am going to run 2.5" tubing for a bunch of reasons so I need a 3" to 2.5" adapter.

Then I'm running 2.5" aircraft tubing good for 350 degrees to the dust shields on the brakes. Note that the car above is running the 600 degree silicon impregnated tubing that is, ummm, bright orange. The normal tubing is black, and is about $20 cheaper so I went with that instead. Let's put it this way. If your tubing is reaching 350 degrees and is melting, you've got some other serious issues to deal with!

I'm attaching the tubing to dust shields using a 2.5" aircraft flange. I'm placing the flange directly over the factory vents in the dustshield. These vents dump air into the eye of the rotor, which is exactly where cool air should be dumped. If you dump the cool air right onto the rotor, it could cause warping of the rotor. So the factory location it is.

Now, here's what you need. You can make a ghetto brake ducting kit from parts at Home Depot for about $20, but my philosophy is that I spent $50,000 on the car, I can afford $120 for real race/aircraft quality parts. My car deserves nothing less.

So the parts list. First from www.racerpartswholesale.com :

1) D100 x 2 (these are the front ducts)
2) D103A x 2 (these are the 3" to 2.5" adapters)
3) THENN250 (this is 10 feet of the hose ducting)

Then from www.wicksaircraft.com :

1) ADF-2.5 x 2 (these are the flanges to connect the tubing to the dust shield - and yes, they were a MASSIVE pain in my ass to find , so I'm doing everyone a big favor by giving you this info.)

Note that you can also change the size of the tubing if you wish. 2", 2.5" and 3" hosing, adapters, and flanges are available. I went with 2.5" ducting because I thought it was the best compromise.

Anyways, the parts are on their way. I'll be pulling the car apart next week to get it ready in time for Shannonville.

Any questions, fire away!

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by S2kRob
[B]I'm attaching the tubing to dust shields using a 2.5" aircraft flange.

 

Yep, you're right Doug. I have some ideas what to do about the slots, but won't really be able to get the best solution going until I get my hands dirty. Stay tuned!

 

Here comes my opportunity to be a wet blanket (again)...

I like the ducts, they look good, and they're fairly inexpensive to make...but....

WHY?

I only begin to get brake fade on the S2000 (stock pads) at the END of a 40 minute lapping session on the Mosport Big Track. During lapping at the other tracks, I never got any fade.

I suppose I could see some people getting fade if they're braking improperly. I know the first time I took a 5th Gen Prelude out on Cayuga (Toronto Motorsport Park) the brakes were gone in a lap and a half, but once I got used to the track (first time on it) and got used to the car (first time in it on a track), later in the day (or maybe it was the next day, the event day) everything was fine since I knew how to use them.

So yeah.. this seems a little unecessary.

Course a nice alternative, that doesn't involve hacking the bumper and is a little more inconspicuous, if you guys are doing this due to brake fade at the Saab School or something is some track pads. Though honestly they're not as cheap, but when track/race pads get heat in them, the difference is undeniable.

 

rob, what if you have a CAI that resides in that spot??

(i'm not interested in the kit, just asking out of curiosity)

 

Rob, where did you get the flange for the faux ducts? I have something similar already in mine but no hosing yet.

 

Oh yeah.. I just remembered another reason for brake fade (damn winter is giving me brain fade)... brake fluid changing.

You should get it changed every year. Especially after the whole temperature fluctuation thing of the winter... I guess the car being fairly stagnant air bubbles can form or the fluid just further breaks down. Though I expect this is only more of an issue with people who've actually boiled the fluid in the first place (i.e. track events). If you haven't then I guess your fluid will go a longer way. Basically if it doesn't look like chicken noodle soup, you should consider changing it.

Also if you decide to change it yourself. You may want to consider putting in Ford DOT 3 in. Canadian Tire sells it. It has a pretty high boiling point (550) and is a amateur motorsport Honda "secret". Many will argue it's as good as Motul for a fraction of the price. It's pretty cheap. Anyhow I use it in my '00. No idea if later years use the same fluid standard, though I would expect they do. Double check the manual first though and make sure the numbers match those on the bottle you're buying.

 

Taylor, you don't think like an engineer. These ducts will allow the brakes to run cooler in general. Now, as long as you aren't below the operating temperature of the pads, cooler brakes will last longer, period.

Go do Mosport when its 95 degrees and humid out and then see if you get brake fade. Ambient temps make a big difference.

Marco, all my parts are listed above. I got the flanges from Wicksaircraft and it was a pain in the ass to track them down. They should be here any day now.

 

I actually want to use mine as a ram air somehow....if I can figure out how to do it.

 

Oh, you should have no problems.

Get the air duct, attach the tubing and run it up behind the radiator into the airbox.