FYREANT

So, I've been planning to upgrade my brake system on my base stingray since I got it. One of the things I decided needed to be done in preparation for this is adding the Z51/Z06 front and rear brake cooling ducts and deflectors. This how to will explain what you need to order as far as parts, and what you should pick up from the local hardware store as well as how to do it. Lets go..

Order all of these parts below, (linking them to Gene's site since he always has the best prices but you can order them locally from you dealer if you like with these part numbers as well..)

(LH denotes Driver Side, RH denotes Passenger side)

P/N: 22782379 - Rear Brake Cooling Duct RH
P/N: 22782378 - Rear Brake Cooling Duct LH
P/N: 22782381 - Rear Brake Cooling Deflector RH
P/N: 22782380 - Rear Brake Cooling Deflector LH

P/N: 22782375 - Front Brake Cooling Deflector RH
P/N: 22782374 - Front Brake Cooling Deflector LH
(It looks like the front deflectors have been combined together in a kit from GM with part number 22944235 now)

P/N: 23457041 - Front Brake Cooling Duct RH
P/N: 23457040 - Front Brake Cooling Duct LH

Once these arrive you will need to get some hardware. Head to Ace Hardware or equivalent to get the following:

- (14) M4-0.7 x 12MM bolts
- (14) M4 washers

(you will need 3 for each side of the rear deflectors, and 4 for each side of the front deflectors)

(Picture below)



Next head to Advance Auto or the like and get:

(2) Plastic auto snap clips (fender liner clips) (picture below)



ok, first things first, jack up the car, remove the rear wheels. Next, if you inspect the holes that I pointed out below, you will notice these holes are not threaded from the factory on the base model!! Oh no's!





So, in order to make this work, you will also need a Tap and Die kit. specifically, you will need a M4-0.7 Tap to complete this. (picture of a Tap and Die kit below)



Ok so next step is to tap these three holes on both sides of the car!



Once you get all your holes tapped, I would recommend getting the deflectors installed first, they are rather tricky to get the bolts in. DO NOT over-tighten these! remember, these bolts are clamping plastic down and if you over-tighten you will rip through the soft plastic!



Once you get these on, its all downhill from here. Well, at least for the back of the car. Next take out this 10MM bolt:



Now take your rear duct and put it up there where it should go, put the plastic tab with the bolt hole BEHIND the fender liner, and replace the bolt.



Now slide under the car, look into the inlet for the duct, and at the top we need to install the plastic clip.



Now the rear is done! As soon as I get the rest of the parts for the front I will update this DIY. Stay tuned... Same bat place, same bat channel!

Ant

FYREANT

Ok lets start the fronts. Today I installed the front deflectors. Still waiting on the front ducts and also for my number to be called to buy a Z06 grille.

I have updated the hardware list in the first post to include hardware for this part too..

Each of the front deflectors is held on by 4 bolts. Once again, NONE of the holes your mounting to are threaded/tapped on the base model, so you will have to tap them. Here is a pic of the first three holes to tap:



Here is a pic of the fourth one, which is quite challenging to get a tap into as the leaf spring gets in the way. I was still able to get it tapped though..



Once you get all these holes threaded, go ahead and bolt up the deflectors. Again, do NOT over tighten! these bolts are not holding the entire car together! LOL



Here is a shot of the installed deflector on the passenger side:



In another thread someone mentioned possibly needing to cut the fender liner to allow for the front ducts to come through. Based on this pic, I feel they are actually already the same liner as it looks exactly like its shaped for a duct to come through on the base model:



Also, for those who are wondering if the deflectors will interfere with wheel clearance on the base wheels, the fronts WILL require a good amount of trimming of the deflectors. There is plenty of room for the rears. If you plan to upgrade to 19/20 wheels, I would recommend doing it before installing the brake ducts to save you the time and hassle of trimming the deflectors. Here is a pic of the before and after of the trimming I had to do since I am still using the base wheels:



Here is a pic of the rear clearance:



Ok now moving on to the front brake cooling duct installs. First, you will need to make sure you get the below bolts from either your dealer, or comparable bolts from a hardware store. The silver bolt (You will need 4 of these) is a basic metric bolt that fits a 10mm socket (part number is 11609989), you may have these laying around as I did. The second bolt is a T10 Torx bolt (you will need 2 of these) and is the same as the ones you will remove from the wheel liner when taking them off. I the part number for this bolt is: 11570637.



