pacman74

Just got my new intercooler delivered this morning for the V-Mount system I'm putting together. I had Spearco make it and I was trying to mimic the intercooler used in Famspeed's "divide air system". I think it's pretty close, minus a couple obvious differences: 1. Mine is a bar and plate design whereas the Famspeed one is a tube and fin design (Spearco only uses bar and plate) 2. My inlet and outlet pipe comes straight up whereas the Famspeed one has angled pipes for the inlet and outlet. I was originally going to mock up angled pipes for the inlet and outlet once I received the intercooler, and then have those welded in, but after looking at how pretty the welds are on this thing, I might change my mind and just use angled silicone hose connectors instead. As for my radiator, I should be receiving it next week from Ron Davis and it will be very similar to the Knight Sports V-Mount radiator. Here are pics of my new intercooler and a pic of Famspeed's intercooler for comparison.

XLR8

iTrader: (52)

Looks good. Definitely keep this thread updated with your progress. I too will be going V-mount, but have opted for the Rotary Exteme kit.

I'm sure you know this, but I want to reiderate the importance of proper ducting.

GL OP

pacman74

Thanks, I'll post updates once I receive my radiator. And yes, I am planning to make some ducting as well.
Just a note to those that are planning to fab their own V-Mount, I am NOT saving loads of $$ by doing this myself compared to buying a V-Mount kit. The reason I wanted to do it myself is so that I can make it exactly how I wanted it. Of course there are cheaper ways of making a V-Mount system (i.e. ebay stuff) compared to Spearco Intercoolers and Ron Davis radiators, but the quality that those two companies produce has been proven many times.... or maybe I'm just a label-*****!

gracer7-rx7

iTrader: (16)

How much was the rad from Ron Davis? I got a quote for somewhere between $800-$1,000 when I did my custom V mount.

pacman74

The radiator itself was $695 plus shipping, but mine is going to be closer to the $1,100 range because they are also making a removable custom aluminum shroud with dual 11" Spal high performance fans. They need about 3-4 weeks to build a custom radiator, and I have 1 more week to go. I will post up all the specs and pictures once I receive it.

pacman74

Received my radiator from Ron Davis today, and it is seriously a work of art. I'm very pleased. I had them custom shroud it and install 2 Spal 11" HP fans. Those Spal 11" HP's combined have a CFM rating of over 2700 at 0 static pressure, but the real test of their power is with some static pressure.... at 0.4" of H2O, they have a combined CFM of 2150. Unfortunately, I'm not going to have enough time before Sevenstock to make custom brackets and install it. I really wanted to take the FD, but I guess I'll be rollin' in the FC this Saturday.

Here's some pics.

gracer7-rx7

iTrader: (16)

PM Speed of light in San Diego to see if he has an extra radiator subframe. I'm running the setup he made for me and its fantastic.

pacman74

What kind of radiator are you using? Are you using the Ron Davis KS design as well?

silverfdturbo6port

iTrader: (26)

my set up is all custom witha koyo for a prelude and alot or tig welding to make it fit perfectly, and to the absolute max width between the frame rails.

mannykiller

iTrader: (93)

Everything looks sick man.....def keep this thread going!!

pacman74

^Thanks!

gracer7-rx7

iTrader: (16)

No. I priced one out from Ron D but it was too expensive at the time. I also priced them out from other sources such as alumrad, griffin, afco and they were much more reasonable but were of a cross flow design. Cross flow is doable but Speed of light is an engineer with a full workshop so we wound up working with the equipment we had - my Koyo and his Fluidyne.

I wound up re-using my M2 Large IC re-routed for the IC portion since I got a good deal on the IC w/o piping.

pacman74

Thanks, I contacted Speed of Light regarding the radiator subframe. I looked at an old post and it shows him lifting his car from the radiator support, that's how strong it is. I guess it would be smart to get one like his to protect my new radiator.

pacman74

So I decided to make the radiator mounts myself. The upper mounts were pretty easy, but the lower mount/bar took some time, lot's of measuring, grinding, & drilling. I used 1" x 2" aluminum for the lower mount/bar and mounted it to 90 degree aluminum which I got from the local metal supply store (Industrial Metal Supply in Irvine, CA). None of the mounting points are hard mounted, I used the stock rubber mounts on the bottom and I found some rubber bushings for the top mounts. Now I need to get the seams welded, wish I knew how to TIG weld. This project has been taking way longer than I expected since I haven't had much time to work on the FD, but here are some pics.

widebodyseven

iTrader: (17)

Im doing a custum v mount too and it sucks not having a weld machine and not knowing how to weld.
BTW nice brackets looks very durable!

JHew84

iTrader: (9)

Do you say this only because of how expensive the particular rad/intercooler you're using ended up being? I've priced out fabricating my own V-mount a few times now and it has always come back cheaper than buying a kit, and that includes having a local shop modify a Koyo radiator for me, all the other fabrication I would do on my own.


Yours is looking really sharp though! Great work, what are you going to use for water hoses?

Deals Gap Rotary Rally

iTrader: (6)

미*친* 한*국*사*람*, That's pretty funny..

Anyhow, nice radiator. I really like the fan set up. Can't wait to see the completed project.

pacman74

I have details about that in another thread: https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/diy-dual-oil-coolers-856548/
I made the brackets myself.


Yeah, of course it is not as expensive as buying one of the kits out there, and the only reason why my radiator ended up being so expensive is because I decided to add the custom shrouding plus the Spal HP fans. Without the shrouding and the fans, the radiator would've been around $700 which is not much different from a new modified koyo. The intercooler was around $500 and I thought that was reasonable for being custom made. BUT, the part that becomes expensive is the "time value of money" if you catch my drift (how much is your personal time worth?). Since all of this is from scratch, I'm investing a lot of time getting everything placed properly and fabricating mounts.

pacman74

LOL, glad someone understood!

Thanks!

Jason

iTrader: (5)

Looks good. Did you test fit the front bumper? To me it looks like that radiator is going almost hit the ground once the car is lowered.

pacman74

Thanks.
Yup, I test fit the bumper and my bumper hangs down lower than the radiator (FEED replica bumper). But I know what you mean, and that's why I made the lower mount the way I did. Since it wraps around the bottom of the radiator, it also protects the radiator from any incidents.

pacman74

I'm done with my v-mount. Took a while because I was doing a bunch of other stuff at the same time plus I was busy getting married and what not.

Turbo8

iTrader: (17)

Wow man, looks fantastic!

What are the specs/measurements on the intercooler?

rspecfd

iTrader: (13)

intercooler set up looks great man. good to see you at sevenstock, ill see you around gardena or at the next meet at L&L.

pacman74

Thanks! I've attached the diagram for the intercooler, I acutally ended up going with a height of around 10.1" as opposed to the 9.8" in the diagram. But in retrospect, 9.8" would have been fine, possibly even better for my purposes.