Where did the OP or 1Revvin7 (the fabricator) say they weren't using an IC?

 

its on the website link'd with more pics

"Instead of doing a expensive v-mount setup for better intake charge and coolant cooling, we decided to give this a shot on the stock twins. It appears the stock intercooler has a 2psi pressure drop, after removing it, boost pressure rose to 12psi. Freeing up the stock air box, inter-cooler and its plumbing allows the radiator to breath better."

i understand the pressure drop from the IC, but after hitting full boost its all the same while a IC IMO is a safer route than relying on water/meth injection. Running high boost w/out a intercooler just seems very risky.... the air temp reduced by cold air induction just doesn't seem enough to reduce temp at UIM

EDIT: i'm in no way doubting the knowledge of the poster and fabricator on this attempt. what i'm trying to say is even adding a watercooled intercooler may greatly help the setup while achieving the same response. good luck with the project

 

Its not all the same after full boost is reached. The pressure drop exists because of the bends, and the small tubing the air must go through. Those don't go away when you reach full boost.

An intercooler is a safer route at traditional boost levels than running just a chemical intercooler. Its dummy proof. There is nothing to fail. I do have a pressure activated switch tied into a LED next to his boost gauge. As long as its on, you're golden. If you're super worried about it, tie it into your boost controller and run a small pressure wastegate spring.

Ask Cozmo about his intake temperatures; 15psi no intercooler, water/methanol injection off, cold air intake; 55C for intake temperatures 4th gear dyno pull.

https://www.rx7club.com/auxiliary-injection-173/running-non-intercooled-option-685701/page4/

I'm not saying using a chemical intercooler is the end all be all of way to run things. I will however say this setup is a hell of a lot better than running the stock inter-cooler.

 

My readings were taken with the stock sensor, so it's accuracy and response is far less than optimal. But that is what I got when we were on the dyno in high 60F weather. Another guy whom was on the dyno at the same time had the stock twins at 14psi, with a Greddy SMIC was getting 1C hotter intake temps on the stock sensor. He had a large fan blowing on the intercooler at the time of the pull.

If you live in an area where you don't have cooling issues in the summer time with the run of the mill cooling upgrades then you probably dont have to go to something like this. I would probably go with an M2 carbon box or something. But sucking the air right of the radiator is not great for a turbo charger. Saying that a CAI only benefits an NA car is very stupid (or ignorant, take your pick). There is a big difference between ambient temp air and the air coming out of a 90C radiator. Just the air temp alone totally changes the compressor's efficiency...but even taking the compressor map totally out of the equation...cooler in = cooler out no matter how you slice it, and we are talking about probably 50-60C cooler temps with a well designed intake (compared to where most people draw air from in an FD.)

Granted there are other ways to go to get cooler air into the turbo, but I see them on maybe 1 out of every 100 cars on the forums (Damian's racecar comes to mind with that custom underpanel). There are pluses and minuses to every setup. Ideally we could run an intercooler, get cold air to the turbo and not have any engine cooling related issues because our radiator is getting plenty of air. If anyone figures out how to do this with the stock FD front end, please share!

In my setup I took out the intercooler...so I have W/I to supplement and I solved the other two problems (cold air to turbo inlet and plenty of radiator flow). Others chose to pull hot air and sacrifice radiator flow in the name of an intercooler. To each their own.

Personally I like the idea of this, obviously my setup is similar and done by the same person, but I dont like the execution of the setup pictured in this thread. We will see how it works in application after it is finished.