Hey, maybe I don't know how to use the search effectively but I don't think there's a thread for this. Has anyone attempted to use the OEM fog/cornering light spots to mount brake ducts? I want to attempt this with my local fabricator JBDR and we would appreciate any pictures or advice from this board!

If it makes any difference, I have the Vertex non widebody front bumper with only the low beam headlights installed.

Which brings me to my next question. Does anyone have a good picture of an intake duct going from the high beam hole to direct air to the intake/turbo?

And lastly, sorry if this is a silly question but when race cars have ducts going into the interior, is that just to provide fresh air/driver cooling or what? Same with this?!

 

Check out ill roller's old SC for info on the high beam intake.

 

From what I understand, that vent on the window is to let the smoke/smell out of the cockpit

After burnouts, drift etc. Clears the cabin

 

The brakes are already getting cooled via that area. That's why there are vents right there, and a "flap" so to speak on the spindle pointing outwards to draw air in to the rotor.

It can still be improved upon though

 

Yeah that's what I thought, for the window vents. Thanks for the link to the intake duct, that's exactly what I want to do, with a velocity stack at the end!

As for brake ducts, I want to be able to track my car and I don't have the funds to go BBK and as you all know, brake fade is scary as hell when you're going fast.

If I end up doing the brake ducts, I'll make a DIY for you all to see the steps taken. It shouldn't be too hard though. I'm on a forum for BMW M3's as well and they have done some crazy things to get splitters to incorporate brake ducts.

Any further information on the brake ducts would still be appreciated though!!

 

Brake Ducts and BBK should be last, honestly a GOOD set of pads/rotors, FLUID, and SS lines will blow your mind.

 

^^ This is sound advice. You'll need to get to a certain point of limitation before you need to worry about brake ducting. You do that when you are running your car at full speed on a racetrack for several laps and working the hell out of your brakes. In that case you'd want any opportunity available to you to cool them down every time you heat them up. On a street car just doing the changes mentioned above will do a lot for your car's braking ability.

Personally though, I couldn't stand to drive my car on the street with anything less than an LS400/SupraTT big brake swap but I was willing and able to plunge in and just convert it. If I were tracking the car and not keeping it as a DD I might look into brake ducting for the front.

As for other uses for those ducts, I am planning to install a Hayden 678 cooler into the driver's side front duct NEXT to the fog light area as a power steering cooler. SC400's have a small OEM cooler there for this purpose. I'm planning to copy the setup used by Stu Hagen on Supraforums only without the oil cooler he added to the same location. Apparently unless you are tracking your car it is *not* beneficial to have an auxiliary oil cooler bringing down the oil temperatures too much below what Toyota wanted. Keeping in mind that I am NA, a turbocharged SC may actually benefit from this but the main issue is maintaining an optimal oil temperature range. On the track everything gets hotter so dedicated cars have great need of extra cooling that most street cars often don't need. A PS cooler is more of an insurance policy against boiling over the ATF fluid during spirited driving with lots of fast turns-- or track driving.

Also, I guess most people know this already but the 97+ duct on the passenger side was used as a direct air open air vent to the OEM side mount intercooler on JDM Soarer 2.5GT's.

I once had an obsession with production cars that used NACA hood ducts. I still like them but they really don't make much sense unless they are 100% functional and meant to solve a specific cooling issue. R34 GT-R's had one offset on the hood above the twin turbos to provide extra cooling. Truly necessary? I have no idea.

 

Hey, yeah! My car is not a dedicated track car as it can still be driven on the street but it is not my DD by any means (My build thread is a few below this one, "91 Canadian Soarer"). I plan on doing SS lines, high temp brake fluid and better pads before doing the brake ducts. The car's main use is for drifting but I am growing fond of the idea of doing something a little bit different and maybe turning it into a time attack car (which is why I'm interested in these track mods).

My parents own an E92 M3 and I've driven it very aggressively on track and on street. The M3 does suffer from brake fade after a day there and I'm assuming the SC brakes will be much worse which is why I'm planning ahead for perhaps an LS upgrade in the front with brake ducts. Reading into the BBK myth thread, I'm not even sure if I want to do that mod or if it would be best to skip it altogether until the need for Brembo or similar, upgrade.

Thanks for the information, it is very helpful! What do you run on your car?

 

Going to a Brembo aftermarket BBK is probably overkill unless you have something like 700+ horsepower.

I have SS lines, TT front brakes OEM TT pads in mine. They are very good and don't really fade under hard driving. I have never tracked my car though. I don't consider them overkill. I plan to convert to the TT rear calipers eventually.

 

Race cars with ducts on the windows provide fresh air to the driver sometimes but most of the time its because most race cars have rear-mounted radiators.

 

K, I've decided on going TT or LS400 brakes in the front with Stoptech rotors, Hawk HT-10 pads, Goodridge SS lines and Motul 600 fluid. I'm sure you've experienced it before if you've tracked, but brake fade is very scary ****. Supra guys are saying their brakes need a cool down period every 30min WITH cooling so that's why I'm skeptical. I'm still going to run brake ducts to the TT brakes though.

Something like this:

 

i like the idea here ^^ but it def needs some finish work like a curved shroud with a clean look fitted nicely into that bumper section.

 

looks more like an intake duct..

 

No thanks my car stays cool enough now.

 

any update for the brake cooling? auto extrude sells a kit for the 97+ bumper. I have the same problems, small brake, but slotted rotors with stoptech race pads ans SS lines. much better as stock, but last weekend on a 20min stint on the Salzburgring in austria, the brakes works fine, but the rotors beginning to vibrate after several hard braking i the corners. after a cooldown time, the disc fine. my wheels don´t allow bigger calipers. maye i do this upgrade and remove my fog lights for this upgrade.

duct kit

greets

Tom