DIY Brake Ducts for less then 20 bucks
08-07-2012, 10:22 AM
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DIY Brake Ducts for less then 20 bucks I’m going to write up both versions of brake ducts I tried because they both worked OK. I’ll let you decide what’s best for you.
So option 1 a conventional hose system:
Materials needed:
8 inches of 2.5” exhaust pipe. I used part of my factory Y pipe.
2 flexible water heater vent hoses. Mine are 3” and were 10 bucks each from home depot.
2 - 4" to 3" adapters for dryer vents. They are in the same isle as the hose. Get metal ones if you can because the plastic ones crush too easy.
4- 3” hose clamps. I had them laying around from who knows what.
On the spindles I took about a 4" piece of 2.5 exhaust pipe and bent it oval to fit in the rotor. Then I cut a 1" wide slot down it on the rotor side and bent the tab out for a mounting point. You have to bend the rotor side down a bit to fit inside the rotor.
You mount them on the spindle like so:
Next up cut 2 holes in the lower valance to mount your 3 to 4” adapters.
Now put in the hose with your clamps and away you go.
Results: They did a fine job of keeping the brakes cool and I had zero problems with them on the track other than a 30% pinching between the sway bar and frame. Even with the pinch they move plenty of air and had I not had too much time on my hands and junk lying around I would have kept using these and just disconnected them at the spindles between track days.
IMPORTANT NOTE!!: This set up held together just fine for autox and track days but they did not hold up to repeated full lock turns in parking lots. The hose is not flexible enough and it only took about a month before they broke at the spindle. So if you go this route you either need to find a more flexible hose or disconnect them from the spindle between track days.
So on to option 2:
Currently I am running a system that uses the factory air pump from the car. My goal was to use something with a smaller hose that would not pinch but have just as much, if not more, air flow. One thing that bugged me with the old system that I could not know how much air was moving to the brakes especially on a low speed cool down lap.
I had thought about trying the factory air pump before I did the above hoses but ruled it out thinking with only 5/8 outlet on the pump it would not move enough air. But with no other low cost options I grabbed a couple of jumper wires and fired it up. Holy cow this thing moves a ton of air! From there I started digging around for hose and fittings I had laying around. My goal was something that would move freely with the wheels and not pinch, kink or bind. I used 5/8 heater hose because I had a bunch of it but if you are going to buy hose get larger hose like ¾ or so.
Materials needed:
9 feet of ¾ heater hose or whatever hose that will take a little heat and not kink
6 hose clamps
1 Y or T adapter
1 Toggle switch
1 pump
2 something to attach the hose to the spindle that will take a little heat and not crush.
Note: Had I not already had the spindle adapters I would not have made these with exhaust pipe. All you need is some way to attach the hose to the spindle and I probably would have used a piece of ¾ copper water pipe or something like that. Even if you did use the exhaust pipe method you could easily use a much smaller piece of exhaust pipe then I did.
First up was to adapt my spindle mounts for the smaller hose.
I put one of the fittings from the old AIR system under the clamp so it would not crush.
Next I took the Y valve thing from the AIR system and took it apart to cut the baffle out. Sorry no photos of this but you just take the cover off and cut the baffle out of it. You will easily see how to do it once you pop the top off it.
I left a lot of slack in the lines so it would freely move back and forth. Note I doubt most tech guys at tracks would let this run but the track I go to all the time did.
For the pump if you are still using your factory AIR system you could easily put a 2nd pump in the same place on the passengers side of the car just for the brakes. Or, since the pump is only used at start up, you could just put valve in the system to use the factory pump for both applications.
Since I am not using my AIR system I put the pump in the stock location but bent the bracket to turn it almost 180 around. I did that so the inlet would face forward toward the gap around the running light.
I cut a little opening in the inner fender well for the outlet hose and plumbed it to the Y.
The pump draws a lot of juice and I wanted to use the factory wiring with the relay for it. I put a toggle switch in the relay circuit at the ecm. It is a brown wire in pin #36 on the ECM red connector. Cut the wire and run it to the switch and to ground.
(I know someone will ask so the front switch disables the auto headlights, the center switch is the brake cooler and the rear switch disables the traction control. The cable is a DIY exhaust cut out.)
