Anyone have any good ideas of how to protect a FMIC, and the best way to fix it when it gets dented by road debris? thanks

 

Some screening from a Home Depot will stop the larger stones and pebbles. Something with about 1/4"^2 holes or less in it should do fine. For damaged fins you need to straighten or remove them with a small flathead screwdriver or a small nail. I say remove them because if you can't straighten one out, get rid of it so air can pass through that spot. If a plate is bent then I don't know what to do with that. Get it pressure tested if you don't trust it. Another thing you can do with intercoolers is clean it out. After a while oil collects in them. Use something like gasoline to clean it out. Seal one end and any other holes if it has them and pour some gas into it. Seal the hole you just poured gas into and shake it like a British nanny would with a baby for a few minutes. Once you think the gas has touched every bit of surface in there, pour it out and let it dry out. Viola, you now have a well serviced intercooler.

jerk_racer@hotmail.com

 

thanks for the info, much appreciated. how did you attach your screen material to the intercooler?

 

It's not attached to your i/c directly, but in the opening of your grill. Like how you see the hondas (but not limited to) with this in their grill. This is where they got this from (imo). Protecting intercoolers. They saw this and copied it without any idea why it's really there. When you have over $1,000 worth of i/c, $1 worth of screen is a smart investment. For the honda guys that do this it's more about form than function. You want screening that'll keep anything large from whacking the expensive stuff, but still not impede any airflow. Some screen spraypainted flat black will be next to invisible.

 

how did you attach it though?

 

Zip ties work. It's out of direct view so it doesn't matter too much.