Is there any way you can make these with a big diameter in the back to attatch a 4"-4.5" pipe on it to have the least air flow restrictions. Any idea if yor would be making some type of sealable air box to feed the cold air and that we can incorperate our short ram air intake into. I think this might involve relocating our batteries or getting a new smaller one and mount it infornt of the tranny like the passwordjdm kit.
maybe like the ctr air box and big enough for us to use a cone style filter.
made the 3rd duct this week, in order to now make a male mold of it. however, i didnt realize i needed MEKP to catalyze the gel coat…soooo, hopefully my buddy can pick some up for me this afternoon, and ill be all set. should have the male mold made this weekend. then i can start making ducts easier, by monday. fingers crossed!
also, my friend who has the original prototype has it on his silver car, a few posts up. he bought a plastic air duct for the rear part, and has fitted it to his car. looks pretty good in the pictures he sent me. is there an interest (still) for a carbon rear section, or would people rather go the less expensive, plastic duct route?
finally got the mold to where i am happy with it. made a 4th duct yesterday, & popped it out of the mold. came out ok, although the next ones i will make with 3 layers of carbon. i am getting better at the whole process, and now i completely know why carbon parts are soo darn expensive!! it takes time & patience to get these things lookin good enough to start selling. ill have to upload the couple pics of the 3rd duct (which i made my mold from), the mold itself, & the latest duct when i get home, the upload isnt working now…
[QUOTE=lowntegra;2200063]here are a few pics of the first attempt. this first iteration is more of a conceptual trial, just to see if it is doable. it is only single layer carbon, and is extremely flimsy, albeit very light. the first attempt didnt come out too bad, and i learned from it.
the 2nd attempt piece is curing as i type this, and i stepped it up to 3 layers of fabric, and used a vacuum bag as well. it should be much better. the rest of the plan is to fabricate a 2nd part that will slip fit over the end of the first part (behind the bumper similar to the above pics), and end in a tube shape (2.75" or 3" not sure yet). from there, i will run flexible ducting up to the filter.
-dfwblackls : yeah, i agree. trying to find some plastic ducts for the tube transition. having a hard time finding ones that are close to the dimensions of the back of the bumper…plus its kind of a weird shape. i originally had the idea of fabricating my own rear duct section out of carbon, however, after building this first mold, i :
A. see how hard it is to get a good mold made
B. dont think you could even make a one piece mold for the rear part. it being rather thin rectangular shape, to a much taller, 3" circle at the back. how would ya take a cured part off the mold? you would probly have to do it in 2 pieces or something…
with all that said, i will find out where to get the proper sized plastic duct, some high temp silicone duct tube, and all the associated hardware, and hopefully put together a small kit for you guys. for the track guys, i am still thinking abou thow to get a proper brake duct going.
It may take a little work, but the duct I used (off of ebay) doesn’t come too far from fitting and I would think with some trimming and a little work, you could mold your duct onto the ebay duct. I would think that trimming off most of the front and leaving the rear transition to the round outlet would solve the problem. It may be easier to use pop rivets to attach the plastic part to the carbon… then you have the pretty carbon up front and the function ABS at the back to clamp down on.
I will also add that I changed my air filter last week and I am happy to say that the duct works well as there was quite a bit of debris under the air box (I had not sealed that connection yet). I also added an expandable gutter down spout guard to the back of the scoop before it goes up to block larger objects. I trimmed the guard down and it is BARELY noticeable unless I point it out. This is what I cut down (a lot) and added:
I’m about to redone my 91 front bump. Going to mold the left side close and going to mold in a ram air on the right and thinking of making a fiberglass box for the engine bay for the air filter to go into and to be flush in the hood so every bit of that air that I can get is cooler. Might do a little vent on the hood (front right) to drop right in to the box. Nothing ricer like. If it doesn’t look good, not going to sport it. LOL
Making your own box is a bit overkill. The OEM box only has 2 openings. The one on the bottom where the ram air duct is routed and the one in the front. Maybe it is just me, but I view the front opening as a bypass if for some reason I forget about my scoop and hit a wicked puddle. That being said, I could see making a flap that would keep the front hole closed until suction pulls it open (thinking like the AEM bypass valve on their intakes).
And do NOT get me wrong… overkill is perfectly fine and I would totally understand the custom route, but I just don’t see any real benefits/gains to be had over the OEM (and IMHO, I like the “OEM” look under the hood).
ive had my air duct ram air for years now an i really love it. but i like this cf idea. what could i get one of those for? mine would be a little diffrent. if you could do it email me at foreverhers381@gmail.com or text/call 8013811013
dwfblackls- i like your idea of using the plastic ebay duct for the rear section, and yes i think pop riveting would work just fine. however, there is one major problem that would prevent you from doing this : how would you install the duct if (the two) pieces were attached? you would not be able to slide it into place from the front because the 3" round part, is way bigger than the 2" vertical opening of the bumper itself… and conversely, you couldnt install it from the rear because of the same obvious reason.
it almost has to be put in, in two sections, and then riveted or something… i think that would work well. i’m still trying to find the correct plastic transition duct for the rear…anyone have a ebay linky?? im lookin on there like every day…
utah_da_squad - what exactly are you looking for?
lsjdmteg - yo jeff! whats up man?? i can totally do what your asking for, i have a little picture of it already in my head. i would need a spare bumper to make the mold though… you got one? also thinking of doing a carbon fiber center console piece… you wouldnt happen to have a spare one of those kickin around would you???
so this weekend i’ll be picking up all of the carbon fiber roll at my parents house, and also the left side bumper, to start on the that side bumper duct mold. i want to have a left & right set available for people. right sides should be available next week!!!
Then don’t use rivets… small machine screws with washers and nuts. Slide the front section in from the front and the back from the back. Same idea, just requires work on the end user. Any method will really need to be 2 part since the opening is too small for usable duct work off the back. It may not look as good as it could, but honestly, the back portion is NOT NOTICEABLE at all when installed.
Even though my car is on my shit list, I am excited to see the progress on this.
I really, really like this!! As soon as you finish the rear part I’ll buy one from you guaranteed. Shoot, I’ll even buy it the way it is now (the CF facing that is). I like dfwblackls’s idea of the 90 degree piping going straight into the intake inlet. That’s what I’d be using it for anyways, for more air flow to the intake.
Keep the updates coming! Are you teaming up with iSport to produce more of these? Regardless, I want one!
you wouldnt happen to have a spare one of those kickin around would you???