Last but not least (because I have too much time on my hands) I took an old piece of roof flashing and made a little cone to act as a funnel. I put it around the driving light and over to the pump inlet. Sort of a forced induction to the pump. I’ll take this out between track days to keep dirt and stuff out of the pump. Actually since the system worked so well I might just leave it out altogether.
Results: With the air temp at 100 degrees on a 2.3 mile road course after 15 hot laps in a row my front brakes were noticeably cooler then my back brakes and never faded a bit.
Yeah I know this set up a pretty bogus and would never be used for real race cars. But I was totally shocked at how good it works and since I have ZERO dollars invested it's pretty hard to beat.
So now I'll have to come up with some rear brake cooling…
See also DIY alignement
https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...alignment.html
And DIY car ramps
https://ls1tech.com/forums/tools-fab...amps-ever.html
So option 1 a conventional hose system:
Materials needed:
8 inches of 2.5” exhaust pipe. I used part of my factory Y pipe.
2 flexible water heater vent hoses. Mine are 3” and were 10 bucks each from home depot.
2 - 4" to 3" adapters for dryer vents. They are in the same isle as the hose. Get metal ones if you can because the plastic ones crush too easy.
4- 3” hose clamps. I had them laying around from who knows what.
On the spindles I took about a 4" piece of 2.5 exhaust pipe and bent it oval to fit in the rotor. Then I cut a 1" wide slot down it on the rotor side and bent the tab out for a mounting point. You have to bend the rotor side down a bit to fit inside the rotor.
You mount them on the spindle like so:
Next up cut 2 holes in the lower valance to mount your 3 to 4” adapters.
Now put in the hose with your clamps and away you go.
Results: They did a fine job of keeping the brakes cool and I had zero problems with them on the track other than a 30% pinching between the sway bar and frame. Even with the pinch they move plenty of air and had I not had too much time on my hands and junk lying around I would have kept using these and just disconnected them at the spindles between track days.
IMPORTANT NOTE!!: This set up held together just fine for autox and track days but they did not hold up to repeated full lock turns in parking lots. The hose is not flexible enough and it only took about a month before they broke at the spindle. So if you go this route you either need to find a more flexible hose or disconnect them from the spindle between track days.
So on to option 2:
Currently I am running a system that uses the factory air pump from the car. My goal was to use something with a smaller hose that would not pinch but have just as much, if not more, air flow. One thing that bugged me with the old system that I could not know how much air was moving to the brakes especially on a low speed cool down lap.
I had thought about trying the factory air pump before I did the above hoses but ruled it out thinking with only 5/8 outlet on the pump it would not move enough air. But with no other low cost options I grabbed a couple of jumper wires and fired it up. Holy cow this thing moves a ton of air! From there I started digging around for hose and fittings I had laying around. My goal was something that would move freely with the wheels and not pinch, kink or bind. I used 5/8 heater hose because I had a bunch of it but if you are going to buy hose get larger hose like ¾ or so.
Materials needed:
9 feet of ¾ heater hose or whatever hose that will take a little heat and not kink
6 hose clamps
1 Y or T adapter
1 Toggle switch
1 pump
2 something to attach the hose to the spindle that will take a little heat and not crush.
Note: Had I not already had the spindle adapters I would not have made these with exhaust pipe. All you need is some way to attach the hose to the spindle and I probably would have used a piece of ¾ copper water pipe or something like that. Even if you did use the exhaust pipe method you could easily use a much smaller piece of exhaust pipe then I did.
First up was to adapt my spindle mounts for the smaller hose.
I put one of the fittings from the old AIR system under the clamp so it would not crush.
Next I took the Y valve thing from the AIR system and took it apart to cut the baffle out. Sorry no photos of this but you just take the cover off and cut the baffle out of it. You will easily see how to do it once you pop the top off it.
I left a lot of slack in the lines so it would freely move back and forth. Note I doubt most tech guys at tracks would let this run but the track I go to all the time did.
For the pump if you are still using your factory AIR system you could easily put a 2nd pump in the same place on the passengers side of the car just for the brakes. Or, since the pump is only used at start up, you could just put valve in the system to use the factory pump for both applications.
