Liquid to air intercooler VS Fmic
 

I am thinking about doing this to save me from doing fmic.
Just wondering anybody here did this before.Is it better then Fmic setup.

yes, its better. BDC has done a setup and so has many others. overall water quantity and flow of the water through the intercooler is key. flow as much wawa through the thing and have a decent sized tank. also, probably get another 2nd gen oil cooler and use that as a radiator. make sure to modify it to flow continuously.

what kind of pump do i need to use and water, i heard ford lightning uses water/glycol.

use a ford lightning pump. i mean... its a standard part. should not be too expensive or hard to find.

hmm i need some pix to get a idea where to mount now

Stick with the FMIC. Theres nothing like a Big FMIC on an Rx7. Water to air is going to be a little difficult to install. Its designed for sudden speed accelerations like drag races or running from the cops. When you get up to speed with any FMIC it will work fine. I promise. The more you put on the car, the more can go wrong. Check out the site i just updated it.

true, but it is an option.

i just dont like the fmic setup on fc's nice big ones stick out too much and kind of too long piping.I ws thinking bout a vmount then i need a new hood to make it really work which i like my stock hood more.
Right now i have a haltech ecu on it and everything been remove so i dont mine putting some new stuff back lol engine bay looks too empty now.
By the way it is going to be a autox and cruiser.

VMIC ftw.

It is not better unless it has a super-cooling component such as an ice chest. BDC likes to learn the hard way, but I guess that is better than not learning.

Read this if you want to learn the easy way:
http://www.turboneticsinc.com/sites/...tercooling.pdf

You can run the stock TMIC with AI if you want to avoid the FMIC.

Try being married to me! Only then will you understand what my wife has to go through on a daily basis!

B

Ill be running a water to air on the 3 rotor. Fitment will be the only issue. Should be ok for a couple drives around the city each month too. Just need a good heat exchanger to keep the water cool. But unless you're trying to make big power, I dont even think it would be worth the trouble. Let alone on a street car. Front mounts can bring the charge air down to ambient temps. So if its like 70-75* out, and you're planning on having a good time with the car friends on friday and saturday night. That should be enough. I only had issues with a front mount when I tried tracking my Omni when it was 110* out. lol. Thats about the only time Id think I really should have had a L-A intercooler. But God knows I shouldnt have been at the track on a day like that anyway!
This is all just my opinion, and Im sure some people will and wont agree.

I am not exactly sure about what she has to put up with on a daily basis, but I am pretty sure that it would take an angel to do it. Given that, it is probably fairly obvious why I am still single, lol.

Fmic for dd awic for track car.

FMIC's are flashy & are proven in street vehicles, but the cooling capabilities of a water to air is superior. The reason it's not prefered o the street is that the key is maintaining constant flow of cool water. Most water to air systems include the cooler, water pump & a radiator to cool the water. The FMIC if sized correctly & placed so that it recieves the best flow of air will be optimal on a street car. The problem with TMIC's is heat soak & packaging.

if the car is not equipped with a front mount from the factory, then most people just mount it and dont really duct it correctly.
90% of the members here think just having it in the front means all the air will go through it. wrong. a lot of the air will go around the core ( path of least resistance ) .

Air to water has an advantage in that it can act as a huge heat sink, especially if you have a large reservoir of ice cooled water in the system. A lot of cooling can happen for a short period, at least until the water warms up.

An air to water system still has to obey physics and radiate that heat, which means you need a large area heat exchanger somewhere to give sustained cooling. Where are you going to put a new heat exhanger? In the front? Why not just run a FMIC, and save a lot of time, money, and complexity?

...Unless you are just drag racing and don't want a heat exchanger.

+1, as is the story on many factory vehicles.

B

Well, theoretically the radiator for the LtAIC must be bigger than a VMIC to be better. Otherwise there will only be an improvement in short bursts like drag racing.

And do people seriously install a VMIC without ducting it? Of course the air will just go around it.

That is only true if there is a super-cooling element in the system. Otherwise, air-water is usually inferior at cooling.

Sad but true.

Like said above water to air better on race car. In my set up there's a large radiator with an electric fan mounted where it maintains constant flow of air to cool the water & I actually am building a new tank with a side compartment for ice. I wouldn't suggest this type of set up for a DD. In this set up & my turbo cars FMIC airflow is key as well as core design.

Lots of opinions on water-to-air IC's. Who here has actually done it besides me?

most supercharged ford cars.

Well I have a water to air charge cooler on my supercharged 7 & I had a PWR barrel cooler on my old Turbo II.