When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Here's a couple of pictures of a brake cooling system I am installing on my 87. I didn't want to cut any new holes in the front bumper as I'm trying to keep things looking stock- I also didn't want to give up my turn signals.......so I combined them. i bought plastic cooling ducts from racer wholesale along with the hose. then I cut out the rubber from the back of the bumper where the stock turn signals went. I used a hole saw to completely remove the light socket from the original turn signal......then epoxied it to the side of the cooling duct......I will leave the bulb in the socket for driving on the street, then remove it and the lense for track days........I plan on using a screen of some sort to cover the duct when the lense isn't on it......The brakes are Baer 12 inch rotors which work great............
Pardon me for being blunt, but with the condition of that hose, it looks like that thing might just be waiting to kill you. This is one of those things I'd really question the need, but hey, your car. Whatever you like, it's there for you and no one else. :yes:
yeah the end of the hose is frayed, but it's actually a brand new hose. I plan on trimming it off before I do the final install. These cooling ducts are mainly for use on tracks.......when I go to Watkins glen, the car will easily get up to 130 on the straights......that's when you need cooling ducts.........not for trips to NAPA..........
I'm interested in doing this myself, but have been thinking about ways to conceal it more and how to direct the flow of air alittle better. You definately want the air flowing into the center of the rotor, but how are you hanging it in the wheel well? Is your hose heat resistant or have some sort of cooling properties to it? I've been checking into that and there are some companies that claim to have hoses that cool the air better than others' but i don't know for sure.
Why did you choose to route the openings behind the parking lights rather than say next to or behind the fog lights? They could still be plenty concealible there. Any other reason behind it? I figure why bother having to take the lights out if you don't have to.
The turn signal areas are perfect for getting through the bumper structures without major surgery to the steel of the bumper. If you take the nose off your car, you'll see what I mean. The turn signals are right in front of a nice rectangular opening in the steel bumper. The hose comes right through the middle of opening, hangs dwon slightly and will be tied to the sway bar at one point. This will allow it to move back and forth as the wheel turns. As far as the hose goes, it's from a racing catalog for this purpose. It doesn't contact the rotor anywhere, and it will have air flow through it most of the tiem, so i'm not worried about it melting. I'm more concerned about getting the hose routing right the first time, so the tires don't eat my hose.......This has been done before, so I know it can be done..........
Yeah I'm sure that it can and may happen. I still don't see why you wouldn't try and fit them else where though and still remain concealed. Why do something like this if it is only functional half or a quarter of the time. Anything can be done with alittle bit of creativity.
Well I don't know anyway of "concealing" the inlets except for where the signal lenses were....if you study the front bumper I think you'll see what i mean........i thought about this for about two years before I finally got out the saw.........I may leave the lense off all the time for continuous cooling, even though I won't need it........
Did you make the brake duct spindle hat? Or was it purchased from skulte or someone? I've been looking in to making my own once I get to that point in my build. I plan on using the air from underneath the car to push through the ducts by a small air dam
Did you make the brake duct spindle hat? Or was it purchased from skulte or someone? I've been looking in to making my own once I get to that point in my build. I plan on using the air from underneath the car to push through the ducts by a small air dam
If the air dam hanging under the radiator can direct enough air up & cool the engine, why not "rob" a little air from there & attach your ducts to it?
100% invisible, unless someone lays down under the nose & looks.
If i did this right, there should be a picture of the completed setup attached to this..........for the backing sheetmetal, I laid it out using cardboard and brought it to a local fabricator. it would have been allot of cutting and i wanted it to look neat.........the stub sticking out that the hose connects to started out as a rolled up piece of cardboard, then when flattened out was just a rectangle, so i cut that myself.......i thought about stealing air from the radiator, and i think that would work fine, but it's very close to the ground and i thought it would get squished once in a while. so far this has held up well. you have to have just the right amount of slack in the hose to round corners, but not so much that it dangles down and gets caught on things, or gets squished when you turn the wheels hard.....it took a while to construct this setup, but i could not find anyone to buy a similar one from.
yeah I am using Baer brakes up front, and NAPA rotors in the back. The Baer brakes make this car stop better than any car i've ever driven.....it's actually a good "safety" feature that i never would have thought of for regular driving........something runs in front of you, no problem.,.......mash the brakes and your stopped!
My stocks work good, to bad when i smash em the tires lock up, "not cool when u got new tires on and get flat spots "
How much where those Baer? Does it help at all to keep u from skidding like ABS?
I got my rotors from napa, there not xdrilled or slotted, and warped really bad, have any issues with that?
the baer brake setups for the front were about $1000. These things are gauranteed not to warp if you break them in right....lots of stops following their instructions.....i've leaned on these brakes something fierce, and never warped a rotor.....120 mph down to 60, then back up and down again ( at watkins glen, not on the street).....my lincoln mark 8 will warp any rotor you throw at it.....from cheapy chinese to expensive ones.....