Since I am not using my AIR system I put the pump in the stock location but bent the bracket to turn it almost 180 around. I did that so the inlet would face forward toward the gap around the running light.
I cut a little opening in the inner fender well for the outlet hose and plumbed it to the Y.
The pump draws a lot of juice and I wanted to use the factory wiring with the relay for it. I put a toggle switch in the relay circuit at the ecm. It is a brown wire in pin #36 on the ECM red connector. Cut the wire and run it to the switch and to ground.
(I know someone will ask so the front switch disables the auto headlights, the center switch is the brake cooler and the rear switch disables the traction control. The cable is a DIY exhaust cut out.)
Last but not least (because I have too much time on my hands) I took an old piece of roof flashing and made a little cone to act as a funnel. I put it around the driving light and over to the pump inlet. Sort of a forced induction to the pump. I’ll take this out between track days to keep dirt and stuff out of the pump. Actually since the system worked so well I might just leave it out altogether.
Results: With the air temp at 100 degrees on a 2.3 mile road course after 15 hot laps in a row my front brakes were noticeably cooler then my back brakes and never faded a bit.
Yeah I know this set up a pretty bogus and would never be used for real race cars. But I was totally shocked at how good it works and since I have ZERO dollars invested it's pretty hard to beat.
So now I'll have to come up with some rear brake cooling…
See also DIY alignement
https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...alignment.html
And DIY car ramps
https://ls1tech.com/forums/tools-fab...amps-ever.html
Last edited by charchri4; 09-23-2013 at 08:40 AM.
08-07-2012, 08:14 PM
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I dont care if anyone says it looks ghetto. That is cool as ****. This is how it was back in the day! You had an issue and YOU designed and fabbed up something to fix it. And it works short of actual live temps while racing. I wish more people designed there own stuff...I love seeing this. Thanks bro!
08-09-2012, 02:24 AM
#6
Just a little info on the A.I.R. pump. Its not actually used when the cars running other than when its started up to pump fresh air into the exhaust to heat the cats up faster so they do their job sooner, less emissions, blah blah, so I don't seen why the people who need it for emissions couldn't use it for both without any problems, other than the fact you wouldn't want it running and pumping air into your exhaust all the time I wouldn't think, so something might have to be figured out on that aspect.
Personally, instead of using a switch, I think I might would see how it did on something like a wide open throttle switch like for No2, but instead, install it on the brake pedal so it kicks on when braking. Just an idea though. I had planned on using it for a vacuum pump at one time, but I like this idea as well.
Personally, instead of using a switch, I think I might would see how it did on something like a wide open throttle switch like for No2, but instead, install it on the brake pedal so it kicks on when braking. Just an idea though. I had planned on using it for a vacuum pump at one time, but I like this idea as well.
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08-09-2012, 07:02 AM
#8
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You need to get some real brake duct hose. The stuff you used won't hold up very well. Something like this will be much better.
https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/Images/L/3620.JPG
https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/Images/L/3620.JPG
08-09-2012, 12:01 PM
#10
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Just a little info on the A.I.R. pump. Its not actually used when the cars running other than when its started up to pump fresh air into the exhaust to heat the cats up faster so they do their job sooner, less emissions, blah blah, so I don't seen why the people who need it for emissions couldn't use it for both without any problems, other than the fact you wouldn't want it running and pumping air into your exhaust all the time I wouldn't think, so something might have to be figured out on that aspect.
Personally, instead of using a switch, I think I might would see how it did on something like a wide open throttle switch like for No2, but instead, install it on the brake pedal so it kicks on when braking. Just an idea though. I had planned on using it for a vacuum pump at one time, but I like this idea as well.
Personally, instead of using a switch, I think I might would see how it did on something like a wide open throttle switch like for No2, but instead, install it on the brake pedal so it kicks on when braking. Just an idea though. I had planned on using it for a vacuum pump at one time, but I like this idea as well.
I would not favor having it only run during braking or WOT though. One of the things I like about this is it runs on the cool down lap and while rolling into the pits when you don't touch the brakes at all. On a track with 15 turns and the air temp over 100 it's not possible to have too much cooling!
