Bascially Nick said there would be no more production runs on the Brake Ducts unless there is a demand for them. I think he has to make productions runs of at least 10 kits, but I'm not sure about it. I don't think he'll make a production run of 10 or more kits just to sell one or two of them. :( This was back in September. You can email him or PM him on the forum here:

https://www.rx7club.com/member.php?s...o&userid=10595

I know he has an account here but I'm not sure how often he visits the forum. He does respond to emails fairly quickly though.

I bought a set of Nick's backing plates back in August, he mentioned that they were the last set he had for the stock brakes, but they needed some machining before he shipped them. I have since gotten them onto the car (with some fairly major work of my own on the steering knuckles with a file...), but haven't had a chance to pick up hose yet.

Brad, I would second the request for pictures if you have them... :D

Digdug,
Crispy and I both know Nick (N-Tech) very well. Just send him a post and tell him what you need. Although he did not make my backing plates, his are similar... hell, they all are when it comes to it. The big issue is fitting them to your disc size.

Regarding routing the hose, no I don't have any shots. It is fairly straightforward once you have backing plates. The inside front edge of your tires DO eat up the hose some, but that just becomes a 'wear item'. run the hose directly toward the engine, ty-wrap the hell out of it, then run the hose forward staying parallel to the 'frame' rail. Then forward to you collector. I use a GTC nose and fabricated collectors, so your setup will vary. just use your head and don't worry about rubbing. The tire is harder than the tubing.

Cripsy, I agree those are some stout speed numbers and a very light weight. Digdug should be sure to look us up at VIR in the summer. <VBG>

Cool, I'll shoot him an email and see what he says. If he doesn't want to make them, are there any other suppliers of comparable plates?

Your description makes perfect sense. That is exactly what I came up with when I sat down and tried to think of where to run the hoses, but I was concerned about full steering lock (outside wheel), and what the hose would do in that case. As long as it can be made to "squash" rather than bending out to one side, it should be okay. Do you have any observations about this on your car? I guess if you're running them on track, they must seem to behave decently well down there...

Hehe, you know I recently obtained a passenger seat that I can drop in to give ride-alongs! ;)

Provided everything goes as planned between now and then, I should be at VIR several times next season. I'll let you guys know ahead of time when I'm going. Meanwhile, winter is boring... :p:

The only other one I found (in my quickie searching) was just the Crooked Willow ducts already mentioned.

I don't think it would be that bad to fab something up to bring air up from the nose (especially if you already have the nose ducts for the brakes from a chin spoiler or aftermarket front end).

I'm wondering if there are any companies in Japan that might make something compareable to N-Tech's product. I'm sure they have many more track FD's over there than we do here in the US.

I just got an email back from David Breslau at Widefoot Racing - he is the guy that designed and fab'd those CWC ducts. He is no longer distributing them, as he now has his own company. He says he is making a few revisions to the design and will have them available again in early spring 2004. I haven't gotten the price yet.

So that's an option...

are the 2 spindels exact mirrors of each other? im asking cuz i might actually make some of these. im assuming they are cuz i dont wanna have to dissassemble both sides if i dont got to. also, is there really a demand for these? who would actually pay for them? how much do you think a resonable price would be and how thick do you think these things should be?

also, anyone care of it was made out of carbon/kevlar (it would kinda look like colored brake calipers if nothing else hehe :)) what kinda hosing would you also need, would anyone care if they came without hosing? also if i were to make mines, i would not make it so it would slant foward, mines would be like the n-tech ones, hose only type of thing where it would go straight back and you coudl just simply ziptie the hose to the steering arms. so it would follow that.

Why don't we find someone that makes the things I was talking about that fit over the disc? Probably better cooling from them.

i would think the best cooling would be from directing air into the hat portion and letting the discs spin it out. blowing air from the outside edge just seems backwards. not to mention the hose would have to travel a lot further because its farther from the spindle pivot.

If you look closely at these, I think this is what you're referring to...

http://www.ntechengineering.com/images/nt00139.jpg

These are the N-Tech backing plates. I looked again and noticed that the swept surface of the rotor was entirely exposed from behind the plate. That is pretty nice!

ok, apparently i will be making these. stay tuned for more info/pics

I believe that Hoerr Racing carries ducted carbon fiber backing plates. Check their catalog.

Guys, if Nick doesn't want to make a new run of backing plates, go to your nearest roundy-round fabricator shop and ask them to make you some. This really isn't rocket science. Also, the backing plates fit the inside of your rotors, not the outside edge. They should fit tightly.

If somebody already makes them for the FD, I consider it worthwhile to find them - and not have to deal with having someone make custom pieces. It is a pain in ass to have to deal with measurements, fitment issues, etc... It is far easier if the parts are available for our car.

I am waiting to hear back from Nick...

I just heard back from Nick. He will make them if we can come up with 5 orders, and he has to know the brake setups for those 5 pairs ahead of time (obviously). They are made of aluminum. The website lists a price of $225.

Anybody else interested? I know I am...

Nick's price is very fair. Go for it.

Well, I'm interested so I emailed Nick about these last month... and never heard back from him. My question was:
"On the brake backing plate inlet ducts you sell for 12.4, 13 and 14" diameter rotors, since they all attach to the back side of the center of the rotor, why does it matter what size diameter the rotor is? Do none of these work with stock FD 11.6" diameter rotors, such that I'd have to upgrade the rotors/calipers before I can install your ducts? Optimally, I'd like to install the ducts on the stock rotors, use that setup until I'm at the limits of the stock brakes, then go to more trackworthy equipment and reuse the same ducts. Is that possible?"

Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?

CoulthardFan, the duct needs to fit tightly to the inside edge of you rotor for utmost efficiency. That means the outer diameter of the duct which replaces your stockbacking plate must be a little smaller than your rotors inside back opening. My 330mm rotors' backing plates would be too large for your stock backing plates. make sense?

So CoulthardFan, are you saying your interested in getting a pair? That would be 2 down, 3 to go on the order...

Here's a shot of N-Tech's backing plates
 

http://www.mantissaracing.com/Mantis...%20ducts_2.JPG

The front ducts are custom made AL units courtesy of Brad Barber.

Thanks again Brad!

Regards,

Gene

Bingo. That's the picture I was asking for earlier!

tomorrow i should be getting the backing plates from bigislandseven, should have a set or 2 done by this week

BTW: mines will only run about 150 bucks :)

also, mines will be made of kevlar if one wants, remember kevlar comes in any color you want so it can match your brake calipers as well as your car color hehe

BB - so what you are saying is that it is the inside back opening that is different sizes on the various size rotors. I guess I figured that they would all be very close to the same size, no matter what the overall diameter of the rotors.

DigDug - I really don't care where I get them from, but I do want a set. As my question to Nick implied, I'm stilll running stock calipers/rotors but plan on upgrading later in 2004 to a yet-to-be-determined setup. So if I need to know what that setup is before ordering... and I can't use them with my current setup... and it will be almost a year before I upgrade... ah, fuck it... I'm in. I guess I'll have to just decide what setup I want and will sit on the backing plates (figuratively speaking) for a year if you need critical mass for some kind of group buy.

Re: Here's a shot of N-Tech's backing plates
 

Sure, Gene. I'm glad you are putting them to use, buddy!