My Vertex front end has finally got here from Japan (Thanks again Rotary Extreme). It has been sitting in my living room for a few weeks now and I decided to get off my rear and put the damn thing on. Fortunatly the fitment was excellent and the holes were pre drilled...everything bolted right up. The only issue I had was with the distance between the front air dam and the radiator. Air could go any which way it pleased besides the radiator. I don't have any pre-duct photos unfortunatly to show you but once I put the Vertex front back on you will get the idea. So I decided something had to be done about this. I didn't want to comprimise the cooling abilities of my car. So off I went to the hardware store. I picked up 2 sheets of zinc (It's all they had) then I went over to true value and found a few smaller sheets of aluminum and picked them up.....damn they are way more expensive then the zinc sheets. Anyway I also picked up a box of self tapping screws to hold the mothers on. Once I got back Charlie (Stokedxiv) had arrived to give me a hand on the project at hand.

We started off by using sheets of cardboard to measure the size and shape piece of metal we would need to cut out. Once we had done that we traced the cut out piece of card board onto one of the sheets of aluminum or zinc. Well unfortunatly I had a previous commitment with my g/f to take her somewere so Mr. Charlie decided it would be best if he stayed behind and finished the job. When I got back I was amazed to see he was nearly complete and did a bang up job at the same time. We still need to do a little trimming and a little filing, but for the most part it's done. When we test fitted the bumper it fit perfectly except for the passenger side oil cooler duct needed to be trimmed a little. Everything is sealed up pretty good. I would say air tight, but it doesn't have to be air tight, just guide the air to the right spot and keep it from going the wrong ways. I'm not sure if I will see any improved cooling from this, but I would think the ducting improved the aerodynamics to some degree. I plan on creating a aluminum under tray too once I find a sheet of aluminum big enough. Once again thanks Charlie for all the work you put in on this little custom fabrication job we did. Here are a few pictures. I will post more once I get the front painted.

 

yes Dan, I know you love my master fabrication skills! It was a fun project to do, glad I could help out... now if only I could find a car of my own... haha

-Charlie

 

Looks great How bout a pic with the bumper mounted?

 

Charlie, you always do a good job, but I have to say, your car wil never be as good as ours' because you're always putting so much work into our own projects. You might as well buy the truck and race trailer and take the title of pit crew chief.

btw, you can do my ducting when I get home.

 

The ducting looks good, Charlie. Too bad Dan had to get side-tracked and go pick up the wife instead of working on his own car. Anyway, when you get your car you better believe I'll be there right by your side ready to work on it, you've put the second most hours in on mine for me and I appreciate it.

-Adam

 

You know Dave, that's funny because Adam and I were talking about that the other day. How I'm like the #2 mechanic for yours, Dan's, and Adam's projects... meanwhile I have no car of my own. I am like team owner or crew chief for sure... Maybe i'll start looking for some uniforms and yelling at people like Paul Sr

 

I'll take a few pictures of the bumper test fitted if i get a chance tonight.

 

yes please do.. im very iempted to grab myself a vertx front too.

 

I wanted to get the whole ridge kit. How much did u pay for the bumper?

 

did you end up gettign pics of it on the car?

 

he didnt yet. he had to take off the ducting to put the stock bumper back on, but i'm sure he'll go picture crazy when he finally gets the kit on and painted

 

Looks great, good job you two!

 

I still wanta see pics

 

are you tracking this car? The way you are setting it up kinda looks like it with the v-mount and monster oil coolers...show some finished pics...

 

Hey what type of bumper is that for?

 

vertex front end. Fatman
As far as cooling goes.It looks like everythings been isolated very well. I cant see why this extra ductwork wont help cooling a bit. An undertray should also help out. When I bought my car I had no idea there was an undertray. So If I were to do something like this im sure the results would be worth the effort. Good work indeed.

 

Damn, that looks good. What thickness was the aluminum? And what tools did you use to cut / file / bend it so neatly?