Update:
Well!!!! Geese....I'm pretty amped on the positive reaction just from people in general on the OMG feature. Aside from the owner Drew just being a solid positive guy, and getting to sit and chat with him and Caitlin.. I think the most exciting part was getting to show off my pride and joy. I hear people all the time say... "don't get attached to the car"...but I think thats a load of garbage. If your not attached to your car... in my opinion.... you're doing something wrong.
one of my personal favorites
I don't take enough interior shots...but heres a good one!
Anyways! that was Wayyyy exciting. And it's cool to see what people thing. I've also gotten some negative feedback as well. At first it really bothered me, but I quickly realized that there's no way to please everyone. I figured the people who really know what this is about.. will understand the car... even if it's not to their liking. And the people who make comments tagging another fd owner and saying things such as "this dudes copying you" or "copied your gates" or a million other dumb statements.... just want to feel like they're part of whoever is "Killing it." these days. Which... by the way has completely lost subtance to the masses. I've seen the phrase used for cars that deserved it. And I've seen the same phrase used for cars that limp ran once and someone got a pic of the occasion. But the car is defining the game....totally "KILLING IT." Gahh... i'm ruining my thread with this stuff. Lets get back on track!!!
I've been working on the front ducting the past couple weeks and came down with some nasty flue plague like sickness that took hold of me for the better part of a week and a half..and utterly ruined one of the nicest weekends i've seen in a while. But It's taking much longer this time around... Mostly because I'v been trying to resolve all the short comings of the last job I did. Always improve.... Making things function better....while pleasing my visual. But one of the short comings of the last design was the duct work would bow/flex/rise under speed. keeping air in is going to stress things. And the old mounts although I thought might be good enough....simply weren't. Speed tested the duct work up to around 130mph and although it stayed... Eventually the thin mounts and lack of support just took it's toll on the ducting and the moutns ended up ripping. I finally was using safety wire in a handfull of occasions to keep it from straying too far...but I could tell efficiency had dropped below what I'd like. SO it was time to fix the probs!!! The car deserves to be maintained. So when the Front bash bar failed.. and I decided tomove the IC forward....it was the perfect time for new ducting.
So here's where I started..I wanted the duct work to extend the width of the bumper opening so was unable to use the old sheet alum I was getting because it wasn't wide enough. I went to Lowes and purchased the much larger 24X48 Sheet. And some Alum Window frame/seal track stuff that was right next to it. Figured I needed a better mounting system. I'd cut this in half and use it to sit as a mount on top of and cupping an edge and being strong enough to maintain that hold at speed without flexing.
tons of measuring
I wouldn't really advise using an angle grinder while working with stuff like this..but it's really all i've got and i'm pretty good at it by now haha
the outline of the Upper Radiator plenum/duct scribed into the sheet
my new method of making precision bends haha. Much better than using flat pliers. Using the support piece i'll be using for ducting.....i'm using to bend the sheet as well. These little clamps were 1.99 a piece at harbor freight. really useful!
smaller bend
First Mock.. I did this a ton of times.
Started making Slot cuts or whatever fabricators might call this....These worked well for my last set up so I figured to keep things cheap and to stay within the confines of my garage without having to outsource machines etc... I chose to stick with what i'm comfortable with.
this allows me to make bends wherever I may need...and not just straight kinks... but smooth flowing bends.
here's the start of that process... the duct goes on and off on and off again and again until I am satisfied with the progress and can move on. You could really spend and endless amount of time on this.... and I caught myself getting hung up on trynig to get a perfect flowing contour when I knew other thigns woudl affect that...so i'd force myself to move forward.
getting better...
I wanted the plenum to be a bit bigger this time around.
Here is a pic of the support window framing i'll be cutting in half and using to reinforce most of theduct work....and use/used to make straight bends with the clamps =-)
cut in half with angle grinder
where it'll Hook the outside of the IC
Drilled a Billion holes measuring out every 1/2 Inch and drilling
and installed a Billion rivits to keep it nice and rigid. NO AIR SHALL ESCAPE!!!!
I had to clean up all that on the back side otherwise there wouldn't be enough space for the lip to actually grab onto the and mount to the radiator. I forgot to snap a picture of that...but here's how it'll sit on the Rad...you get the point right?
This came out reallly good and I'm wayyyyy amped on how close it sits on the edge....and more importantly.. how strong it is
Outer shot of rivits
The top is nearly finished.... but I had traced the Shape of the Top...onto another sheet which I went back and purchased from Lowes because I needed more material. I also wanted to keep the same shape for the upper and the lower to keep things symetrical. I used the same process on the lower that I had used on the upper.
I am using the same L shaped mount as I did on the Upper bracket... just back wards to keep the lower from sliding up over the radiator...but at the same time....keeping strength and making it impossible for air to force the lower duct sheet out of position.
I'll be adding a few more rivits to this piece as well....But you get the point.
So that leaves me to where I'm at right now in terms of Progress on the duct work. I need to make sure to continue to take my time with it to make sure that I don't take any short cuts. I'm pretty confident in the work i've done thus far.... So the next step is to get both Upper and Lower EXACTLY where I want them and trace out the hardest part... The Side Sections. After that...it'll simply be a matter of supports and getting the thing mounted rigid enough.
Anyways..... More updates soon!!
Stay tuned!!
And always....thanks for the Support guys!
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