First you will need to remove the small air dam wind deflectors from the bottom of the car. Remove these four 7MM bolts to do so:



Next remove the two 7MM bolts and the one 10MM bolt shown here:



Now you need to remove this black snap clip, and the three Torx T10 bolts show here:



Also, remove these two Torx T10 screws show here:



Now pull the wheel well liner out so it looks like this. That way you can easily get in there to do the install.



Here you need to remove the block off cover that's on the back of the grill. Its plastic welded in there in 6 spots, so you will need to use some clippers and break off the protruding plastic in these areas before the cover will come off.



Now you can go ahead and mount the duct up in there. Once you get the duct in place there are already two pre-tapped holes for two10MM bolts to go right in. Here is a pic of one of them. I didn't take a pic of the other as it is pretty obvious



Now if you notice at this point you can see a very noticeable gap between the front grill and the duct. This gap is also very ugly from the front of the car as well. On the Z51/Z06's there is a rubber piece surrounding the duct making it a better fit, but still not how I actually chose to mount mine. I actually chose to take a notch out of the plastic mounting area, and put the tab behind the mounting hole. I then used a zip tie to hold it in place like this:



here is a comparison of the factory mounting way and the large gap that it presents outlined and my way of mounting side by side from the front of the car to show the difference:



As you can see it looks much more aesthetically pleasing, and its quite secure in there with the zip tie.

At this point, follow the steps in reverse to install the wheel well liner back the way it was. Make sure that you also add your extra T10 Torx bolts here on each side:



And here is a before and after shot of the front of the car before we started and after we finished:



you're all set at this point, but if you want to do more, you can always add the Z06 front grille! I will add the installation of that here as well once Gene notifies me that I an next to place my order

Ant

FYREANT

For those interested in doing the Z06 front grille at the same time as the ducts, see Jeremy's video on how to remove the front bumper fascia. Heck, its the video I used when I did mine!

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...val-video.html

Ant

jagamajajaran

Thanks for this! Looking forward to seeing everything completed.

fusiongt

Good work!

FYREANT

updates above. Turns out the front deflectors WILL rub significantly, requiring being trimmed.

op z

The front deflectors are curious. It seems that they are not there to direct air from the brake duct to the rotor. The way they are positioned well below the duct makes it seem that they manage air flow from under the car towards the rotor.

Gene Culley

Thanks to op z...

I have added the Z06 front brake duct kit to the website. You can either just order the base front brake duct kit with hardware or you can add the control arm and rotor cooling deflector kit to go with it.

http://www.cultragfactoryparts.com/c...tbrakeductkit/

fusiongt

still have no info on Z06 front tag bracket????

Andy Sziraki

Do I NEED the z06 grille for this upgrade or can i use my Base Grille and still see gains from this kit. I am looking into purchasing the front and rear DUCTS ONLY for my base c7. They seem to be the biggest add on for cooling the brakes without any trimming or modifications being made. Thanks.

FYREANT

You do not need the Zo6 grille. The ducts will meet up to the base just fine.

leadville1

Are the Z06 brake ducts and upgrade over the stock Z51 kit?

FYREANT

At this point, I think they are the same ducts. We would have to wait to check part numbers for the Z06 when they become available. If they are different Only a side-by-side comparison will really be able to tell how much different they are..

Gene Culley

Z06 and Z51 brake ducts are the same.

FYREANT

thanks for the confirmation Gene!

I have completed the instructions above for the front brake duct installation as well as a shot of the before and after of the trimming required for the front deflectors. Hope this all helps you guys do you install!

Ant

Greenkirby21

Dump question, but to install the air ducts, do you have to lift up the car and remove the tires? Can it be done by just removing the front bumper?

Thanks!

op z

The bumper and wheels do not need to be removed to install the ducts. You just need to remove fasteners to move the liner out of the way. Takes about 1 hour.

Greenkirby21

Ah okay, what about needing a lift (don't have one at the moment)? Doesn't seem like it.

I'm planning on ordering Z06 grille + air ducts and DIYing it. Probably not doing the deflector. If I do, I'll do it if I get new wheels

Thanks for your DIY, many will find it useful: ).

op z

No lift required for bumper or ducts.

Gene Culley

Thank you for your business and all of your help!