STi Front Mount Intercooler
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Air power stystems makes one for the wrx. It's huge.wrxsti said:
http://www.airpowersystems.com.au/
HAHA.....
I dunno. Before I'd go buying a FMIC, I'd like to ride in one with it in place. If you really want more power, I think you'd be better off to make the proper mods, raise the boost, and keep the drivability of a top mount.
If we could custom build a car to use the FMIC like the rally car, no prob. But we're on 91 oct......need to meet emissions.....you know the rest of the story.
I dunno. Before I'd go buying a FMIC, I'd like to ride in one with it in place. If you really want more power, I think you'd be better off to make the proper mods, raise the boost, and keep the drivability of a top mount.
If we could custom build a car to use the FMIC like the rally car, no prob. But we're on 91 oct......need to meet emissions.....you know the rest of the story.
If you are moving and have been for 10-15 seconds, the spray shouldn't be needed. The spray will help when you are in very slow or stop-and-go traffic. If you just think about holding an intercooler in your hand, having it hot like you just pulled it out of the oven, and then stick it out the window at 25 MPH, I'd think it would be cool to the touch within just a few seconds.
As far as advantages over FMIC, tuners like SPD Tuning swear that an TMIC just bigger than the stock WRX unit is all you would need for a daily driver car. The drivability remains, and the power gain is at max without all the lag losses of a FMIC.
Read up at SPD Tuning if you like......excellent writeups in all areas.
http://www.spdusa.com/engine_modification.htm
This section goes over popular modifications and hey/naw's them.
As far as advantages over FMIC, tuners like SPD Tuning swear that an TMIC just bigger than the stock WRX unit is all you would need for a daily driver car. The drivability remains, and the power gain is at max without all the lag losses of a FMIC.
Read up at SPD Tuning if you like......excellent writeups in all areas.
http://www.spdusa.com/engine_modification.htm
This section goes over popular modifications and hey/naw's them.
A FMIC is a must if you are running really high boost levels and you have modded your car quite a bit. The FMIC is a lot more efficient at cooling, but it does have its drawbacks like Rob has said. FMICs tend to induce a bit more turbo "lag" b/c of the extra ducting required to reach the front of your bumper.
If you are running relatively stock boost levels I wouldn't even consider a FMIC until you turn the boost considerably.
If you are running relatively stock boost levels I wouldn't even consider a FMIC until you turn the boost considerably.
A general rule I guess I'd hold before considering a FMIC are these.
-are you going for a dedicated drag machine?
-are you going for an extreme all out rally/circuit racer?
If either of those, go for a FMIC. Otherwise, very high streetable power is easily made with a really nice TMIC along with proper sealing.
And people talk about heat soak and all that. Just as illustrated above, just because you have a hot engine below you, heat still has to travel primarily by either convection or conduction under the hood. If the IC isn't touching the hot engine directly and it have a 25-45-60 MPH air flow going across it, the IC isn't gaining much if any heat and if it was hot to begin with, it won't take long to get it out of there.
-are you going for a dedicated drag machine?
-are you going for an extreme all out rally/circuit racer?
If either of those, go for a FMIC. Otherwise, very high streetable power is easily made with a really nice TMIC along with proper sealing.
And people talk about heat soak and all that. Just as illustrated above, just because you have a hot engine below you, heat still has to travel primarily by either convection or conduction under the hood. If the IC isn't touching the hot engine directly and it have a 25-45-60 MPH air flow going across it, the IC isn't gaining much if any heat and if it was hot to begin with, it won't take long to get it out of there.
This actually depends on what you mean by "very high streetable power." With a smaller engine (the STi obviously has less to worry about in this category) in order to get considerably more power is to raise the boost levels. There comes a point where in order to stay "Streetable" and use pump gas you are going to need the most efficient form of removing heat from your engine, other wise detonation can and most likely will occur.
Depends how much horsepower you consider streetable, I guess.
If more power would require a FMIC, that would be the end of power mods for me. The extra power is not worth a car that doesn't want to accelerate under 4-5k RPMS.
My other point would be that I wouldn't care if the car had more power if I had to always go to high RPMs in order to use it. Most of my driving isn't running to redline and adding power only above a certain point is worthless IMO.
My Celica is already a pain in the ass to drive around town because of the low torque amounts down low. A turbo car that doesn't want to run until higher up....no way I'm doing that to myself by choice.
If more power would require a FMIC, that would be the end of power mods for me. The extra power is not worth a car that doesn't want to accelerate under 4-5k RPMS.
My other point would be that I wouldn't care if the car had more power if I had to always go to high RPMs in order to use it. Most of my driving isn't running to redline and adding power only above a certain point is worthless IMO.
My Celica is already a pain in the ass to drive around town because of the low torque amounts down low. A turbo car that doesn't want to run until higher up....no way I'm doing that to myself by choice.
Re: gear selection indicator
4-5K rpm?!! At that rpms we are talking a race-prepped drag car with a MONSTER turbo. Look at the Evo, MazdaSpeed Protege, older Audi S4, MKIV Supra, etc. All of these cars have one or two FMIC-style intercoolers and none of them in their stock form are not street driveable. The FMIC is not really going to add that much lag into the system. A lot of the lag is controlled on the turbo's setup. With the 2.5L I don't think serious lag will really be an issue, even with a FMIC modification and with the boost just turned up.
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