Brake duct Work who has done it - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

ItalianBenz · #1 03-26-2002, 12:25 AM

Hey Guys. Which one of you 500 owners. Completed a brak duct setup with NACA ducting. I want to do it this weeked. Or come up with some kinda setup.

give me some Feedback guys.
you know who you are.

1. What Type of setup
2. the location(how did you make it work)
3. Does it stay securely fasten with no interference
4. $ the cost.( can we buy this stuff at a home depot)or
5. Does it have to be speically ordered

Thanks Guido.

Jim's500E · #2 03-26-2002, 08:38 AM

I've bought the 3" outlet NACA ducts and 3" duct work from Truechoice , they have a website,(also Pegasus Racing has the parts) but I haven't installed them yet...can't decide on whether to route it thru the foglite door, the bumper cover next to the motor mount cooling ducts or in front of the radiator somehow which I feel will have better ram air flow...less than $60 for parts.

Going to zip tie it like on my 16V which isn't the strongest way to fasten it but it'll work. Shouldn't interfere with anything if its done smartly. Route it between the spring and chassis and have it blow directly on the top of the caliper...or as best as you can. Also , tie it to the tie rods so the hoses turn with the wheels. (duh).

I suppose you could get the smallest diameter dryer hose or similiar from Home Depot and forget the NACA ducts and hillbilly it in there...doesn't really have to be pretty...just needs flow air to work. I also thought about splitting the hoses from the motor mounts with a plastic 'Y' and using that air flow mechanism too,that'll work as well.

Seeing your at a dealer, Guido, I would think you could get some pieces of the OEM plastic hose from the motor mount cooling ducts and do it all neat like. This whole thing shouldn't take me more than an hour or two...I'm hoping.

yhliem · #3 03-26-2002, 01:56 PM

pardon my naiivety, but are there not existing ducts behind the slotted air dam? I thought i had seen one on each side that only needed to be extended to reach the calipers.

of course, that was a few years ago that i thought i'd seen that and i haven't been under the 500 recently.

#4 03-26-2002, 03:02 PM

I think those air cooling ducts are for the Engine mounts, but with a little creative adaptation another feeder tube could be made to run to the brakes.

Michael · #5 03-26-2002, 04:25 PM

Definitely cooling ducts for the motor mounts. However, I'd avoid scavenging air from there-I think the mounts need all they can get. David Hendy once ran without his bellypan, which decreased the effectiveness of these ducts, and he ended up frying a motor mount.

I'm getting ready to try to hook a vent up to the hole in the backing plates that vent toward the center of the rotor...if it works out I'll post pictures

Jim's500E · #6 03-26-2002, 04:53 PM

Hey y'all

Just came back from Home Depot...they have 2" Nutone central vacuum tubing for $6.50 for 2.5' of it...much stronger and cheaper than the stuff I got from Truechoice...check it out...it'll work as a vent tube very nicely.

Michael...aren't your new rotors designed to suck air into it them? Or vent the heat out of them? I still believe you want to vent the caliper above all else...

Michael · #7 03-26-2002, 04:56 PM

James-

The directional rotors are designed to pull air from their center (near the hub) outward...I'm trying to enhance this effect.

Venting the caliper would be a different deal, totally separate and I agree a good idea...you figure out yours, I'll figure out mine, and we'll implement each others' inventions over a Pint.

Good work

ke6dcj · #8 03-27-2002, 03:00 PM

Somewhere on the web I saw the following:

1) backing-plate/splash-shield had a hole drilled into it;
2) the hole was located adjacent to the caliper;
3) a metal tube cut at 45-degrees was welded to the hole in the backing-plate;
4) an air hose was connected and ducted from under the airdam.

:-) neil
1988 360TE AMG
1993 500E

Jim's500E · #9 03-27-2002, 04:15 PM

Neil...I've seen something like that set-up too. Reminds me of the 962 brakes. A friend of mine works at KAM Motorsports (Porsche twin-cam and 911 shop) and have seen them fabricate serious brake set-ups along those lines for track-only cars...man-o-man...wish I had a little machine shop in my garage to play around in.

