Brake ducting

[m610]

What are people doing in terms of brake ducting for the 5th gen Prelude?

[TypeSH]

No ducting needed so far on the tracks I race at. Are you racing your 5th gen Prelude in ITS? If so what track did you fade your brakes at??

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David Rierson
#53 ITS Honda Prelude
Texas Region

[m610]

I'm not racing (yet?), and I am drivng a 5th gen. I've been driving in SCCA's Street School at Thunderhill (www.thunderhlll.com)and in NCRC's (NCRacing.org) club events at Thunderhill. (I'll try Laguna Seca in December.)

Thunderhill is about 3.2 miles long, with hills. I manage to find about 105 MPH in the straights and enter turn 1 at 75-80 and the tighter turns at the end of the back straight at about 35-40 (too busy there to look at the gages). Several turns are quite a bit slower, about 10-20 mph, and these require the most braking.

Later in the day the pedal travel inceases significantly, but once I find the new position where the brakes engage the pedal feels firm. Several times I have finished the day with what feels like a warped rotors and have had to have them resurfaced. When I replaced my first set of OEM pads I noticed what looked like a lot of heat damage. They were glazed looking, except in the centers where a quarter-sized dimple had formed. This spot was rough and granular looking. It looked to me like the pads had come apart there. I've using OEM pads but plan to switch to a street/track pads.

So far brakes are my only real problem, other than not having 400+ HP like most of the other NCRC cars on the track. Next time out I'll concentrate on being nicer to my brakes, taking more advantage of the cool-down lap, etc., but I think I'll still need to cool them.

[jc836]

Ran at Watkins Glen and only had fade during cooldown coming into the paddock one time. Checked the pads and they were at 40% thickness. The rotors were fine. We switched pads for our next event at Pocono and there was no fade at all. I run the car as a street/HPDE machine. I now use AEM/Nissin pads and have had no problems with them slowing both the Prelude and CRX(ITA) down from 100+ on both tracks. I do not have ducts on either car-but will put them on the CRX as the pedal tends to get a bit soft after 25 minutes.
I suspect that my fade problem was pad related more thna temperature. We run stock type rotors (Brembo blanks) on both cars. Terminal speed on the back straight at The Glen for me (slightly shy I am) is about 110 going into the Bus Stop and entering Turn 1 is around 90 in the CRX.
You may want to consider other pads as a first option. If you are located in a part of the country where temp's are high to begin with then ducts are a good answer as well
Just my experience.

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Grandpa's toys-modded suspensions and a few other tweaks
'89 CRX Si-SCCA ITA #99
'99 Prelude=a sweet song
'03 Dodge Dakota Club Cab V8-Patriot Blue gonna tow

[This message has been edited by jc836 (edited November 09, 2003).]

[m610]

Thanks. I do expect improvement using different pads.

I remember that I did use a laser pyrometer to check the temperatures after returning to the paddock. I'm not exactly sure of the temperature any more (since last May) but I think they were around 275F on the rotors, off the scale (over 525F) when I pointed it into the crevices in the calipers.

It does get pretty hot here. 105F and possibly higher in the summer.

[four27]

Originally posted by m610:
What are people doing in terms of brake ducting for the 5th gen Prelude?
Change your rotors and pads to the ones that Frozen Rotors sells. They go by Diversified Cryogenics. I got 1.5 ITS race season on my set. Amazing longevity.

[Tom Blaney]

You can find brake duct and treated rotors at my site http://www.sbmsinc.com/race_shop.html