I heard that putting a front mount intercooler isnt good for a daily driven...that its only good for track due to the fact the car is always moving......that on the streets its always stop and go.......that no air would be able to cool the motor through the front of the mouth of the car....yet i hear that its ok to have a front mount and have no problem even if its a daily driven......so which is it????good or bad front mount on a FC

 

well, with the stock top mount you still have stop and go, so air is still not flowing through. at least with a FMIC you don't have all the heat in the engine bay escaping through your intercooler and the hole in the hood.

 

if you do go the FMIC route an upgraded radiator like a koyo is a great idea bc they have so much more cooling capacity (and cheaper than a fluidyne). the stock radiator is insufficient enough on a modded TII and a hot day. a FMIC is totally acceptable for a daily driven car...it will cool the turbo system much more effectively allowing you to run higher boost levels without crazy hot intake charge temps. the only downside i can see is the cost and the lag since longer IC piping will make for a laggier turbo system. any car thats going to have a FMIC should really upgrade the radiator though, no sense in running more boost and making more power if you'll overheat the motor after a couple of runs.

 

usually you hear of heating problems because a front mount blocks the air to the radiator

 

Yeah, I would have to say it is the opposite of what you say-

FMIC OK for daily driver, not going to cut it for circuit track use w/ out a very specialized FMIC/radiator set-up.

In daily driving situations you are using the 300-600hp peak power of the engine about 1-5% of the time. The resultant heat energy from that HP level is wasted into the volume of coolant and can be cooled down easily in the 99-95% of the time you are using a fraction of the peak HP.

On the ciruit, you are using the 300-600hp comming out of EVERY corner and on EVERY straight for laps and laps at a time. There is not time for the volume of coolant to act as a heatsink as there is MUCH less time spent at partial HP levels. The cooling system must be able to handle the peak HP levels continuously.

 

Yeah, but you'll have much faster air speeds through the fmic and the radiator. If you're conserned, either cut the opening on the bumper or add one of MikeL spoilers and duct the opening to the oil cooler/radiator area.