I intend on building a SMIC from a 12x12x3.5 horizontal flow spearco core I stole off eBay for $70 to cool the charge air from an Apexi RX6 turbo that has a 2in compressor outlet. I initially set out to copy the design of the M2, however having both the inlet and outlet at the top of the intercooler making two acute 90* bends is inherently inefficient because the lower passages of the core will see less use. Ideally, I'll turn the compressor housing so that the outlet faces down, route the air to an inlet at the bottom of the intercooler. The air will then cross flow to the outlet at the top of the IC. I imagine 2.5 dia inlet and outlet. The outlet will use 2.5in pipe to mate to a Greddy elbow (unfortunately 3in). My car is getting paint right now so I can't really mock anything up yet. My primary concern lies in what might be in the way of where I want to route the IC piping. Any thought will be appreciated. Thanks!

I find this stuff exciting so You guys having nothing to say is really bumming me out. Haha

Z flow style intercoolers may have more pressure drop, but it all depends on the end tank design.

good read:
http://www.turbobygarrett.com/turbob...ge_air_cooling

I wouldn't call it Z flow."Z flow"sounds like a triple pass heat exchanger. Mine is (will be, ideally) a single pass cross flow. I'm sure there will still be 'some' pressure loss but it will gain greater cooling efficiency. I believe that the pressure loss won't be noticeable since the setup will have far less volume than a FMIC or VMIC. And a SMIC, being what it is, I feel instills a greater importance on overall cooling efficiency of the IC core and end tank design.
Have you used an M2 or similar IC before? How easy do you think it would be to move the charge air pipe to the bottom of the IC? And I don't mean physically on the IC. I mean in regards to engine bay space and IC piping location.

What you're describing is z-flow according to the Garrett link K-Tune posted.

http://www.turbobygarrett.com/turbob...ler_Design.jpg

It sounds like you want to build a stock style intercooler, bottom inlet and top outlet. Nothing wrong with that design, Greddy makes a nice piece but a little on the small side.

BTW the stock size piping is 2.75" not 2.5(i bought a bunch of misc 2.5" pipes for an ic project that are about useless to me, lol),also the greddy elbow is made to be 2.75 as well and is only 3" if you cut off the section of 2.75". Hope this makes sense.

Right, I saw that, I (personally) just don't think 'Z' accurately describes the air flow path. I wasn't calling K-Tune an idiot, I was having a discussion.


Thanks, I didn't know that about the Greddy. I'll go double check it. I got it second hand.
The difference between the IC I want to build and the stocker is that when the air enters the bottom of mine it will travel horizontally then exit at the top. The charge air travels vertically through the stock intercooler and has to turn 90* to flow through the core.. Mine will also have much more surface area and a smoother flow path.

You can get much better cores from Bell Intercoolers than the crap on ebay... You can even get the flanges in the correct size and the location of your choice.

Bell Intercoolers - Custom Intercooler and Core Solutions

Yes but he got a Spearco core off ebay, I'd say he did pretty good.