Do the ducts look or ?

Opinions please. I Photoshoped these cooling ducts onto my car.

If installed, I would use the duct tubing to route the airstream into the engine compartment.

Pegasusautoracing - Air Dam Air Inlet Ducts (click here)

 

Great use of smileys in the poll

 

nice, i would run one tube to each brake and the other to the engine ;-)

 

Maybe down in the lower grille area would look better, but would it be of any benefit down there?

 

i wouldn't cut them into the bumper. Maybe into the lower grille's to keep em more stealth and then run a short tube to direct air flow

 

:shakehead

 

^ DAMN!! i bet he needs coolings ducts to cool down his ass.

i dunno about where its at now ( maybe the photoshop) but if you put it in the lower grill, i think you would be blocking air from coming in. It would be same air different direction vise same lower air PLUS more air new direction.

 

Yeah I think it would look really terrible if you cut your bumper to install them there. If you could mount them behind the grill inserts on either side of the ACURA bumper logo and route one of those holes with ducting toward the brakes and the other up into the engine that would probably be a lot more ideal.

 

Inaccurate - Do you have a photo shoot of you car? I want to see what your stripped down car looks like...

 

Haha I was thinking about functional cooling ducts, but for astectics sake maybe try the TypeS Aspec's fog light holes.

 

stillhere had a duct on his type-s. it was wrapped(possibly all) carbon fiber. it looked pretty good

 

 

had no idea you could use smileys in polls!

I can't speak for the functionality of those vents either way, but no it doesn't look good, at least not in the photoshop. I like Afg's better, it's a NBP-S and he has a CF wrapped inlet as mentioned and it looks decent.

 

So here is what you do:

Cut out a space from your lower grills. As if you were guna do the accord fog light mod. Next......place the ducts there.... Finally: Route the tubing to whatever part of your car will benefit the most from fresh air. (ie brakes, engine, ass..jk)

and wala u have a winner.

 

That's what I was thinking and is what I am going to do instead of doing a grill mod.

 

My vote=

 

Lower grill

 

if you put it behind the lower grills it will do just the job well... no need to make 2 huge holes in ur bumper...

ps. here was my original design... it is a varis cf vent for a nissan 350z

 

Ugly...I prefer the single cut in the bumper as posted above...If not a NACA style duct.

 

I like the stillhere's duct, that looks slick and flows well. 04Komodo has the same duct on his TL I believe. It all depends on the look you are going for and what you use your car for I guess

 

Thanks for the candid feedback guys

For those that suggested the lower oem grille opening - I agree, this is a good suggestion for an alternative location for the ducts. I have the lower grilles opened already. So, there is probably some air finding it's way into the compartment. I can peer thru the driver side lower grille and see a large section of the trans. Hopefully, the airstream enters the lower grille, into the compartment, past the engine/trans, and out thru the removed cowling (UCM (clickable)). I want to keep this current airflow, plus gain more from the new ducts in that location.

For those suggesting tubes to the brakes - With the equivalent of 900 lbs removed from my TL, the rotors stay way cool.













I highly doubt that my car is worthy of an official photo session. However, I do have many photos in the TL diet (clickable) thread.






I like this comment from "myron" . The more I look at that photoshop pic, the more I am thinking of doing. I am after the function and I sort of enjoy having my car look "rough" (aka, ). To me, that equals menacing. Pus, the look will probably match the overall Terminator motif (more ).

In closing, I do appreciate the feedback guys. Unfortunately, the urge may just overcome your wise advice. Your comments have prepared me for where I stand with this mod.

Thanks guys

 

The problem with putting those ducts in the lower ducts is the space. There are structural supports in the way so running ducting would be a bitch. If I was you I would just run custom ducting through the existing holes. Use the airflow going into those lower vents and divert it somewhere. By the looks of it those lower dams are just "scattering" the air since they are not directed anywhere specific. Control it and that would help your car a lot more from looking at my standpoint. The structural parts might get in your way a little but I am pretty sure you can make something work. That will give your car a clean look and keep your aero/airflow controlled.

Thats just my opinion.

 

Nail,

Thanks for the help.

I have *no* bumper beam. It is gone. There is nothing but space behind that area where I want to place the new ducts.