I'm definitely, without a doubt, in the wrong career.

Alain V. · #10 03-27-2002, 10:16 PM

My car has ducted front brakes. Unfortunately, the only pic I have really stinks.

If you look under the front on each corner of the car, there is an "access door" that hinges down, so you can get to the backs of your foglights for bulb replacement.

Remove these doors, and get a naca duct to mount in it;s place with a couple of screws.
Run some hose from the duct through the fenderliner , zip tie it to the tie rod assembly, and have it blow on the caliper! YES, THE CALIPER.

The rotor is designed to get hot & dissipate heat,,,,,, whne the caliper/fluid gets hot, your brakes turn to poo-poo.

If you don't want to take my word for it,,,,,, call Larry at carbotech and ask him what he'd rather be "cooling".

I've had this set up on this car for a long time, and it works.
I inspect the hoses during every service, and have occaisonally worn a hole & had to replace one.

MY car sees use at Heartland Park which is a 2.5 mile 14 turn course. There are all type of turns and alot of braking happening.

Again, call Larry at carbotech,,,,he is the brake system GURU and has never led me wrong. I designed & installed my "forced air" rear brake system after one of our discussions on my 190 racecar, and it is incredible what a difference that made.

I don't have his number handy at the moment, but he's on the net and advertises in Grassroots motorsports.

Oh, and don't mess around with the factory "motor mount" ducting. 500e mounts already live a hard life when the cars are driven like they should,,,,, and they need the airflow.

Guido, I'll scan the pic of my "duct" and e-mail it to you. Post it for others to see if you think it'll help, but the pic is kind of dark.

#11 03-27-2002, 10:33 PM

On second thought, my rerouting of motor mount ducting idea is not so cool.

Now, where to pick up NACA ducts of the right size?

BTW, Grassroots motorsports is at http://www.grmotorsports.com/, try the Tech Topics link, good reading.

Alain, is that Beast of really your Wife's daily ride as you say on your site?

Alain V. · #12 03-27-2002, 10:56 PM

Sadly, YES,,,,,,, I don't get to drive it as often as I'd like to.
(I have it about once a week when it needs to be washed

)

It also kind of depends on the weather. In the winter, she mostly drives our 90 300D 2.5 , because she considers it "expendable". It is a very well maintained car, that I picked up from one of my "fussy" customers, but it has about 210k miles on it. She drives that diesel through the nasty snow & slush as to not risk any undue rust or crash damage to the 500e.

It is kind of cool have her drive that 500 as a "grocery getter" though. She is now alot more understanding when I want to buy "go fast" parts for my other toys.

When I brought home my latest project (a McLAren M6GT replica) she didn't even raise an eyebrow.

I have "created a monster" in a way.

I had a friend approach me once when at an SCCA board meeting. He was telling me that his son had been out showing off his new SS comaro to one of his buds.

Apparently, they ended up next to my wife at a red light and the kid decided to impress his bud when the light turned green.

SO the light turns green and the kid stomps on his accelerator.
The only problem is that my wife did the same thing and left him behind before they had even crossed the intersection.

Poor kid, caught grief all the way home, by his bud, who was laughing his butt off. They get home and tell my SCCA friend what happened, and how he got smoked by a skinny blonde WOMAN in a benz.

My friend just smiled, and told his kid something like, "you fool, you just picked on one of the most bad ass cars in this town."

The interesting part was that my wife never mentioned any of this to me. I had to hear the story from this guy while at the board meeting.
When I got home, I brought it up to my wife. She had this silly grin on her frace & basically told me that she had a feeling the kid was going to go for it, and there was no way she was going to let a comaro pull away from her.

This was about a year ago and the kid still hasn't been able to live it down.

ItalianBenz · #13 03-27-2002, 11:55 PM

Wow Alain. What a cool story. go head and email me the pic . Will try to do best with it.

Guido

ke6dcj · #14 03-28-2002, 12:42 AM

Guido- if you don't have something like PhotoShop, email it to me, and I'll try some magic . . .

:-) neil

ItalianBenz · #15 03-28-2002, 12:49 AM

Thanks Neil!!!

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