I been seeing a lot of posts letely refering to what type of intercooler to go with. Obviously every set-up has different needs. But most people asking this question are using either the stock or a hybrid turbo. And generally looking to get 300-350whp. For this i believe a front mount is not only an over kill, but actually hurting the power band.

Here is what i have done to reach this goal. Modified top mount and some sort of AI. whether it be pure water, pure meth, a mixture, post turbo, pre-turbo, whatever.... inject something!!!

**I am not saying that because i did this, it has to be the best. Its just what i have found to work best for me through my own experience.

I have been wanting to do this for a few years now. And i finally dove into it. I tryed 6 different intercooler set-ups on my last FC to find out what worked best. But that had a much larger turbo. I believe with the stock turbo, the stock intercooler is best. But needs some help to be optimal. Thats when i added the water/meth, which is great. But the design of the stock intercooler bothered me some. the entry is OK, but the exit is horrible. And the TB elbow is even worse. so i did this....

(welds are kinda sloppy, i was having a hard time stablizing the arc. Found out after my TIG torch had some major problems. time to upgrade!)

 

few more...

 

finished product...

 

Here is where i was injecting my 50/50 water/meth mix when it was a stock intercooler to give you an idea for those that will keep it a stock top mount...

 

I have since changed from those cheasy Ebay blue rubber couplers to much better ones. I also plan on redoing the entry of the intercooler. Since i will be adding a hybrid turbo shortly, and the larger compressor will benefit from a slightly larger. better flowing entry. I'll update when that gets finished...

 

interesting! did you by any chance take pressure drop numbers or anything before and after?

i like it

 

Any chance of producing more? Im running top mount with water meth and a hybrid and would be quite interested. Especially with the improved entry

 

I did not. But i do have a stock TII intercooler i been wanting to test it against. I use to have this how-to on building a cheap home made flow bench. But i cant find it anymore...

 

I thought about it, And i have had like 5 people ask me to do it this month alone. But as usual with 2nd gen owners. When it comes time to pay up, there no where to be found.

And the design would have to be slightly different. Since this is on my RHD FC, so theres no Brake booster in the way. But it would be easy still to come up with something to fit a LHD FC...

 

Ok thats cool. Ive been looking for an old arc or hks for a while and cant find one. Guess ill keep on looking. Looks great though.

 

Very nice. It's good to see innovation alive and well and also a humble attitude that "my way is not better than yours, this is just what I decided to do."

If you do any comparison testing between your current setup versus stock, be sure to update us on that.

 

how do you add oil?

 

I removed the top half of the filler neck where it bolts down with the two 10mm bolts. I made a little cover and that bolts down there instead (you can kinda see it in one of the pics). I just remove the two bolts and fill it up using a funnel. It only adds maybe 1 minute to the oil change time... Plenty worth it to me.

I did the exact same thing when i ran an FD upper manifold in the past.

 

if only you had someway of measuring intake temps. removing the heat shield will help too, i noticed a small decrease in temps on the haltech, but at the expense of heat soak when stopped. but it as soon as you are up to speed the temps drop back down to normal. removed heat shield wont help too well with drag racing but im sure you would benefit on a road course

 

If a few people are actually interested, i can come up with a nice design i can reproduce.

 

I still have the shield underneath it. I would NEVER remove it. It's not really a heat shield. It's really there to keep water from raining down on all the wiring.

 

Well in that case id like to see a few fc owners let off the wallet and be interested.

 

on my 3 rotor, i just put 1 boost gauge in front of the IC and one after.

it turned out that a 270 degree bend in 1.75" pipe didn't flow that well....

 

if that is your reason, i would not worry about it. ive been running no heat shield for years with no problems

 

Those .45 rounds are there in case it doesn't work out right, correct?

I remember building my old FD, while I was back from teaching a CQC "seminar..." Had a pic of some various sexy turbos... As well as my (HK)416, a pair of ARs , My Sig (226N/T) and my partner's Glock....

I caught a ****-ton.

On a relevant point: How come you didn't extend farther out, from the IC, so the air didn't have such a harsh 90?

Great looking job!

 

I didn't extend it any further because to large an end tank will cause more lag. Which is a big reason i don't like front mounts on the stock turbo. 2.5" piping, huge intercoolers, miles of piping, hard bends, all on the tiny stock turbo... that's a no no. Front mounts may look shiny and cool, but not always the best choice.

 

i will gladly front the money for one. right this seccond in fact. i say we vote on a design that not only works, but isnt ugly.

 

wow, that's a sweet top mount setup, I hope I get access to a TIG welder when I transfer to this new school in a couple months here.

 

Nice job! I can see someone doing this for their own car, but as far as making money off this mod. I don't think it would be worth the time of the fabricator, or the money of the buyer, IMO. I like the work though, I hope I didn't offend anyone

 

Hmmm... I think that would really come down to the cost.

I mean, if it's going to be, like 5 bills a head, then one side would be fine, but not the other....
AS well, I think it would be a PITA for the fabber to have to deal with cores (unless they can get a bunch).