I will be using duct tubing (clickable) to route (direct) the fresh air into strategic locations in the engine compartment.






I know that I appear crazy. However, if a person was to feel what I feel, you would not want to lose it to the summer heat. I lightly touch my throttle and my car feels like it has a 454 Chevy Big Block. With light throttle between 2-3K rpm, I can feel being pushed into the seat. Last summer threatened to take that away from me until I fought back by creating the UCM. I plan to stay two steps of the heat this coming summer.

 

Fyi they sell the Varis 350z CF vents for the later Z (prior to the 370Z)... It has the dual intake mani watchemacallit so they have varis vents that are for each side

This would look far more attractive and still look rugged... Accuratein installed a second cf vent on his ride for a short time... Don't think it was a photoshop...

Try and photoshop varis vents instead they route the air the same way as the dual duct... It's simple to attached the ducts inside the bumper

 

Looks like the placement of your vents are where you would need to mount them in order to route your duct to the area of the engine...

I'm with you Inaccurate. Function; and it suites your "theme"(Terminator)

 

Inacc.. I don't really feel one way or the other on the looks department but I don't see the big gains since you already shark mouthed the grill & removed the lower grill covering. It seems like you have more than enough airflow through the front..

 

The problem I see with this is he has enough flow yes...But its not pointed at any certain direction which is making him lose efficiency which is what I was getting at at my last post.

 

Majofo,

Thanks for your candor. I am feeling the same way.

I do have a tendency to go overboard with stuff (go figure ). However, I have been questioning myself of what the benefit would actually be. The volume of air from the duct (in comparison to the UCM) would not be enough to justify the ducts.

I suppose what triggered the duct mod is that I installed the metal mesh into my grill opening last week. The mesh will reduce the incoming airflow into the Shark mouth by approx 40%-50%.

So, no more Shark Mouth. I had been too paranoid with something hitting my condenser / radiator. The final straw was when I got a large ding recently. The ding left a 10mm diameter crater in the fins. The tubes were not harmed, but it got too close for me. I figure that I better not push my luck any longer. So, my grill now looks like the other member's open grill with the black powder-coated mesh.

Airflow wise, I should be ok with the mesh. I created the UCM while I had the oem grill center bar in place. And, I was pleased with the UCM cooling while I had the oem grill. The oem center bar blocked approx 40% of the frontal area of the grill. So in theory, the mesh will flow as much air as the oem grill.

Thanks for the advice Majofo

 

I hear you.. especially Texas.. all types of rocks & debris get kicked up.

What about some type of air diffusers to direct air from under the grill? If anything, I say go for it.. especially if you're able to channel the airflow through the engine compartment as nail suggested.

 

Nail,

What are your thoughts on using duct tubing (clickable) to route (direct) the fresh air into strategic locations in the engine compartment ? There would be a total of four of these tubes.

 

Those will work. It will help divert air to where you need it. If you can divert the openings around the condensor into the engine bay I think you will be able to cool more than enough of the engine. Mainly because it does allow air through but only so much. Its still a restriction. If you can go around it should be able to push quite a bit of air to lower your temps if you want to go that route.

 

Thanks for helping Nail

For the moment, I am undecided. But, it is good having this as Plan B ready if I do need to pull the trigger and do it. I will just wait for an inspirational sign, or wait for summertime to see how things go (pun intended ).

And, I thank the other people that posted and for those that voted.

 

what if you could figure out how to graft a TSX front bumper to the Tl bumper. It would look like AccurateIN's front bumper since they don't make it any more. Than you could make a large duct that lead to wherever you want it to

 

The two openings on the side is enough. Also if you look underneath the vehicle air is also directed upward into the engine bay. There is a significant opening between the bumper and condensor areas. IMO the TSX part would be a lot of work. But there are other more hardcore ways for ducting but I only see those used in racecars. You can put them in road cars but it will be more work.

 

Just put them in the lower grill

 

your filter never gets soaked in the rain or hit by debris?

 

I have been thru many heavy downpours. I have never experienced an issue. I have never detected any difference in drivability when wet.

Few small pebbles and few small bugs get wedged between the pleats facing the front. Nothing bad.

 

kewl