Saw this on Ebay and I was wondering how effective this would be. I figure anything that provides more airflow over the rotors cant hurt. Does 3" tubing seem kinda big?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors...=WDVW
brake cooling ducts
No, you can't just go and buy miscellaneous tubing from Home Depot for brake ducts. I thought the same thing too, but it just doesn't work like that. You don't want to use tubing like a dryer vent hose from Home Depot because it simply isn't tough enough. You can buy Brake Ducting hose from your local race shop for around $5 a foot.
You also want to think about how much track time the car is getting. Because on a cold day, street driving, your brakes will take a long time to heat up, thus under-performing over stock brakes. Maybe you could fashion a flap over a NACA duct or something. Also if you decide to go with Brake Ducting, make sure the tubing is as straight as possible leading to the rotors. The good side of this though, its a very inexpensive and easy upgrade for a race or track prepped car.
You also want to think about how much track time the car is getting. Because on a cold day, street driving, your brakes will take a long time to heat up, thus under-performing over stock brakes. Maybe you could fashion a flap over a NACA duct or something. Also if you decide to go with Brake Ducting, make sure the tubing is as straight as possible leading to the rotors. The good side of this though, its a very inexpensive and easy upgrade for a race or track prepped car.
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Axel Grungy
- Posts: 4711
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- Car: 2001 G20 5spd
- Location: Cincinnati OH
Re: (Axel Grungy)
For an S13 Hatch I would use just the tubing for an intake instead of a NACA duct. Sooo, the optimal place would be behind the black grill mesh located under the turn signals.
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skydragoness
- Posts: 9394
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92' 240sx 60k survivor :) - Location: North DFW, TEJAS
- Contact:
Re: (Clatch)
Yeah, behind the grilles under the s13's signals would work good. I don't have tubing, but i do have rectangles cut out from the fender well's plastic lining. But i would think better cooling would be had if the duct was point towards the rotor's vanes instead.
Re: (skydragoness5)
I have always heard that you want to aim the duct towards the back of the brake assembly therefore cooling both the caliper and the rotor.
Re: (skydragoness5)
Those are pretty ghetto brake ducts as far as brake ducts go. Some "kit" they have there on ebay.... CUSTOM FIT for JUST a mustang with those adjustable zip-ties and hose clamps...the outlet isn't even pointing at the rotor, just in the general vicinity...you want the air actually GOING to the rotor and cooling the surface, not just going in the general direction, otherwise it's useless.
Here's some pictures of what brake ducts SHOULD look like (these pictures are from the brake ducts on my dad's car...)
Notice the litle blue thing that directs air to BOTH sides of the rotor...and it's hard to see because the front end is off of the car to make it fit in between 2 other cars, but all the incoming ambient air is channeled into that white trapezoid shape and all goes through the oil cooler, radiator, and brake ducts.
And like someone else said, COLD brakes are BAD brakes. Unless you're using your car almost exclusively for auto cross/track racing and you have a brake over-heating problem/ are consistently boiling the brake fluid, brake ducts can do more harm than good. If anyone read the January issue of "SportsCar" (official publication of SCCA), there's a whole tech article on brakes....quoting Jim Kontje, from Brembo:
"People often confuse the car not stopping with the brakes getting too hot when in fact they're running too cold. I would much rather run a brake system too hot than too cold. A lot of times people think it's brake fade-in actuality they're not running the temperature on the disc that's optimum for the friction material to work correctly."
If you were really serious about seeing how hot or cold your brakes were running, you could use thermal rotor paint applied to the edges of the rotors, which turn certain colors under certain temperatures.
Try http://www.bakerprecision.com
or
http://www.pegasusautoracing.com
Both are EXCELLENT sources for racing equipment and will have everything you need for brake ducts...
Anyway, hope that helps.
Here's some pictures of what brake ducts SHOULD look like (these pictures are from the brake ducts on my dad's car...)
Notice the litle blue thing that directs air to BOTH sides of the rotor...and it's hard to see because the front end is off of the car to make it fit in between 2 other cars, but all the incoming ambient air is channeled into that white trapezoid shape and all goes through the oil cooler, radiator, and brake ducts.
And like someone else said, COLD brakes are BAD brakes. Unless you're using your car almost exclusively for auto cross/track racing and you have a brake over-heating problem/ are consistently boiling the brake fluid, brake ducts can do more harm than good. If anyone read the January issue of "SportsCar" (official publication of SCCA), there's a whole tech article on brakes....quoting Jim Kontje, from Brembo:
"People often confuse the car not stopping with the brakes getting too hot when in fact they're running too cold. I would much rather run a brake system too hot than too cold. A lot of times people think it's brake fade-in actuality they're not running the temperature on the disc that's optimum for the friction material to work correctly."
If you were really serious about seeing how hot or cold your brakes were running, you could use thermal rotor paint applied to the edges of the rotors, which turn certain colors under certain temperatures.
Try http://www.bakerprecision.com
or
http://www.pegasusautoracing.com
Both are EXCELLENT sources for racing equipment and will have everything you need for brake ducts...
Anyway, hope that helps.
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Nismo_Freak
- Posts: 10314
- Joined: Wed Jul 24, 2002 10:42 pm
- Car: 89 Nissan 240SX
You direct the duct as straight as possible into the interior vanes of the rotor on the back side in the middle of the rotor. This cools the rotor from the interior as ambient air cools the surface.
Calipers should not be getting so hot that you need to duct air to them. You should look into titanium backing plates if you have severe fluid boiling problems.
Calipers should not be getting so hot that you need to duct air to them. You should look into titanium backing plates if you have severe fluid boiling problems.