Intercooler against radiator question.
 

So I'm in the midst of fitting my intercooler on my s5 and it was ever so slightly to long to fit where the coolant overflow is :(. So I was thinking, is it worth it or even possible to space the stock radiator back towards the engine and stack the intercooler underneath it and have them pretty much right up against one another, not right against so as to break or rub anything but very very close. I have not seen any pics of anything like it and I searched a bit and found nothing, but I know the closer the intercooler to the radiator the better!

sandwich mount, hell yeah. no air wasted between IC and rad that way. thats where ill be moving mine during the "build". Ill be going with an e-fan also as im sure the stock fan would hit the rad after moving it back.

Like a sandwich is how a proper fmic is supposed to be. Having space between cores disturbs airflow, and it will not push through the 2nd core very well. Almost every car or truck with a stock fmic is set up like a sandwich. My fathers dodge cummins pu is like this, and his freightliner is like that as well. My mothers genesis coupe has the cores stacked vertically, so that really doesn't count. Lol

Well in that case I'm doing this! It will look pretty stealthy from the front as well as you wont really see it at all!

been running mine that way since about 2005-ish.

You trendsetter, you.

definitely, unlike the old school greddy kit.

I had this set up. .. if you have a stock radiator your coolant temps may get too hot for comfort in the summer while you're beating on it.
Right now i have an air/water with the water coooler sandwiched in front of the a/c condenser. .. I suspect this has very detrimental effects on my ac in the summer abd ill probably end up moving it....

Hmm I guess I will just have to see, I'm using the stock rad for now with the stock fan since I've read so much good about the stock fan!

yup, stock fan does wonders on a stock car. throw a thick IC in front of the rad it kinda ruins that...

make sure if you do a sandwitch mount, you seal it up with foam. not expanding foam, but like... put strips of foam around the core and actually butt it up against the radiator. This will allow smoother airflow.

I agree with you about the stock fan doing wonders but the car doesn't have to be stock. I'm running 300 hp on low boost and my car never gets hot. I also have a thick intercooler in front of my radiator.

I noticed the biggest improvement on cooling when I ditched the AC condensor.

Who needs AC anyways lol

Rotary >Pistons

so were you able to sandwich mount and keep the stock fan/shroud?

any more info on this? really wantin to do this instead of a v-mount. thought i saw a pic of someone on here who used a neon's SRT4 intercooler sandwiched infront of the rad but had to use an e-fan set up.
But ill run out to the junkyard and grab a e-fan from a taurus or mercury villager or even heard some volvo's had a nice simple 3 wire efan stock with a thin shroud too ;) snatch all that up for under $20. just need 90's coming off the intercooler and alot less piping compared to a front mount.

Get a good Efan, wire it correctly, made sure alternator is up to par and by my NPR inter cooler off me.

Running a sandwhich would also (Pending on how you route the pipeing) keep you from cutting the front bumper up to get it all to fit. Love a vmount setup but the price kills me. The idea of sandwhiching the intercooler was were I was heading next. Just need time to see how it all will fit and what all piping I would need

Has anyone done a sandwich mount keeping the stock ac condenser?

You probably could with an NPR intercooler. I know a guy selling one.