If the air dam hanging under the radiator can direct enough air up & cool the engine, why not "rob" a little air from there & attach your ducts to it?
100% invisible, unless someone lays down under the nose & looks.
that was my thought also.
skulte.com makes those plates, but he wants $200 for them. So i was going to do the same thing you are and have someone weld them up for me from a template. I'll be using ls1 brakes though instead of baer.
what did that paint job run you..$$ The VW beetles old one have metal cooling ducts for the engine. same size as yours, plastic just seems short livedd
I did the paint work myself.......i probably spent $800 to 1000 on paint products.....there was also a bunch of hours getting the body straight and then polishing the paint when done..........
beleive it or not, but the mesh is from the hardware store...it's for a screen door.......i painted it silver so it would not rust.....the turn signal sockets were cut out of the original turnsignals using a hole saw, then epoxied into the plastic cooling ducts. Seems very simple now.....BUT it took a while of staring at it all to figure out how to do it....
Pardon me for being blunt, but with the condition of that hose, it looks like that thing might just be waiting to kill you. This is one of those things I'd really question the need, but hey, your car. Whatever you like, it's there for you and no one else. :yes:
Alright purest… get over it, function. Some people believe cool brakes are happy brakes, so when you actually go fast it all counts like stopping on a dime and getting two nickels change!
Here's a couple of pictures of a brake cooling system I am installing on my 87. I didn't want to cut any new holes in the front bumper as I'm trying to keep things looking stock- I also didn't want to give up my turn signals.......so I combined them. i bought plastic cooling ducts from racer wholesale along with the hose. then I cut out the rubber from the back of the bumper where the stock turn signals went. I used a hole saw to completely remove the light socket from the original turn signal......then epoxied it to the side of the cooling duct......I will leave the bulb in the socket for driving on the street, then remove it and the lense for track days........I plan on using a screen of some sort to cover the duct when the lense isn't on it......The brakes are Baer 12 inch rotors which work great............
I was going to try maybe turning the light housing into the same duct. I very much so like your idea at the rotor, how was the clearance?
these guys have a very nice ducting kit and a very slick DOT approved functional turn signal/ inlet duct too.
Just depends on what you want to do with the car.
neigh-sayers and purest “ keep your thoughts and opinions to yourself”
Hey Tha'ts neat. when i did mine a million years ago i didn't see that.....I also had to add a spring to my drivers side hose to keep it pulled away from the tire.....the right side didn't need it for some reason.....do they sell the backing plate to hook the hose to?
this is what the kit looks like, I’m not sure if this answers your question about a backing plate. Unless your talking about a duct that goes to the brake rotor heat/dust shield, no one makes that for these cars unfortunately but it can be made I’m sure. The Starbucks stuff claims to fit with no concerns on tire sizes. Yeah kinda a bummer that parts aren’t made for the firebird, but I’m sure you could use some COTS part like a duct I purchased or some variation of a NACA duct to achieve your goals with little modifications. Good luck to all of you striving to achieve a superior third gen!!
The brake ducts I’m putting together for my 91 Firebird, a work in progress. Do t mind the cardboard, masking tape and wire ties I don’t have current picture of the brake duct at the rotor/spindle, can’t Tig weld to save my life and waiting on my buddy at work to find time to weld them altogether.
I’m digging that, I seen something like that in a LS1 tech forum. Your doing nice work, man if you were close by I’d do your tig welding.
I guess that brake shield duct you designed and tacked together?
Hopefully the aluminum holds up to the heat, maybe a good heat treatment or something will help that thing live forever. But it’s very cool ”literally”
Last edited by Tombowman89; Jul 27, 2022 at 09:26 PM.
These are the two possibilities for installation in place of the front turn signals
Mounting to the outside would be easier to mount, could use 4-6 1/4 black pop rivets, could reduce the OD of the ducts to make it them have less of foot print, you’d probably would want to use smaller rivets just more of them. Personally I’d go through the hassle of mounting them to the inside, just looks cleaner. What ducts are you using they look like the same ones I’m using.
I bought mine from eBay, but they look the same. It’s up in the air on what to do exactly. But internal mounting would benefit slightly on the aero aspect
But I agree internal mounting looks way better. I still need to trim it more if I go that route. Thanks for the technical advice, it’s appreciated.
Last edited by Tombowman89; Jul 28, 2022 at 08:26 PM.
They are going to be routed under the fender well as depicted in the image. It’s a very straight shot to the rotor brake system. I’m pretty satisfied with the time that Starbucks took into making this kit.
I just wasn’t willing to fork up 370 bucks plus tax and shipping for there inlet duct/turn signal housing.
my car isn’t going to be intended for street usage.
"
