simon good work... nice... it seems that the turnaround time from pen and paper design of the ducts to the actual/tangible ones installed and painted was a quick one.

seems like you will spend more time with the routing of the ducts than it was making and forming your designs.

been a bit busy last few days, family members in hospital... but i haven't forgotten to email you. i have to scan the drafts which are on larger paper than my HP printer... perhaps i will take photo of the drafting...

until then,

josh

 

Thanks Josh,

I hope the family issue isn't too serious and I look forward to the sketches once you get time to sort them out.

I have a lot of the materials to hand so I could realize the design fairly quickly. As they say though, the devil is in the detail. I still have to refine the shape, to be more in keeping with the flats and angles of the valance, add some mounting flanges, and then take a 'production' mold from this - then repeat for the other side. Then, like you say, there is the ducting to sort, and then testing the results. All good fun though!

Simon.

 

simon... YOUR WORK IS TOP-NOTCH and this is a personal project...

soon there will be a new "popular" saying floating around nyc... and it will be:

(translated phonetically... ...)

YOU GOTZ DOZE TWIZTY BITZ SPOT AHN!

josh

 

I didn't get to spend much time on the ducts this weekend but I did get the mounting points worked out and did some reshaping - still not happy with the top outer corners. Its freezing cold and been snowing here so I did alot of the shaping inside away from the car. it was only when fitting it back on the car I saw the shape didn't follow the bumper recess - the outer corners need to slope less, but they're close enough to do some testing with. I will sort that once I have the rear duct finished. I also had to increase the flange around the edge to prevent a gap around the edge. Now that I have the mounting positions I will integrate the mounting 'ears' into the extended flange. Here's some more pics...

 

... nice refined nasal passages!!!

 

Simon: Great job on the intakes, if you decide to create a kit count me in for a primered set... PM me with a price...

PS: I love your videos, it's great to see a RH drive on the track and someone else who enjoys tracking their Crossfire.

 

Anyway you could make this a fresh air intake duct??

Just a thought?

 

I don't see any reason why not, you would just need a longer run of 70mm tubing up to whatever intake/filter arrangement you had. You would also need some mesh at the intake end to stop debris entering. Presumably you could run a duct up from each intake into the stock inlets, or into a plenum chamber with a filter, then in to the throttle body intake. I'm not sure what would be gained since the stock inlets pickup air in much the same way from the grille area. You may get some increased ram effect though. No harm in trying.

I actually did some temperature logging tests some time ago on my PT, measuring various points along the inlet tract and under bonnet areas where most aftermarket filters sit. The coldest point was actually in the inner arch where the stock intake drew its feed from, and the hottest was right where all those aftermarket 'cold air' systems sit! I can do a similar test on the xfire if anyone is interested, but I'll post the PT graph later so you can see what I mean.

Simon.

 

Thanks Derek, due to the among of interest I will look at a kit. I am just checking on the most economical quantities to get the materials in. I'll PM you as requested.

Glad you like the vids, I am going to try a external camera on a suction mount on my next outing in May for a bit of variety - nothing in your league mind.

Simon.

 

Simon: We all appreciate the effort you are putting into the car on the other side of the pond... I'm impressed with your abilities, you have a compatriot and ally on this end... I'm sure the guys at DC would like to follow your progress as well... It would be great to race the car on both ends of the planet... Gimme Brands Hatch and I'll give you Laguna Seca...

Cheers !

 

Thank you for the support and kind words Derek, its the enthusiasm from people like you that makes these projects worthwhile. I just love surprising people with this car. I much prefer the challenge of breaking new ground, rather than just buying stuff off the shelf - anyone can go and do that. You just end up with what everyone else has! It's also great to prove people wrong when they tell you 'it can't be done' or 'they're slow aren't they?', usually by someone who has never been near, let alone driven a Crossfire.

I actually only run on the track for fun, rather than a competitive race series like yourself. Its a great way to hone your skills and find out how the car behaves at the limit (and beyond ). Its also interesting how different cars behave on the track compared to the road. Its quite amusing to see what many would perceive as being the ultimate in performance road cars, being completely outclassed by a good driver in something much more modest.

I have not driven at Brands yet but Donington Park is on my doorstep, but yeah I'll take that grid spot at Laguna...

Simon.

 

Here's a link to those test results on the PT. Not relevant to the Crossfire I know, but it illustrates how real test results can differ from common preconceptions.


Test Results Graph

When I get chance I will do something similar for the Crossfire.


Simon.

 

Good job on your fab work, this is what happens when there's no aftermarket for a car, the enthusiast makes something up!

 

OK, its been slow going but with my cancelled trip to Germany I have had a couple of spare days to do some more work on this project...

Since I have a track day coming up and I have had some Green Stuff pads waiting in readiness, I though I might as well strip the brakes, paint them and fit the pads while the front end was in the air. I was hoping to do the hoses as well but they hadn't arrived.

This is what I started with:


Time for some colour:


With the brakes fitted and bled I moved on the ducts. I have the front ducts more or less the shape I want them now but everything ground to a halt when I was figuring out the ducting exit. Whichever way I looked at it I was going to have to modify the arch liner, since the tyre largely obscures the foglight access panel that I was hoping to use. Rather than chop up the liner I removed the it and took a GRP mold from it:


I then blanked the access panel area of the mould since this is not needed now.


more...

 

...then laid up the mould to get a copy of the original minus the access hole:


After some fettling I got it to fit:





The next hurdle is to work out how the duct will weave it's way through the suspension components as it is all very cramped around there. It looks like there will be just enough room to clamp the exit duct to the suspension upright and run the flexi pipe upwards and back to the chassis leg, entering the arch liner somewhere here:


more...

 

Then connect to the back of the inlet here:


The inlets now look like this:


and the other side:


A while ago in the tread someone asked if the duct could be used as a CAI. Whilst I was molding up the liner it suddenly struck me that they would make an ideal cold air box...just fit a water trap and filter and run a flexi up to the intake...

More later,
Simon.

 

Good job... keep me in mind for the final kit...

 

No problem Derek, its all just taking longer than I thought. Trouble is I have got the GRP bug again and have noticed how easy it would be just to rip some molds from the side skirts and front bumper ...

...

Not forgotten you either Dan!



Simon.

 

Its nice to see that some people out there still have a decent memory. CAI box would be very "cool" I don't think there would be a need for 2 but it the shoe fits. This is turning out to be one of the nicest projects I've seen in a long time. Keep up the good work.

 

Simon:

Are you planning on modifying the side skirts and front facsia into an aero kit ?