08-09-2012, 12:04 PM
#11
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You need to get some real brake duct hose. The stuff you used won't hold up very well. Something like this will be much better.
https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/Images/L/3620.JPG
https://www.pegasusautoracing.com/Images/L/3620.JPG
08-09-2012, 12:17 PM
#12
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If she leaves ya over $50 it's time for a new one anyway.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RACING-BRAKE...#ht_500wt_1054
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RACING-BRAKE...#ht_500wt_1054
08-09-2012, 01:14 PM
#14
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If she leaves ya over $50 it's time for a new one anyway.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RACING-BRAKE...#ht_500wt_1054
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RACING-BRAKE...#ht_500wt_1054
Nah it's not the brake hose that is the issue. It's the $1800 in wheels and tires that also cost me a $1100 stove, the $2000 Strano bill that cost me a $800 dishwasher, the 3000+ grand in gears, cam, headers, race seat, SFCs, LCAs and a dozen other expensive acronyms that I owe a fridge for. So you see that $70 brake hose really costs a lot more...
To answer your next question 29 years and yes she is hot and as a matter of fact I am absolutely the happiest married man on the planet!
08-09-2012, 03:00 PM
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Sweet! I had not seen it that cheap before. $70 shipped is really good compared to other places I have seen.
Nah it's not the brake hose that is the issue. It's the $1800 in wheels and tires that also cost me a $1100 stove, the $2000 Strano bill that cost me a $800 dishwasher, the 3000+ grand in gears, cam, headers, race seat, SFCs, LCAs and a dozen other expensive acronyms that I owe a fridge for. So you see that $70 brake hose really costs a lot more...
To answer your next question 29 years and yes she is hot and as a matter of fact I am absolutely the happiest married man on the planet!
Nah it's not the brake hose that is the issue. It's the $1800 in wheels and tires that also cost me a $1100 stove, the $2000 Strano bill that cost me a $800 dishwasher, the 3000+ grand in gears, cam, headers, race seat, SFCs, LCAs and a dozen other expensive acronyms that I owe a fridge for. So you see that $70 brake hose really costs a lot more...
To answer your next question 29 years and yes she is hot and as a matter of fact I am absolutely the happiest married man on the planet!
08-09-2012, 09:08 PM
#17
TECH Apprentice
Here's mine. In order to use the frame rails, you will have to take the front bumper cover off and trim the impact foam and steel bumper support underneath. I then added some pieces of sheetmetal and aluminum tape to smooth the area from the back of the bumper cover past the foam and steel support. I then cut a 3" hole in the frame rail and added the tube and spot welded it in place. I should've moved the frame rail hole backwards an inch for better wheel/tire clearance. All the 3" tubing I used was from the local muffler shop (5' for $5). For my duct behind the spindle, I cut a short piece of tubing and shaped it (hammered) in such away that one end was still close enough round and the other end would direct air to the middle of the rotor and not onto the inside rotor surface. I then cut/shaped some sheetmetal that welded to the tubing that helps keep the air inside the rotor so it goes into the rotor veins. It's alot more work then most people are willing to do, but when it's winter and you're bored...lol! What I like about mine is you only have to use short pieces of ducting and for the most part, the whole thing is invisible... if that matters. lol!
Last edited by ChrisRZ28; 08-09-2012 at 09:13 PM.
08-10-2012, 06:54 AM
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Here's mine. In order to use the frame rails, you will have to take the front bumper cover off and trim the impact foam and steel bumper support underneath. I then added some pieces of sheetmetal and aluminum tape to smooth the area from the back of the bumper cover past the foam and steel support. I then cut a 3" hole in the frame rail and added the tube and spot welded it in place. I should've moved the frame rail hole backwards an inch for better wheel/tire clearance. All the 3" tubing I used was from the local muffler shop (5' for $5). For my duct behind the spindle, I cut a short piece of tubing and shaped it (hammered) in such away that one end was still close enough round and the other end would direct air to the middle of the rotor and not onto the inside rotor surface. I then cut/shaped some sheetmetal that welded to the tubing that helps keep the air inside the rotor so it goes into the rotor veins. It's alot more work then most people are willing to do, but when it's winter and you're bored...lol! What I like about mine is you only have to use short pieces of ducting and for the most part, the whole thing is invisible... if that matters. lol!