Rep Power: 250

Getting my car ready for this years track season, I will be doing alot of track days this year and among the other things I am looking to change one is brake cooling. I am not sure just how well my brakes will hold up, but I am guessing some cooling is going to be much needed. So I have decided to make some brake ducts, the idea is this:

I am going to run some 2" diameter rubber duct material to the brakes with the opening attached inside of the fog light opening. I think that the key with this is to get the cooling directly to the brake rotor. To acheive this I am goning to cut a 2" diameter hole in the brake shield and weld a flange on the backside. I will then be able to attach the duct material to the flange via a hose clamp, supplying air directly to the rotor. I have seen this design done before, but not with 7thgens. If I go for it I will use this thread to outline the DIY.

This is just one of the seemingly billon tasks I need to do to get my car ready, but I will be sure to post it up once it is completed.

 
Rep Power: 424

you're going to have some space issues getting a hose in the foglight. the frame is not very far behind it, and the hose has no where to go. Getting a NACA duct or something in there to give the hose something to clamp onto and stay open is impossible (i tried it). You'd have to run it around the outside (through the bumper cavity in front of the wheel) then back in around the frame, into the engine bay and into the wheel well. by the time it makes that many turns, its not really going to be moving too fast, and the air getting spun up by the wheel and passing under the car may be doing a better job.
All i did was cut the dust sheilds off. Havent had a cooling problem since.

 
Rep Power: 250

I have the facia off it seems like I have plenty of space in the fog light hole. I was going to try to use a stiff enough hose so it would stay open, then cut a hole in the fender liner from there go to the brake shield. You think I am going to have fitment issues?

 
Rep Power: 424

There is not a whole lot of room. I tried to run a duct through tha fog hole at one point, hacked out the little opening for it and added a duct. Dont forget that the duct has depth too, and the hose needs a radius to turn. If you go through the fender liner, when you turn the wheel, you'll hit the duct with the tire. You need to go in through the back side, so that even at full lock the duct doesnt hit the tire.

 
Rep Power: 297

hehe its funny this came up. I though about trying this once just to see if I could do it and I realized how much of a pain in the *** it would be to get around the frame. It is pretty much as in the way as it could be for this idea, hehe.

 
Rep Power: 250

yeah I guess I was not thinking of once I would turn the tire. I am sure I would have relized it once I fabbed it up. Well after I finish rebuilding my tranny I am going to take a look at it and see what can be done.

 
Rep Power: 288

I would think the easiest way would be to get a duct starting at the hood and going down through the wheel well the a little L or something to point it at the brakes. I wonder if it's possible.

 
Rep Power: 256

i've been planning to have this done as well, but i'm gonna run the ducting hose along the lower control arm so it'll clear the wheels. here are some pictures from one of the members from club rsx

i'd have to say, it's gonna be a tight fit. and also plan on having the air directed to the center at the hub so that the air is fanned out through the vents, and not actually on the rotor disc cuz there is no point in having one side of your discs cooled while the other is still toasty.

 
Rep Power: 388

Wouldnt the ridiges on the inside of the tubing just kill the air flow due to resisance?

Second, why are all of you thinking the hose needs to be sticking out the front of the car to catch air? Just use a 1 foot tuve and direct the air from under the car, you'll have less bends and wont have to worry about loosing as much air flow compared to a several foot long tube coming from the front bumper.

 
Rep Power: 250

^^^Yeah I have seen it done that way. Right now I think I may just cut the shields away, I have to much to do before the 1st race as it is and the snow and cold is NOT helping motivate me, LOL

 
Rep Power: 288

Ha ha, I was just thinking to myself, "I wonder if you could just re-direct one of the air conditioning vents outside and to the vent." But then i realized you would be wasting horsepower to run the air conditioner anyways. That's funny stuff.

 
Rep Power: 256

i've been pondering whether or not i should cut them off... and if so, i'll leave part of it on, the part right where the abs sensor is so that nothing is damaged from the heat.... but first i'm gonna see how my new set of 12.2 wilwood will hold up against the heat hehehe.....

 
Rep Power: 388

Club RSX: JDM Brake Ducts
http://www.clubrsx.com/cr/SSIIBD.html

 
Rep Power: 250

Yeah, I almost picked up a set of those NIB for $35 on club rsx. After taking a look at it though it would be very difficult to make it fit a civic as the fog lights are in a different location.

 
Rep Power: 388

I still think those tubes you have, those NASA issue ones, will be way too much for the air to travel smoothly. I think its the same concept with the air intake tubes. Polished metal flows better then bare metal, and if you wanna do something crazy, then fiberglass custom break ducts.
Reference this: http://www.vaglinks.com/Docs/Misc/CarbonFiberHowTo2.pdf

 
Rep Power: 0

Here's a crazy idea that may work?
Buy one of those scam electric super chargers and hook it up to two ducts, one to each brake. Wire it up to a switch you flip when your hard on the brakes and your good to go. That way you wouldn't have to worry about keeping the tubes as short and "ram" as possible.
Also, with the conventional method don't you spray water all over the brakes constantly when it's raining? This way that wouldn't happen.
Just a thought. Now shoot me down and tell me why it's a bad idea, lol.

 
Rep Power: 250

To cool the brakes via that method you would have to run them the entire way around (no real good way to turn them on just when the brakes need cooled), and that takes power, although not that much. Really it is not that bad of an idea. The thing is Civics setup to race are not that heavy, mine is on the heavy side at 2500lbs with a K20a2 installed (have to keep it to SM standards for autox), being that they are fairly light braking is not a huge issue with them. I have not yet had an issue with heat since I removed the dust sheilds, but the season is still early. Honestly, I am having a pretty good season this year in SM, I would say that we have one of the most challenging regions around for SM autox and I have managed to grab a couple of 2nd place finishes. I am now convinced that the single limiting factor is tire size, I have 225/50/15 V710s which are wider than any street tire and that is all I can fit even with rolling the fenders. To go faster on the track and autox I would like to get to something that is atleast a 245 width, that is going to require mods to the fenders. I am also going to put the car on a diet next year with some light race seats (shave 30+ lbs) and maybe replace the sun roof with a moon roof that is made of carbon fiber (another 30+ lbs).

 
Rep Power: 0

You could hook it up with a relay that only turns it on when the brakes are applied, instead of having it on a switch that you flip while racing. That way you would only be wasting electricity while breaking, with full power accelerating. But I don't know if having them on only while breaking would do enough good. I guess it would be better then nothing. But you are still adding weight.
I may have to try something like this. I get my brakes way too hot zipping through the mountain roads up here.