I've always felt that low level front fog lights are a waste of time. Sure, they give a sportier look but in my experience they offer little benefit in terms of illumination, unless you are only interested in the 3 feet immediately in front of your car, rather than looking into the distance where you are actually heading.

So I decided to remove the fogs and make up some brake ducts which I think I will get more benefit from especially on trackdays.

I've only just started this project but for those interested here's some pics of how far I have got.

First it was out with the lamps.


Then prep them to take molds from.


Take molds from the lamps.


Make some 'positives' from the molds to form the front of the duct.


Oh, only 4 pics per post alllowed...

 

more pics...

Fabricate the duct and blend to the face.


Trial fittings.




Next step is to make up the back of the duct and a molding to replace the light access panel in the wheel arch, add some mounting 'ears' and then repeat for the LH side.

Please excuse the dirty Crossfire, I went for a blast this morning and the roads are covered in salt! It'll get a wash tomorrow, honest.

More later...

Simon.

 

It darn well better!!!

 

It gets worse, they have decided to resurface my road, so I now have a couple of weeks of tar and chippings to contend with.

 

Want to sell those foglights?? Couldn't buy the black blanks from the base Crossfire model and cut a hole in it?

 

Sorry Dan, but I am going to hang on the lamps so I can put them back if I sell the car.

Never seen a Crossfire with the blanks, we only get one trim level of xfire here, no 'base' just the equivalent of 'your' Limited. I guess I could have ordered them through a dealer if I had known they existed but they don't even seem to carry brake pads in stock! The duct will actually be a long molded duct from the face through the bumper and exiting beyond the access panel in the arch rather than just a hole in the faceplate. Plus it's often difficult to get the polyprop. bumper material to blend with the polyester filler/resin successfully long term. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Simon.

 

Simon... it never amazes what we Xf owners are doing to our vehicles to enhance astatically and performance wise...

since you made the molds, will you sell and ship your modification to XF owners looking to do the same as this will save us time??

cheers,

josh

ps. where in the UK are you??

 

Thanks Josh,

Sure, if anyone else wants to do the same mod I can supply the moldings. I've done that before with some PT bits I made. The moldings are relatively small and light so shipping probably won't be prohibitive.

I'm in Leicester, right in the centre of the UK.

Cheers,
Simon.

 

Hello Simon didn't we chat before? Last year?
Either way I'm interested because I've had two fog lamps crack so far and would prefer just the air duct. Maybe it will cool my brembos even more! Are you adding a grill to the face too? Thanks.

 

Hi Dan,

To be honest I can't recall our chat, but we may have done, I tend to lose track.

Yep, the ducts should help with the Brembos, its good to hear you'll be driving hard enough to get them hot.

I wasn't actually going to fit grills since the venturi type shape doesn't really lend itself to this. I guess you could fit one further down the duct itself.

Anyway, I've just done some more work on them and shot some paint on them to checkout the shape better (gunmetal was all I had, they will be body colour on the finished items). You will see in the pics what I mean about the grill...

 

nice work... looks to be very well done.

 

I'll take a set. Email me. How many $$$'s and I assume you have the ducts done also?

 

That's great Dan!

I am actually still working on the ducts. Originally I was going to have a single molding that inserted through the access panel but there is not enough room to get it in. So I am now changing to a two-piece design; a front venturi (in the pics) that fixes to the fog light mounts with a short section of 70 mm flexi-silicone tube, then a replacement access panel with an integral vertical (100 x 30) duct that pushes into the tube and directs the air at the brake area. I will be continuing working on this next weekend. I am waiting for some costs to come back on the tubing then I can work out a cost for a complete kit of parts. I'll drop you a PM as soon as I get an answer and have worked out the GRP materials and lay-up/finishing time. Would you want them painted, primer or raw gel coat?

Cheers,
Simon.

 

Thanks Andrew. Things are just taped in place in the pics. Hopefully it should look a bit more integrated once I paint it and mount it up tight to the fascia.

...

Midnightman, see I said I was going to wash it.

Simon.

 

Just an update...

Having temporarily mounted the duct up the car I was concerned about the amount of air actually feeding into the duct. I should have thought about this earlier but due to the shape of the valance and the position of the duct almost on the corner, the airflow tends to move across the face of the duct rather than into it. So I decided to reshape the duct to avoid this cure this. I think I prefer the smother, blended look of the original but if its not doing the job then what's the point? Anyway here's a couple of pic of the roughly reshaped duct - maybe the more aggressive style might grow on me.

Dan, let me know if this is still acceptable for you.

Simon.

 

Nice Job, looks great!
Make sure you balance the amount of air to the rotor.
If you cool one side too much you could have warpage.

 

Thanks Stryfox. I am going to do some tests with an infra-red thermometer to see where the best place to direct the air will be. There's not a lot of room to get ducting to the centre of the rotor though. I'll hopefully post the results at the weekend.

Simon.

 

Cool, just wanted to make sure you knew about it.
It is hard to tell on the internet what people know. Just trying to help.

 

My car is alabaster, but i thought the same as the bottom grills might look ok? What do you think?

 

Stryfox,

No problem, its always good to get comments and suggestions. Its all too easy to overlook things and then kick yourself for not taking note of something someone has pointed out.


Dan,

Do you mean paint the ducts satin black like the lower grill? It could give quite a different, sportier/aggressive look to the front end by accentuating ducts, especially against the Alabaster. Its easy enough to paint them up and see how they look on mine. Looks like a job for Photoshop!

I have had some cost back on the 70mm silicone ducting but need to work out the actual lengths and whether to use ali and/or GRP for the rear duct assembly. I am ordering it up for the weekend so should have a better idea once I have mocked it all up on the car. There's not much cost in the GRP materials, just quite a bit of time in the laying-up and finishing.

Cheers,
Simon.