Which Intercooler!!!!

[iaint]

Hmmm - don\'t want to get into a big tuning discussion so I won\'t comment on iaint\'s post, but to clarify the whole pressure drop thingy...

Sounds like you disagree with my summary..?  :wiggle


Chris - One other thing to note about installing a FMIC is that (quite obviously) the rad sits behind it and it\'s VERY important to have an intercooler that allows enough air to pass through at sufficient speed to properly cool the rad.  Essentially this means a less-dense core than some other cars can use due to the higher temps the FD operates at.

I\'ve had a lot of discussion with various people about intercoolers and the FD recently as I\'m in the process of having a custom one fabricated at the mo.  It seems that larger isn\'t always better and that some of the big name kit (e.g. the Apexi GT) have a well deserved reputation - you\'re basically paying for the R&D that Apexi, etc, have put in to it!

One anecdotal piece to back this up - was chatting to Geff or Chris @ re:worx about this and they recalled one example where the stock intercooler provided better results than a largeish FMIC in terms of response and power...

[antnicuk]

just about every intercooler kit out there has 90 degree bends or tighter,  i appreciate that straight is better but as for saying its a no no,  i\'d like to see one fitted without a 90 degree bend or 2 somewhere in the inlet track.

Most Single turbo\'s have 180 degree bends coming out of them......

Just as a side,  to back up what was said above,  you must make sure if you fit a front mount that you will get enough air to your rad, which is why people are going for a v mount,  best of both worlds, but you should really have a vented bonnet to make this work as well as it should.

I fitted mine flat in the bottom of the car,  like an upside v mount,  it works well,  water temps stay nice and cool,  air temps on the rolling road were 27 with an ambient of 24 degreesC at almost 1 bar of boost under hard load.

I bet you wish you hadnt asked now............ :xconfused  :xconfused

My personal feeling with mods, is that the best way is to decide what you want to do,  what power you want,  speak to a tuner if your not doing it yourself,   get things in the right order and work towards your goal,  otherwise you will end up buying things that later down the line wont cope or are of no use.   Also, be prepared for an engine rebuild at somepoint,  this is the best time to do mods, but its a costly afair.... :eek
Regards
Tony

[JamesFD3]

Agree with Iain,the primary reason I chose mine was it had a large frontal area but more importantly has quite a narrow core to allow plenty of airflow through to the rad,I\'ve also got extra ducting to the rad from the lower inlets in the RAYS bumper.Aircon has been ditched.

Compared to the OE stock mount,well there is no comparison really,I was seeing massive heat soak on the OE intercooler and as a result,silly inlet temps from which it would never really recover.The power would tail off dramatically and you\'d struggle to overhaul anything down the straight.

With the new setup the power is always there which is nice

James

[Mike]

Sounds like you disagree with my summary..?

Its not that I disagree, just believe there are gains to be had by fitting a FMIC alone without the need for all the other mods you list. If your increasing boost, then yes the fueling needs attention - sorry, just re-read your post  - thats what you said...  :spank

It seems that larger isn\'t always better

Correct - I may have been misleading in my post.
Don\'t forget that controling the air flow is an important factor in designing an instalation.

To do it properly you need to know heat rejection figures for the engine (both coolant and turbo to intake air) with respect to engine power output. Also need coolant capacity and pump flow rates.

...or look for what works on other peoples cars. Sometimes, like in this case, easier...

Mike.

[fro]

There\'s a lot of useful information on this post. I agree totally about the bends issue - unfortunately you can\'t do without at least 2 90 degree bends on a FD and sadly sometimes they have to be tight, shame since they are the major cause of pressure drop
As Mike says, flow is an extremely important issue. I fell foul of a very poorly built fmic (in fact it\'s probably the one that Geff or Chris mentioned) for this reason..
The fmic in question was from Forge motorsport. After a few days of fitting it (I had to fab the brackets and pipework) I took it up to reworx for mapping. Previous figures for my car with a smic (a ARC standard sized one) were 312rwbhp @ 7000rpm and approx 270lbft of torque @ 5000rpm. With the FMIC (after adding a load of fuel), the graph was identical up to 6krpm but dropped off to nothing afterwards netting a 30-35bhp loss.

Geff diagnosed a flow problem so we swapped to a standard SMIC and, hey presto, the power came back.
I\'ve since taken the FMIC off and, looking at the core through the end tanks, you can see why it\'s so bad - the tubes through the core are miniscule and many are blocked with blobs of weld. Imagine running 100 metres breathing through a straw and you get the idea. The end tanks are also pretty poor from a flow point of view, ie. square.

Anyway, lesson learned. I\'m in the process of fitting a PWR charge cooler which will give a much smaller inlet tract and much better flow  :cool

[John Yorke]

[

Anyway, lesson learned. I\'m in the process of fitting a PWR charge cooler which will give a much smaller inlet tract and much better flow  :cool[/QUOTE]


Another way forward, after extensive testing [including last weekends trip to the Ring] I can confirm that if well plumbed a C C is a very good option.

[Mike]

I was looking at Charge coolers but couldn\'t find any suitable ones...

Any of you guys with them feel like posting some pics and your experiences?

Mike.