what other mods are needed for intercooler upgrades?
 

sometime in the near future im looking to upgrade my stock intercooler. I cant decide whether I want to do v-mount or FM. along with these upgrades, what other mods are needed for each? intake...battery relocation...etc. thanks in advance!

How do you intend to use the car?

Both FMIC and VMIC setups require relocating the battery.

VMIC is done together with radiator in order to create the V in the V mount. :) Otherwise, you're just throwing out cool sounding acronyms w/o any improvement in intake air cooling.

SMIC usually bolt right up. some require battery relocation. Many do not.

The car is completely stock right now. I don't intend on building a race car. This is kind of just a sunny day cruising car. Not my DD. I wanna do a few small power upgrades. Full exhaust, intakes, PFC I like the look of the FMiC over anything else. How much of a pain in the ass is relocating the battery? Should be as easy as just running another positive lead to behind the seats and grounding the neg lead straight to the body of the car right?

Sounds like V-mount may be overkill for your goals. Have you looked into an upgraded stock mount with a good duct? Battery relocation isnt bad at all, or with many setups you may be able to run a smaller battery in the stock location.

I haven't really looked into stock mount. Arent some of those close to the same price as fm? As far as power....how much can an upgraded stock mount handle? I'd be happy with 300 or so to the wheels.

IMO, a FMIC isn't appropriate for a street car, especially at those hp levels. It's expensive compared to SMIC alternatives. It will compromise crash-worthiness because you'll have cut bumper reinforcement...and likely the bumper cover too. It takes a lot of plumbing and fab work. Expensive, especially if you can't do it yourself. I understand that the plumbing can also cause some lag. As already mentioned, you'll have to relocate the battery and you'll have to figure out an intake for the twins. It exposes an expensive core to road debris and slow animals, but most of all, it compromises cooling. I know you think a FMIC "is sexy" and all, but it's hard to feel the sex as the car belches coolant (and soft seals) in traffic.
Many SMIC's are more appropriate for your hp level and use of the car. They also provide decent IATs and improve pressure drop from the OEM SMIC.
My .02.

I guess this would be a good option as I wouldn't have to worry about modifying ducting or plumbing or anything like that. I'm not trying to spend a Ton of money though either. I was told that if I put an exhaust on then I need to have a pfc at the same time. Really the only things I planned on doing was stated above...plus maybe turn the boost up a little bit too. Depending on how high the stock motor (which I plan on gettin rebuilt very soon) can handle (which I don't know the answer to that either).

A cat-back exhaust, by itself, does NOT require a PFC. Period. For 300 whp you'll probably have to improve breathing and turn up the boost some. And to do it safely you should upgrade fuel... i.e. pump and injectors. And a PFC will be needed then.

Since you have a near stock car that presumably runs fine I pass on something that was told to me from a big brain years ago...LEAVE THE CAR ALONE for the first year. Don't do any performance mods. Just do maintenance, change all fluids, plugs etc. And every time you open the hood and see something you can't identify, grab the FSM and identify it. Then read about it and/or search here until you know what it does. I'm still doing that 11 yrs later. You'll be surprised on how much you'll learn that first year...and how much money and frustration it will save you.

I guess this would be a good option as I wouldn't have to worry about modifying ducting or plumbing or anything like that. I'm not trying to spend a Ton of money though either. I was told that if I put an exhaust on then I need to have a pfc at the same time. Really the only things I planned on doing was stated above...plus maybe turn the boost up a little bit too. Depending on how high the stock motor (which I plan on gettin rebuilt very soon) can handle (which I don't know the answer to that either).

When I get my engine rebuilt I will probably get some new injectors as well. I want to add a little power, but for the most part I want to keep it as stock as possible. I really don't even want to mess with the exhaust much because I don't want a loud car.

A good rule of thumb is you get 3 intake/exhaust mods. So an intercooler and a cat-back exhaust is 2. If you put in a downpipe (which should probably be 1st in line anyway), that's 3. A Bonez cat, open intake or midpipe would make things sketchy at that point, and you'd have to start thinking about either creating some kind of bottleneck in the exhaust, porting the wastegates or putting in a new fuel system.
A good boost controller is also a GREAT idea. Even a manual one like a Hallman Pro is a great way to keep things safe.

It's boost creep we have to worry about. ;)

Ya when I said exhaust I meant from the downpipe back. Man just a few things I wanna do and that creates other mods that I need to do. Haha.

I know huh? 'Round and 'round we go!

Don't ask about the rats nest or the turbo control solenoids. :crzyeye:

If you really want to change the intercooler, use a stock mounted one. One thing always leads to another.

When installing an intake...besides the filters, where do the other hoses go, just into the atmosphere?

Stock mount, greddy is a nice unit and fits in and uses most of the stock ducting. Stock battery fits fine, stock intake also still fits fine. The RE-A smic is very pretty and is one id like to get my hands on in the future.

But for your car, I'd certaintly get a stock mount and an upgraded radiator and a PFC for a real tune and primarily to turn the fans on sooner since they come on way too late stock tuning.

I'll have a PFS catback(sounds awesome) and Pettit Unlimited ecu for sale in the near future if you want more fueling for bolt ons w/o having to buy a PFC and pay for a tune. Worked great with the setup in my sig, drove well and everything worked as it should.

soon and I'm not too far from you so i could just ride down or meet up to drop them off.

This is my stock mount setup using the Greddy with Greddy pipes and elbow.
Attachment 650561

Jason