After seeing all the RW V-mount "kit" horror stories I've decided to post up some pics of my alternative to such shoddy craftsmanship. The mostly done KTEC (Sen2two) V-mount setup. It's "mostly" done because some companies ship faster than others and I had to pic the car up before all the parts had arrived...

 

Where them pics playa?

 

The pic uploader was running hella slow...

 

Anyways....
So I was lookin for a FMIC and I figured I could prolly build one pretty cheap...

The EVO core I got from an evo forum, the aluminum "radiator hoses" came from 80's and 90's turbo volvos.
Total cost $87 [the EVO 8 core did NOT come from the yard, lol]


I didn't want to remove the front crash bar, nor did I want to lose A/C and I wanted to install fog lights, so mounting was getting ...tedious

I started experimenting w/ different setups, this looked promising...


until....

 

thats not really a v-mount setup, thats no different than how most people used to set up npr intercoolers in their cars.

 

Then I did a little research and found that the dimensions of the Corksport FMIC core are just a little bigger than the EVO core, and they route the piping in such a way that you don't lose fog lights or any structural supports.

But short of buying their whole piping kit (if they even sell it separately) I would need to either weld or use a stupid amount of couplers to duplicate that setup...

Enter KTEC aka Sen2two... after seeing what he did to the stock top mount I was confident he'd be able to figure something out.

https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/modified-top-mount-907746/

 

Apparently its more difficult to weld decade plus old oily volvo piping lol, so I'd have to buy new (uniform diameter) piping for the front mount. Even the cheapest piping kits were $100 after shipping, however a v-mount would only require a 90* a 45* and a straight pipe .... Plus I'd planned on going V-mount when I upgraded turbos anyway.

 

haha there you go, sry for the ******** statemeant earlier. lol. **** looks good so far man keep up the work and pics


i absolutely love doing v-mounts on cars. i've done a few on s13's and s14's and would love to do one on my car but can't see myself getting rid of my hood to do one(odula cf hood). heres a pic of the most recent one i did on a high comp sr20det

 

After the battery relocation, the only thing left was to find this guy...


Off to KTEC...

 

Cliff Notes:

PS........................check
A/C......................check
Bumber support....check
Crash bar..............check
Hood latch.............check
Stock style rad.......check
Oil cooler relocation..nope
Custom A/C lines.....nope

 

Finally posted some pics up huh...lol

Oh yeah, Bout time we put that BOV on. My welder burnt out another part. I ordered all new EVERYTHING and upgraded also. Got it all in yesterday. Gotta hook it all up we can finish it all up.


Funny how I still have the top mount... but no AC, power steering, heater, stock oil cooler, ect... lol WTF?

 

Are you sure those e-fans aren't hindering airflow into the radiator?

Can you post a picture looking through the grill of the car please?

I like that you kept AC. Good fab work thus far.

 

I´m building a similar setup, i´ll post some pics of it because i have the same intercooler but i will route the piping between the alternator and the thermostat housing because i want to use an old school intake elbow that ends in that position.

Good luck man and i hope we both have succes on those setups!!!

 

Yea, yea yea....I'm too lazy to upload pics to my comp, and it takes too long going directly from my phone.

Awesome!can't wait for this setup to be complete, ducting and bov and I should be there...

Hmmm...seems like some awfully convoluted piping to have that IC connect to that location. You'd be better off with a core that had the inlet/outlet on the same side if you're dead set on using that elbow...although personally I'd ditch the elbow it will induce some pretty sharp angles as far as piping goes.

 

Funny that u mention that....
Short answer...No. I drove from Orlando to Jacksonville just like that, even w/no ducting, temps never broke 200° and I'm fairly certain there was a large air bubble in the cooling system.

That being said, I ended up having to pull the a/c condenser to"massage" the stock line into position, and when I did I moved the fans.
The fit was EXTRA snug. The bottom sits on the tubular support bar and the top edge was convinced to fit under the lip of the top tank of the rad, they hung there w/o zip ties, lol.



most e-fans (than can be switched) actually move more air as pushers (original configuration) as rated by cfm. However it seemed to me that a puller config. would be more efficient for this setup. I could see how air might not make it through both cores when its being "pushed", but if its being pulled, the only place it could come from is the other side of the rad/condenser.

 

Thanks for the picture, I now see the angle the radiator was mounted at. I bet you've got a lot better ground clearance than those other kits out there!

 

yep!!!

The oil cooler is the lowest part of the whole system, even the lower rad hose tucks up nicely. It all fits with the stock under tray as well.

I'll be addressing that shortly...


I made some bumper mods aw well, just gotta upload the pics...

 

Update:
Finally got around to completing my s5 exterior swap and I had to figure out what to do about the bumper support...


Why not use something that was just going to get thrown away? The plastic sheets that used to cover the evaporator and relays attached to the rad support have been put to a far better use... Also, the relay mounting bar was cut so it could be bent flat, no longer posing am obstruction to air flow.

 

nice set up man keep up the good work. one day i'll have turbo motor with a v-mount set up.

 

That setup looks sick. I'm inspired to go start on mine right now haha.

 

One of the few casualties of this setup was the loss off the stock horns (a real tragedy...lol). I was going to wait and upgrade to a Hella supertone, butthat's not a priority, and almost having a minivan merge on to of me has help make the case for a horn of any type, even if its a sorry one. Plus an alarm is only half effective w/no horn....

Oh, and the best part is that both the mounting bracket (re-bent the stock one) and the pass through for the wire use stock holes!

 

Tidying up The underside before I re-fit the under tray;
A little wether stripping to replace missing foam
A cutout from the discarded bumper support foam to seal the to edger of the oil cooler
"Vernors Michigan original" armor to protect the lower read hose (the hose was wrapped in rubberized foam insulation taper prior to devouring the cans...

 

Update:

It would suppose that oil cooler fans are mandatory on (street driven) v-mount setups. In the stock configuration the clutch fan pulls air through both the rad and oil cooler while not moving. However the oil cooler gets no lovefrom the rad fans in a v- mount.

I have noticed that even w/o proper ducting temps stay between 185-190 when moving faster than 40-50mph. However if I even stop in the drive through temps will continue to creep (as high as 230° before I shut it down or get moving again). Once the fans come on, they don't turn off and I could only attribute this to oil temps.

My solution, an oil cooler fan, I couldn't find a suitable unit at the junk yard, and most motorcycle/atv oem units were either too big or too expensive. After reading a thread on the topic on rx8club I decided to go w/a computer case fan. Surprisingly it held up for years on the rx8 and fans have come a ways since then.....

http://www.ebay.com/itm/180758652926?redirect=mobile

I was going to order 2 but I figured I'd try one and see how effective it was. ....So far, so good it comes with the rad fan @ 190° and cycles off at 180. I might need to add another fan once I get the a/c working or the weather warms up, we shall see....

 

Any updates? I like the garage mechanic DIY route.

Justin

 

Fans work great, when sitting in traffic, I have no queries about adding in the a/c condenser once I get some custom lines made. The ducting has made the biggest difference temp wise however. Now that it's getting cooler I may actually have to remove it to get to operating temp .