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I remember way back in the day that SR Motorsports/Shane Racing did a horizontal mount IC, similar to what you are talking about. Don't know how good it was, though.
^I had something else in mind for an IC core with that configuration, which really isn't a SMIC configuration anymore. Here's a sketch of what I was thinking:
The thought there was to get as much IC surface area and volume into the space available, and to possibly build a plenum large enough to house an air filter for the single turbo. Because my turbo sits forward due to the exhaust manifold, having a plenum that could do double duty as a cold air intake/filter would package things nicely. But I've pretty much abandoned this idea because getting enough smooth airflow through all the heat exchangers without a vented hood is next to impossible.
That's my most likely solution - DIY replicating the M2 medium kit that works with a stock/skinny battery. I've reached out to XS Power, asking for more info on their ICs, but they seem to have a problem returning phone calls or replying to emails,
That is a cool idea, but yeah it would require a hood vent. Another problem with it is Mazda made the mistake of sharing the same duct for IC and intake on a stock FD with really poor results. I did some testing that backed up what some already suspected - the stock FD intake actually pulls hot engine bay air across the IC at lower vehicle speeds.
Hey Alex, mind showing us pics of how you extended your duct? I have a Coolcharge 3 and need to extend mine as well. I’ve made a template but I’m not sure where to go next. Could use some ideas!
What do you guys think about this generic IC as a starting point? It's a bit smallish in core surface area, at 11"x12", but it's thicker than most at 4". Looks like I can make this fit my installation, need to test with some cardboard mock ups.
What do you guys think about this generic IC as a starting point? It's a bit smallish in core surface area, at 11"x12", but it's thicker than most at 4". Looks like I can make this fit my installation, need to test with some cardboard mock ups.
Remember that as external air passes through the core it heats up, lessening its ability to absorb more heat from the IC. So the thicker the core, the less efficient any air-air heat exchanger becomes, unless it is a double-pass exchanger designed to counteract this issue.
Hey Alex, mind showing us pics of how you extended your duct? I have a Coolcharge 3 and need to extend mine as well. I’ve made a template but I’m not sure where to go next. Could use some ideas!
I basically just bonded a formed piece of aluminum sheet to the duct opening. It also pays to seal the area around the opening from the radiator with some foam and aluminum tape.
I plan to remake this in the winter with thicker aluminum sheet and an even bigger scoop with taller sides so the air doesn't spill off the sides.
This also shows the suction from the 8" pusher fan i mounted to the duct side of the IC. That's yarn being pulled into the duct.
Thanks for that pic Alex, It looks like it works well.
Sure. The extension is super effective and made a large and measurable difference even when i had it on the stock IC.
The pusher fan in the duct works a hell of a lot better than the puller on the engine side. The puller without a shroud actually caused hot engine bay air to go back into the IC where the fan wasn't covering the core. It was colder without it! I
I am on the fence as to whether the fan was worth the effort. I am dropping the core temp by 20 degrees F during a heat soaked idle. But that is surprisingly not resulting in a substantial intake temp drop that I could see just based on my triumph sensor in the greedy elbow. Need to slip a thermocouple in the inlet side of the IC and see what kind of delta T I'm really getting with no fan and then with fan.
What size is your puller fan? I have the one supplied with the CC3. With the duct and the fan on I can feel quite a bit of air being sucked into the duct. I haven’t done a yarn or smoke test yet however.
8" that is supposedly 600 CFM. It pulls 7 amps and isn't a low profile so could be right on the CFM.
The 9" spal puller i had on there also has suction in the duct opening when i put yarn on it. However it also had suction on the engine side of the IC next to the fan! Both fans also pulled hot air in from the gap between the duct opening and radiator which is why i sealed it up better.
So I finally selected and IC and started installing it. It's basically the old XSPower kit's IC, that I was able to buy stand alone from an Ebay seller - the pipes that come with the kit would have been useless with my single turbo & DBW setup anyway. Essentially I'm replicating the M2 "medium" kit, which is about as much IC as you can fit in a SMIC configuration AND keep the battery up front. This thing measures about 18.25" W x 12" H x 3.25"D; core size is about 13"W x 12"H x 3.25"D. Below are some the installed pictures after I was happy with the brackets I fabricated for it. Started working on the hot side piping, which will be a challenging PITA - need to pie slice that to make the tight radius, but it's do-able. My welder guy will be happy when I show up with about a half dozen pipe sections for him to weld
As for the duct, design looks pretty straight forward, but I'm not sure yet if I'm going to do it in sheet AL or try my hand at fiberglass. The FG will have better thermal qualities, as it's a better thermal insulator than AL.
