Well i installed my IC today, it's quite good welds look solid too. installation was not hard at all. only issue is that its hard to fit a pipe from coupler to IC if you have OMP and stock Type R brace. The cable leading to air pump connector is mounted on a small metal plate, you can gain some extra space by bending it out of the way. Also i used a little hammer to flaten out thi surface of pipe a little in the place where it meets the brace, then put polyethiren between it and brace to prevent them rubing against eachother. the core has bracket for air separation tank but doesnt have brackets to mount the core itself to the chasis. It is not a problem however, i put rubber under the core and it sits quite well, not moving at all. The pipe from coupler to IC has flange for BOV. My car came with HKS BOV but it wasnt fitting there, it is ment to get boost with hose, not with flange so i had to fabricate custom flange out of 2mm steel plate drilled appropriately and same diameter steel pipe welded to it. Then I took very short hose to hold both BOV and custom flange and put clamps on both sides. Cut the gasket and it worked out great.

Test drive:
I'm not using any type of duct but even withought that, turbos spool faster, car feels stronger and to my surprise even boost controller works more accurately. I was very satisfied with results, didnt expect to gain some power withought ducting. It also looks pretty cool under the hood with tat BOV hangin out of the pipe behind the core and the core itself siting at some angle.

here are some pics i took with my mobile phone, BOV wasnt installed at that moment yet






Now about bad news
I was testing this IC on a vacant street close to my home, made couple of second gear runs and on last run there was a bump that was hard to notice from the distance , right side of the car ran into it at about 60mph and i heared a big BANG noice. i immidiately looked into the mirror to see any signs of oil on the road as i thought i trashed my oil pan but no signs of liquid. then after about 100 meters suddenly i smell coolant. I looked at my aftermarket temp gauge but no overheat. stoped the car immidiatley, shut it off and looked for signs of coolant in exhaust but there was none and when i came back to the front, i see coolant puring from the right side at the front bumper. then i look back and see the trace of coolant on the road about 50 meters long. luckily i was close to home, abut 200 meters and pulled the car myself. Damn any time you do something good to your car, next thing brakes

 

sorry to here about that, but hey....look on the bright side. It gives you an excuse to upgrade to a koyo rad if you havn't so.

 

Sorry to hear about the rad busting on you... What kind of IC is this, it looks like an M2 knock off --- what did you pay for the whole setup and what kind of intake temps are you getting? It looks solid, I might consider something like this if its a reasonable price.

 

looks like the ebay special I/C

 

XS Power smic by the look of it. I know a few guys using them and all seem happy with them.

 

How come there are no hose clamps around your couplings?

 

Can someone point out some potential problems in using this IC as compared to other better known IC's (Same style)? Looks very nice IMO

 

https://www.rx7club.com/showpost.php...70&postcount=7

 

Everytime you get a paycheck, something always breaks that is exactly that amount. Sonuvagun.

 

Is that IC supported from the bottom in any way or is it just hanging by the couplers?

If it is just hanging than the acceleration forces and the bump probably caused the IC to move slightly and hit the fans (or pull on the rad hose) which may have caused the rad to crack.

You have to be careful with your mods and really think them through.

 

I have been running this IC for about 2 summers now. It seems to work fine, however I do get a fair amount of heat soak in traffic and at stop lights. I just installed a PFC this spring and I am seeing intake temps around 40-45C during highway driving on 75-80F days (with a duct). In traffic and at stop lights, I am seeing 55-60C intake temps, but I would imagine that any SMIC would suffer from similar heat soak.

Apparently the core is a dated "bar and plate" design which is not as efficient at cooling as some of the newer degined ICs on the market (as I have been told).

Overall, I am satisfied with this IC, especially for the price. I would like to see what AITs people are seeing with FMICs. I am leaning toward getting an FMIC, but I hate how they look with the stock bumper and I am not a fan of the (bumper) cutting that is necessary to install one.

This IC NEEDS A DUCT as it is not getting any air to cool it off without one.

The flange that comes with the piping fits a Blitz BOV perfectly.

It is held in place pretty securely with the pipes and couplers and rests on the radiator support. I have seen some shifting with mine, but I placed a rubber weather strip between the IC and the radiator support which seems to have stopped the shifting.

 

^^your AITs are pretty good. Do a search as myself and others have posted their temps before.

When I had the Greddy FMIC, my AIT were about the same as yours in stop/go traffic but my coolant temps were 10* C higher than with a SMIC.

AIT at cruise were maybe 5-10*C cooler but still higher than ambient by at least 5*C maybe up to 10*C.

 

Took the rad out yesterday. it turned out that the leg of the rad was broken, radiator is already fixed. But it looks likte that bump hit the anti roll bar which shares the same mounting bracket with radiator. deformation of that bracket caused this broken radiator leg. here is the pic

 

Mahjiks link is correct in everyway, BUT you have to consider why a person would run something like the ebay IC. One, anything is better than the stock IC, and two, I'm sure most of us running the ebay IC are at stock or near stock levels, so it was moreso done just to get the stock ic out of the engine bay without braking the bank but also getting some improvement over the factory unit.

It is what it is.

 

Looks like you bent your sway bar bracket also.

 

ouch!!! I had PFS SMIC and I was seeing 35-38C during highway driving. Stop lights it would be around 45C.

 

If your paychecks are around the price of a Koyo radiator then you need a new job.

 

When I had my FMIC I would see around average 33-34 on my AIT for a high I dont think i ever got higher than 42 and that was at a stand still once i started moving it would drop to around 34 and this is during the day... At night I would see as low as 26-28.. Didnt have any problems with my radiator cooling eigther.

Chris

 

 

Hmm...well that is what I thought I would hear about FMICs and AITs. I guess I should start looking into FMICs then. The butt dyno is telling me that the car feels better when the AITs are 40C or below.

I am pretty easy on the car when it gets in the 50C range and above (which is no fun), so I would love to see constant temps in the 40C and below range.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have any readings with the stock IC?

 

I didn't mean just the radiator but the whole car period =P