After watching a history video on the Sting Ray the narrator claimed the functional side vents on the 65 were to cool brakes. I thought all 65 Sting Rays had disc brakes. Is this correct?
-
-
Re: Functional side vents on 65
Yes except for the (very few) that took the "disk Brake Delete" option which allowed GM to use up the leftover '64 brake parts until the supply was exhausted.Bill Clupper #618 -
Re: Functional side vents on 65
And the vents exited engine compartment heat. The brakes had no airflow to the those vents as they were enclosed in the wheel wells. SteveComment
-
Re: Functional side vents on 65
Walter,
The louvers on the front 1/4 panels are to let air flow out of the engine bay, not to cool brakes.Comment
-
Re: Functional side vents on 65
The side vents had no real effect on brake cooling, but they did provide another path for hot, high pressure air to escape the engine compartment, though they weren't big enough to significantly reduce front end lift.
The disk brake system has "splash shields" inboard the disk... more for preventing dirt from creating excess wear if the car is driven a lot on dirt roads. I believe the splash shields have openings near the ID that allows air to enter the inside of the disk hat section, and it exits out the rotor vents to provide cooling.
The disk brake system was so overengineered that cooling was never an issue in road driving. Racers normally removed the splash shields and sometimes fabricated ducts to route air to the inside of the hat section where it provided additional air flow through the rotor vents.
The above is from my recollection of an SAE paper on the new disk brake system that was included as a supplement to Corvette News back in '65.
DukeComment
Comment