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Making an FD's side vents functional?

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Old 09-23-06, 02:39 PM
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Making an FD's side vents functional?

Anybody ever done it? I think it'd help a great deal with engine bay cooling and I'm just looking for inspiration for when I start a DIY project.

Last edited by EricRyan; 09-23-06 at 02:44 PM.
Old 09-23-06, 02:43 PM
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Old 09-23-06, 03:24 PM
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They are fuctional. Where you think the air that passes through your oil cooler goes to?
Old 09-23-06, 03:29 PM
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Originally Posted by dubulup
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Thanks a billion.

And I thought only the R1 used them for that second oil cooler they have?
Old 09-23-06, 03:47 PM
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All vents on a FD are funtional. R1 front spoiler has ducting for front brake cooling. Unlike those hood scoop and rear fender vent on a Mustang

BC

Last edited by BC-FD3S; 09-23-06 at 04:10 PM.
Old 09-23-06, 04:01 PM
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Test

test
Old 09-23-06, 04:15 PM
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check out the shape of the fender liner, its designed to guide the air through the vents to the oil cooler - their def. functional
Old 09-23-06, 04:55 PM
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https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...6&page=1&pp=15

That's actually exactly what I am going for. He says in the thread that it does indeed work at high speeds and at red lights when the e-fan kicks on.
Old 09-23-06, 05:33 PM
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If you want to help you temps I would think of ducting the front bumper........
Old 09-23-06, 06:16 PM
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ive seen somewhere(banzai i think) the fender liner was cut just infront of the tire. about a 6x8" hole and then mesh was then installed for debris purposes. seemed like an idea...
Old 09-23-06, 06:19 PM
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Originally Posted by dradon03
If you want to help you temps I would think of ducting the front bumper........
Kind of like a 90's model Corvette. Except theirs was purely for brake disc venting. I'll get under the 7's bumper as soon as it stops storming and I'll see what I'm up against.
Old 09-23-06, 06:23 PM
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Well actually I was looking personally into redesigning the undertray to duct completely the rad, and an m2 box and it looks pretty straight forward.

BTW Didn't want to make it seem as if I was "hatin", I love custom jobs more power to ya!
Old 09-23-06, 06:33 PM
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brake/oil cooling

Old 09-23-06, 08:04 PM
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So the R1 has it already setup, and the Touring has the means to make something of it?
Old 09-23-06, 09:00 PM
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is the same for base, touring, and R models, the R models just get to do it for both oil cooler.
Old 09-23-06, 09:57 PM
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That manual diagram is crap. The space in the duct above the wheel does not exist.
Old 09-23-06, 11:30 PM
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Everything on this car has a purpose.
Old 09-24-06, 07:08 AM
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Here's my question: do the ducts drawn in that diagram actually exist, or are those the tested paths of the airflow? B/c I don't recollect ever seeing a duct behind my R2 lip, directing air toward the rotors (or an oil cooler duct for that matter). I do, however, remember that the 99spec FD definitely DOES have those actual ducts (Chuck used to sell them).

~Ramy
Old 09-24-06, 07:20 AM
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Yes, there are some ducts that snap into the plastic piece between the fender liner and the lip. I question their effectiveness though.
Old 09-24-06, 07:27 AM
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I think they are VERY effective. I remember one of the Car&Driver or Road & Track articles specifically mentioning the "functional side vents" in regards to airflow management.
One thing I have wondered about though is the size of the exits vs the size of the inlets....
Old 09-24-06, 07:31 AM
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Poss, that's one of my worries. It's just a small plastic piece holding it on. Who knows how many are still intact, in place...and for those who have had their cars repaired, the body shop only orders what they know about (not all consult parts manuals and schematics for what they think looks simple and straightforward enough). I wouldn't be surprised if a good number of FDs had these ducts missing...
Old 09-24-06, 02:26 PM
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Originally Posted by bajaman
I think they are VERY effective. I remember one of the Car&Driver or Road & Track articles specifically mentioning the "functional side vents" in regards to airflow management.
Ehh, I'm not so sure about that. While they may basically offer an exit for the air flowing through the oil cooler, the vents don't really take advantage of their design. The ducting on top of the wheel well liner that leads to the vent basically stops at the top of the wheel well arch, instead of extending all the way to the oil cooler, where it could actually help "pull" the air through the cooler. The way it sits stock, the cooler is just venting into the space between the liner and the fender, with the vent pulling some of the air in that space out. You could basically do the same thing by just having the air from the oil cooler vent into the wheel well.
Originally Posted by bajaman
One thing I have wondered about though is the size of the exits vs the size of the inlets....
Expanding the volume of a duct slows down airflow speed. Whether that aspect of the brake ducts actually has any effectiveness is debatable.
Old 09-24-06, 02:46 PM
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I just looked at my FD, no plastic ducts...
Old 09-24-06, 03:43 PM
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The duct over the fender liner to the oulet behind the wheel DOES indeed exist, and you'd see it if you removed the liner. I purchase a new liner for a friend once, and it was on there too.

It DOESN"T come down and mate to the rear face of the oil cooler, the way the duct from the bumper opening does to the front face. I don't think it should either, because more air will come through the oil cooler than could be exited through that little rear duct. I think what it does do is relieve some air from the space between the nose and the fender liner (which isn't air tight anyway), and likely HELPS get air through the oil cooler. Remember, you can't get air IN to a heat exchanger unles you also get it out.

These ducts likely work the way a vented hood does. While a vented hood isn't typically sealed to the back of your IC or radiator, it HELPS evacuate air from behind them, whicvh in turn helps force air THROUGH them.

What may be debatable is wether or not you couldn't make BETTER use of those fender vents to evacuate air from the engine compartment as opposed to the space behind the oil coolers... particularly if you don't have a vented hood, AND/OR you've put some mesh venting behind the oil cooler in the fender liner (or your aftermarket wheels/tires have eaten one for you).
Old 09-24-06, 03:50 PM
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Peter, do you think your theory would hold true if you had large oil coolers, and thus quite a large duct on the front & rear of the oil cooler?

Also, do I understand from what you said that it's NOT a good idea to duct the rear of the IC (say a V-mount) directly to a hood vent?



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