Texotic

I would love to do this, but I've never worked with fiberglass or anything and I am fairly hesitant to take saws and knives to my bumper and grille. Very clean install, though. I've been looking for some way to retain those dust shields and I like that you can't tell much of a difference on the grille. I wonder if there would be some kind of flap/valve you could put in right between the inlet and hose that you could just twist a little handle on to close off the hose for when you aren't at the track. I also wonder how much it would cost to buy a second lower grille and pair of dust shields... just in case I mess mine up...

Philostang

Hey Texotic,

I had also thought of all kinds of "trick" things I could do with the inlets, but at the end of the day it only seemed to increase the complexity of the piece w/very little benefit. Slipping the hoses on and off the front is really very easy, so flaps and all seem to only save me the hassle of doing something that isn't a hassle at all.

You know, working with fiberglass isn't as hard as folks think (at least for a project like this). Funny story: In the middle of the wet layup on the ducts my wife comes out back and asks, "Hey are you doing paper mache?" I was ticked off! No, no I'm not doing paper mache, I'm doing MANLY brake ducts woman! But then I thought about it, and I realized that working with fiberglass (on a non-cosmetic part) is much like doing the paper mache I did as a kid. The main difference is in the "paste" I now use as a big-kid. So, if you can whip together a paper mache mask, piggy-bank, or dinosaur (my fav.), then you can whip together a brake inlet.

BTW, you can go to eBay and find a few lower bumper grilles for around $35 (shipped). Just be sure you are getting a GT grille and not a V6 one. The V6 ones have square holes in them already, but I don't think they are the same shape as the GT ones. I could be wrong on this, check.

Import Slaya, I've gone back and forth on cutting the remainder of the dust shield. Originally, this was the plan (my reasoning was the same as yours). But the more and more I looked at Ford's design (even their $1K+ version) and at several of the NASCAR style mounts, the more it looked like they covered as much or more of the rotor than the OEM shields. I'm still on the fence with this, so I'll try to do a bit more research. I can always cut them later, and for now they are still performing their "shielding of dust" function for regular street duty.

Best,
-j

JasperGT

That's a really cool project man! I might give it a try sometime!

Sleeper_08

Re the amount of the backing plate to remove in case you haven't seen the Quantum Motorsports adapters here are some pictures of theirs which completely replace the backing plate http://www.quantummotorsports.com/05-07MustangKits.htm .

I'm running the 06068.3KT kit.

Nice piece of work you did and also an excellent write up. Thanks for sharing with us all.

Texotic

That's the lower end kit, their race kit looks like almost full dust shields. It won't trap heat if it is having cool air forced onto the rotor. All of the hot air generated will be forced outwards out of the shield because of fresh air being forced to the center. The only time it would trap heat is when you aren't moving or the hoses are disconnected and, even then, it won't trap heat as badly as the dust shield did before it had a 3" hole in it.

Import_Slaya

It's probably a good compromise for a dual purpose car. The only thing to worry about is differential cooling between the two rotor faces, which can lead to warping or uneven pad deposition.

The GT500 (FRPP M-2004-A) cooling kit is pretty close to yours and keeps the inner rotor shield. The more track oriented FR500C kit (FRPP M-2005-A) doesn't have any inner dust shield, but does seal off as much of the interior of the rotor hat as possible. This maximizes the air forced through the rotor vanes compared to something like the Quantum or Agent47 spindle mounts. The price of the FR500C kit just makes me laugh, though.

I had been running the Agent47 full kit, but seeing how nicely yours came out will probably do something very similar and move to 3" ducts. I've been looking for a reason to learn fiberglass work!

How many layers of fiberglass do you use to make it rigid enough?

Texotic

you said you had a more detailed write-up?

Philostang

Import Slaya, I felt the same way when I saw the price of the FR500 kit...but then, everything for the FR500 seems to be priced this way.

Anywho, I only did 2 layers on the main body of the ducts (remember, I used epoxy resin, not the parts store polyester resin). If you were using a fiberglass kit from the parts store I would probably do 3 layers and see how I felt about them before doing 4 layers (4 is quite a bit for this part).

Also keep in mind that my main strength concern was at the hose end of the duct (where the hose clamps to the duct). That's why you see in the parts list a reference to a short piece of PVC tube. I glassed that in at the outlet to ensure that I could clamp down as hard as I wanted w/o worry of crushing the duct. In retrospect this was overkill, and it reduced the inner diameter of the duct more than I would like. Doing it over again (which I may do if time permits), I would've glassed in a short 1" wide piece of 3" o.d. exhaust tubing. That would be modestly heavier, but more rigid and less restrictive for the air flow.

You could just lay up a few extra layers of fiberglass. The problem with this is that you have to plan this in advance. I didn't, so even with just two layers on the outlet, I realized that my hose was getting very tight. If you don't plan ahead by making the foam buck extra small, you'll end up with a nicely rigid duct that is too large for your hose. Not good.

Texotic, yes I have a longer write-up that discusses the fiberglass work in greater detail. I also ramble on about some of the other things I would have done differently, as well as my trails with drilling the holes in the bumper (this is not hard, but you have surprisingly little clearance to get an actual drill in there). If you like, PM me an email address and I can send it to you.

FWIW, this is a really good project for the beginner in fiberglass work. The techniques can be widely applied to different projects, and they're not difficult. As a bonus the finished project will be out of sight, so even if you mess it up, few would ever know and you'll learn a lot along the way.

Best,
-j

RodeoFlyer

Nice job.

Assuming one has the tools, time, and tenacity it's not a bad way to go.

Of course I prefer my tig welded things of beauty -

Philostang

Ok sure, rub it in Rodeo!! I confess my shame at my welding job and you grab the salt shaker.

Seriously though, that is great work. I only have the MIG to fire up, but some day I hope to have a TIG. By then I suppose I won't be shamed by my MIG welding anyway.

Hey, looking at the second pic, it looks like you are running a tubular K-member. Is that right? If so, what brand and can you comment on your experience? If you don't want to in this thread, please PM me, I'm very interested to hear of someone's experience with one of these who runs frequently on a road coarse (I'm worried about durability).

Best,
-j