Standard I.C .efficiency?

[ro284]

I know they are small in size, but is that what limits thier efficiency? or could it be that the stock \'slot\' air flow to air filter shared with I.C. is also small,
i-e-not much volume of cooling air! Therefore is there any advantage in cutting a slot in front bumper to direct more air through the I.C.?  I SEE\' some aftermarket noses/bumpers have a slot moulded in. or would it be best to fit a fan?
Cheers for any info/thoughts,
Bob

[Fish]

Size is not the biggest issue with the stock I/C. It\'s more the location, stuck behind the radiator and aircon radiator is not the best place.

A bigger unit would allow more time for the air to cool, but if a good cold feed could be made then you\'re on to a winner.

Fish

[Stu.Wilson]

i\'l second the cold air feed. I have a Cwest front bumper and only until recently had my number plate slap in the middle of the bumper. I then realised that the number plate was actually blocking the whole cold air duct to the ic, whoops! So then repositioned the plate to the left of the bumper, leaving the air duct totaly exposed and instant result!! you can def notice the diference! and feel the ic pipe to the plenun is much much colder!

Mind you i don\'t know how easy this would be to do if anyone has standard front bumper? I would def recomend some form of air feed!

Stu

[Bobfish]

Even just adding 2 extra inches of plastic (or clear perspex) onto the existing IC duct can reap huge rewards.

[andrewrx7]

Remember that Mazda redesigned the air intakes in the post99 cars, so the IC and the airbox now had their own dedicated intakes, and not a shared one. So back to the comments above, even with a std IC, perhaps slightly better cooling can be achieved with improved air flow to the IC. But with such limited space etc, you need to be clever with how you\'d do that, without compromising air flow to the rad etc.

[ro284]

Well what i was thinking is this, two slots one for the I.C on the right, the one on the left a cold air feed, with shaped 100 mill alloy flexible tube ducting to the I.C, probably with chrome mesh for a nice finnish, but is it worth it i wonder, the slots could be cut quite easily and could be any shape, like 2 rotors! even or Mazda wings.

[sdminus]

Even the 99 spec cars suffer with crazy charge temps. The probs with the intercooler dont just stop at the poor ducting. The plastic end tanks are poor and its postion in general is bad. I would invest in a good FMIC inplace of choppin up the nose. Also behind that plastic nose cone is the front crash structure for the bumper. You will need to modify this as well. The nexy obsticle will be the slam panel. You wont be able to get anything underneath it with the stock intact duct there.

Its a nice idea but very difficult to pull off.
Scott

[andrewrx7]

Read this recently - interesting track testing with several IC\'s (granted, its with a tuned FD, but still gives a general pointer). Not sure how relevant it is to road use, though!!

"Other than intercoolers, both cars were nearly identical in every way. They were also driven by the same driver under similar track conditions. During our testing, ambient air temperature was 85 degrees F. The results were staggering. The intake temperatures in Project RX-7, despite 20 minutes of all-out race conditions, never exceeded 158 degrees F. By comparison, the car with the stock intercooler experienced intake temperatures as high as 248 degrees F. In fact, within 5 to 7 minutes of race conditions, a cool-down period was required to keep the car from overheating. On the other side of the spectrum, Project RX-7 (with the upgraded intercooler and high efficiency radiator) never began to show any signs of heat related stress. In fact, coolant temperatures remained constant at 210 degrees F--right where they were while idling in the paddock! Again, just incredible."

Main article was from Sport Compact Car Web : LINK