Hey guys, I am very close to finishing my car up and figured I would throw a few pictures up here for everyone. The car finally runs and drives after a year of being down. I have another thread showing some of the wiring work, this just gives it more of a complete almost finished product update. Let me know what you guys think!

 

looks pretty good. im not too sure on your rad/ic set up tho.. looks like a FMIC but a stock mount rad... IMO i doubt the rad will get enough airflow as the IC is blocking air and whatever air passes through the IC the rad is only seeing half at that angle.. and the IC piping is quiet long... what made you decide on this route? hope you dont have heating issues.... =/

 

Car looks great man. I don't see any problems with the piping or radiator. Intercooler's don't block airflow

 

Thanks for the kind words. Bubbles, I had some doubts myself but figured if I didn't have cooling problems on my last car with a 5 inch wide front mount I would run it lol. I'm actually going to run without the undertray to see how that is, and then put the undertray back on to see what that does. That was also another reason for all the ceramic coating. You wouldn't believe how cool it feels under the hood when running. We will see what happens tho, anything is possible.

 

intercoolers do block airflow, test it out with a blow dryer. blow directly to your hand then through the ic. it does block some airflow...

chappy- please let us know how it works out for you, im curious to see how it performs! i didnt even notice the wiring job and all the "deletes" you did. looks sharp. im assuming you ran the brake lines under the subframe?

 

I highly doubt an air dryer can simulate the amount of CFM's moving across something at freeway speeds. If that were the case, all my other boosted cars would have broken down long ago.

 

You think a huge FMIC doesn't block airflow?

All your other boosted cars? Are they all rotary engine cars? You forget the heat generated by a turbo charged rotary engine...

A FMIC is a large object that allows only some air to pass though. It creates a high pressure area that causes air to flow around the bumper opening instead of through it.

Talk to some of the guys who run a FMIC vs some of the guys who run a V-mount, if you think there isn't a difference.

 

never said it would simulate cfm at freeway speeds. think about it, its common sense its just to simulate how it is blocking air flow since you dont believe so

 

Then fans on your radiator wouldn't be able to pull air through it either. Same design. I'm sorry I don't have a picture of my rx7 in my signature theorie, I guess that means I hold no weight around here. When it was rotary it was a big single turbo with a front mount.

Chappy- there's nothing to worry about, your car will be fine. Just try to keep that engine bay as purty as it is now

 

I'm also curious to hear why you think an intercooler acts any differently in a rotary from a reciprocating gasoline engine in terms of blocking airflow to the radiator.

 

many other cars generate more heat on turbo applications than a rotary, ever track a subaru with an egt gauge? 1900f was not uncommon, i thought it was rediculously high but the tuner was fine with it.

at any rate i would definately add ducting to aid in cooling, it'd be ashame to lose a motor for something that could have potentially been avoided...

 

I dont see anything wrong with the setup as long as its properly ducted. Nice build.

thewird

 

lol you guys make me laugh. We can argue all day about v mount vs fmic blah blah blah. I have built a few high hp cars enough to know that either way you have to always watch your gauges and keep an eye on things to avoid engine damage. If i really thought this was going to be a problem, I would have addressed it better. I did not expect this thread to turn into a war about airflow. Also, keep in mind I do not plan on road racing this car, it is a street and drag car only. Sorry for everyone who may hate me for that too . As far as the brake lines, the front line from the master runs to a line loc that is mounted in the wiper cowl and the front lines split off of the line loc and run through the wiper cowl to "hide" them.

 

thanks wird! Everyone has their opinions, but its great to hear all theories and what other ppl have experienced.

 

No one is arguing that you shouldn't run an FMIC. You can go ahead and run whatever setup you like. Like you said, an FMIC will work just fine. Different setups work better for different types of driving. What I am trying to argue is the fact that if you put something in front of something else, it will affect airflow. You said this is not true.

You are wrong, period. You said putting an intercooler in front of a radiator will not block airflow. If you think this is true then you are extremely confused. If you put something behind an intercooler, it will not get the same airflow as the intercooler in front of it.

You're obviously not on the same page as everyone else and not understanding the terminology.
We are not talking about airflow INSIDE the intercooler. We are talking about airflow that goes though the bumper passes though the intercooler, then whatever else is behind it.