I went with the same intercooler and I'm pretty happy. I ditched the stock pipes in the kit since they were garbage and came with a flange for a super uncommon BOV along with a terrible bend for the stock compression tube. Ended up buying a greddy compression tube and made some custom pipes from a generic intercooler piping kit. I need to swap the hoses over to black since the blue stick out compared to the rest of the engine bay along with making a duct as well:
My hot side piping is complicated by the fact that the turbo outlet sits so damned close to the IC inlet, and the size difference - turbo is 2-1/2" and the IC is 2-3/4. So it's a tight fit that requires a tight radius and compound angles to align the two ends. I started off using that 2-1/2 to 2-3/4 silicone elbow you see in the picture that came with the car, and managed to mock up a decent pipe using bits & pieces of the PO's piping, that I pie cut, aligned and tacked together with duct tape for my mock up. It's a tight fit, and it wants to squeeze the middle of that elbow a bit more than I like, so I think I'm going to replace the elbow with a straight 2-12 to 2-3/4 silicone coupler, and do the necessary tight 90* downward angle into the turbo with another section of AL pipe. When I'm happy with the mock-up fitment, it's off to the welder to get the pieces welded together.
On the cold side, it's pretty simple. The GW DBW throttle body has a 4" inlet, but the PO set that up with a nice 4" to 2-3/4" silicone reducer 90* elbow that I can reuse. Then it's just a reasonably straight shot to the IC cold side, with a couple of pie cut bends in between to get them aligned. Since there's no room on the hot side pipe to "T" in the BOV, I'll have to put it on the cold side like the PO did.
I see in your pictures that you don't have a cold air duct setup for the IC, unless that was an under construction picture? If you've logged IAT's without the duct like that I'd be curious to see what kind of temps you're seeing just to get a baseline idea what to expect. It's got to be better/cooler with the duct than without one.
Correct, no duct yet. From threads years ago it seems you can use one of the cool charge (could be remembering that wrong at the moment) ducts or some other off the shelf duct with good results. Problem is, mine isn't in the exact location it should be since it's moved more over towards where the factory battery would be. Basically, a custom duct is what is needed. Car is never driven more than 5 to 10 miles at the moment so I haven't bothered checking IAT temps yet. I'll check next time I take the car out but the current plan is to wait on the duct until I go 99 bumper.... some day.
@Pete_89T2 you could purchase a Pettit duct that would probably make your life easier! Your IC looks about the same as mine.
Do you happen to have the dimensions on their Cool Charge II duct? Of the 2 ducts they sell, that's the one that might fit my IC & install, but I'm reluctant to plunk down $200 without being able to verify dimensions and check the size/fitment. Their website has no useful information in that regard. $200 is not so bad considering all the hours of custom fab work I'll have to put into a DIY duct, but I tried contacting Pettit, and it's been crickets - no one there replies to voice mails or emails it seems.
Do you happen to have the dimensions on their Cool Charge II duct? Of the 2 ducts they sell, that's the one that might fit my IC & install, but I'm reluctant to plunk down $200 without being able to verify dimensions and check the size/fitment. Their website has no useful information in that regard. $200 is not so bad considering all the hours of custom fab work I'll have to put into a DIY duct, but I tried contacting Pettit, and it's been crickets - no one there replies to voice mails or emails it seems.
This seems like a pretty popular setup as I have it and I have the cool charge II intake. For $200 it leaves a lot left to be desired.
^Thanks for the pictures. Since the design/size of the Pettit duct leaves about 1/4 of the IC core inlet area open to hot engine bay air, I'll save my $200 on their duct and make my own.
I crossed this bridge a while back. I wanted a stock mount that would allow me to still use the radiator and condenser in the same location, but still have enough surface area for my single and hide under the hood. I’m gonna throw this out there because I haven’t seen it mentioned yet.... The old crooked willow racing stock mount is pretty much the largest core you will get in there with a duct ( you need a duct period ). It definitely requires you to relocate the battery, and it is a pain to fit. But it does lay in there on a steeper angle than any other. It’s definitely not the most popular out there, or easiest. Let’s just get that out-of-the-way up front. Not to mention finding a real one with the actual duct is near impossible because he never finished getting half the ducts to people who bought them as a kit. Having said all that, you can put together one. Ronin speed Works FD SMIC Duct - Fiber Glasshas a mold to make them. If you ask them nicely and are willing to wait they will make you one. It is a top-notch product, and they are exceptionally great to deal with. You can source a core to fit. Not sure if the large M2 or Others will work. i’m not sure how in depth you want to get with it. I just wanted to throw out a left field option. Here’s a couple pics of it installed, and a couple of the Ronin duct verse CWR. It’s definitely the road less traveled.
I used that XSpower ic also, and used some sheetmetal and part of the stock duct.
Didnt get many pics of the process of making it but here's the sides and bottom then I hacked up the underside of the stock plastic top to give an OEM appearance. I also repurposed one of the oem ic pipes flipped backwards
Then my turbo air intake is divided off with a path down between the frame rail and the side of the radiator.
I'd like to redo it again to make it better as the stock portion of the duct is so tiny and the duct isn't quite a perfect fit. Seems to work allright moving, but stuck in traffic with the fans blowing it gets quite hot.
Last edited by KompressorLOgic; 08-01-20 at 02:44 PM.
07-16-20, 08:18 AM
It means "mechanical Issue". They'll inspect the car before letting you take it out on the track. 