If you put an intercooler in front of a radiator, the radiator will get significantly less airflow though it because some of the air that would go though the radiator gets blocked by the intercooler. The high pressure zone that is created will force air around the front bumper opening.

It's not that hard to understand. Think of it like a pair of sunglasses. When you aren't wearing sunglasses, your eyes are taking in all of the visible light rays. When you put a pair of sunglasses in front, they block some of the light rays from getting to your eyes.

These cars produce a lot of heat. There is no denying that. Anyone who runs an FMIC that blocks the radiator will tell you that their car will see a climb in water temps faster than someone with a V-Mount or stock mount because they are getting less airflow though the radiator.

If you don't believe me, go buy a CFM meter. Hold it out the window when driving 50mph. Now put the CFM meter behind your intercooler and tell me what it reads at 50mph. I promise you it won't be the same. If I'm wrong I'll buy you a six pack of beer.

 

Considering your not road racing the car, I wouldn't even give it a second thought about the positioning of your IC/rad. However, if you don't already have a fast AIT sensor, consider getting one as the AIT's can change quick with FMIC's and the stock sensor is the slow. I love how your engine bay is so clean o.O

thewird

 

Exactly my thinking wird. I bought the car from fddave and he road raced it. I drag race, and planned my entire build based on that. I have already driven the car the way it is with no frontend at all and there are NO cooling problems, and it was 95 and very humid that day. I am also running mostly water to aid in better cooling which a lot of people misunderstand. As far as the fast acting AIT, how do I know for sure if it is the one I want. I just used the one that was in the car last year.

 

If you only plan to drag race the car then it doesn't matter. You're only pushing your car hard for a dozen or so seconds. Hell, a lot of drag guys don't even bother with an IC - they just run meth injection and no intercooler at all.

However, if you think there is no difference in intercooler/radiator layouts, try pushing your FMIC on the track and see what happens.

There are ways to get the best of both worlds with an FMIC. Similar to, but IMO not as good as a V-Mount, would be to duct the front end so some air is allowed to pass around the IC. This will make sure the rad gets at least some "fresh air".

JhnRx7 has a FMIC and has done exactly this. I know he started tracking his car so you can talk to him if you want to know more about his setup.

https://www.rx7club.com/build-threads-292/jhnrx7s-2017-season-track-tour-rotary-fd-mx-5-powahed-922123/page3/

Notice how he ducted the front bumper so the FMIC isn't hogging all of the air. Some of it is allowed to go around the FMIC, which is definitely providing the radiator more airflow than if it was completely blocked behind the FMIC.

 

theorie, every car with a fmic would have overheating issues then

And this arguement was never about the effectiveness of front mount intercoolers. It was about his fmic preventing proper cooling of his car.

 

Stock AIT sensor...


Aftermarket fast AIT sensor...


thewird

 

theorie, I never said there was no difference in intercooler and radiator layouts. I'm not sure why you are getting your undies in such a bunch over all of this considering I never argued with you about any of it. If you don't like my setup that's fine, you made your point. However, if you have want to continue your rant about this please do it somewhere else. Thank you to everyone for the kind words and thank you wird for the info on the AIT sensor!

 

Im with theorie on this. but honestly I think the two of you misunderstand his point. Thewird said something very important
chappy. He said he doesn't have an issue if the fmic if its DUCTED. Which goes with what theorie is saying: fmic's do block air flow.

Theorie never said not to use a fmic he was merely debating Covert's idea that a fmic doesn't block airflow (Which is ridiculous)

Seriously??? Is that your reasoning? In your sig there you have an srt-4 with a fmic: See those two ducts on the top part of the bumper? You know right above the fmic...Those are for the radiator. Fresh air is a good thing.

And for the record no one said the car would overheat. But it would run hotter and that is NOT a good thing.

 

Fmics no doubt block airflow. And I do have ducting for mine built into the undertray very similar to the one that theorie posted. I'm simply stating that I NEVER argued or said anything about the fmic set up and how is just as efficient or anything. I just felt this argument between theorie and whoever else on this thread (not myself) is getting directed to the wrong people.

 

this thread got derailed...unnecessarily lol. Chappy, post more pics please...

 

Looks good man, hopefully i'll be able to check it out this weekend.