Hi all,



not sure if this has been asked/discussed before, but couldn't find any conclusive info about this yet.



I'm thinking of buying an aftermarket intercooler for my FC

Was thinking of one of the medium sized Corksport ones.



Now my question is where to put it.

I don't think it'll fit on the same spot where the stock intercooler is.



I considered front mounted but then again this would mean long pipes to and from the cooler. Theoretically that would negatively affect spool time. Since I wish for the turbo to operate at low pressure and preferrably keep lag as low as possible I'd considered other locations in the engine bay.



Biggest question though is where to put it then?

(there is some space behind the radiator but 1. only a small intercooler will fit there and 2. it'll get all the hot air from the radiator.)

You will not feel the lag time difference with a FMIC as long as you dont go to extreme with bends and diameter of the pipe. Just go front mount. It will be a lot easier. It will be difficult to get a larger intercooler to fit in the stock location because of the stock intake manifold. Greddy made one a long time ago I think, its pretty expensive if I can recall.



You could do it behind the radiator. If you look at the FD, thats where it is stock. But they have ducting to it and its not really right behind the radiator.



No matter where you put it (excpet for stock), you will have about the same amount of pipe.

ok, that's about what I wanted to know.

Was thinking of ordering a bunch of aluminum pipes suitable for airducts and an intercooler since I have not really found a kit that fits on the sizes corksport offers on their site for the medium sized intercoolers.



As I understand it less is more when looking at diameter for the pipe?

(will just use the intake and IC hole sizes and continue those so I think it'll be something like 45 or 55 mm pipes then.)



Welding the bends and straights together should not prove to be a problem.

Only point of attention is that it'll have to be airtight. Think I can manage that but will order some extra piping anyways.



Any ideas on where to mount a BOV?

(never screwed around with turbo's before)

The negative affects of an FMIC will be noticeable at stock boost levels w/ stock turbo. It's not bad though, you get over it once you notice how dramatically your AIT drop! I've got some datalogs of a T2 running a GReddy FMIC at 12psi and the AITs are awesome! The stock IC location is bad in general. The intercooler is not sufficient at higher-than-stock levels IMHO based on numbers I've seen personally and based on other datalogs.



RE Amemiya makes a replacement stock intercooler, should bump efficiency up about 15% or so..its basically a larger than stock unit that still sits on top of the engine.



1300cc.com has a good writeup on his intercooler setup, he went the radiator location route...pretty good setup if your trying to keep it sleeper/clean.



My friend's miata has the "best" fmic setup ever, has hardly any piping! His turbo still doesn't hit 10psi until 4K though...it was at 5K before final tuning.



Basically, don't let the lag keep you away from going FMIC, you can solve spool time w/ more fuel/better trim turbo to suit your needs.



PS. other option is V-mount, but you'll need custom hood for that one.

Its nowhere near the radiator.

I wasn't really thinking of exchanging the turbo for the while being.

Probably porting the wastegate and adding an aftermarket BOV to keep pressure in check.



Think that with the information on 1300cc and the information provided here I'll indeed go for a front mounted cooler although maybe the V mount setup could be interesting as well since I'll add an aftermarket hood anyways.



Any drawbacks on the V mount setup that anybody knows of?

VMounts, depending on how they are setup, still typically don't provide the same temp control as an FMIC. This all depends though on how you set your VMount up though...w/ the right ducting and airflow..a VMount can easily outperform an FMIC.



The only real drawback I guess would be space. I prefer FMIC because it leaves the engine bay open. It's one less thing to remove when I need to pull an engine out. If I had a VMount, I'd pull it everytime I need to replace a motor or put a new one, etc. I guess it's just preference if you build the right system. FMIC is easier to get better performance from though(there are kits already available, etc)

I didnt say that it was near the radiator. I said that its not really behind the radiator (since its not near the radiator).



I agree with One320b. I perfer an empty engine bay so it takes less time to do work on the engine. You could always go with an air-water intercooler.

methanol injection??

I'm confused, are you saying it is behind the radiator or not https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.png

He's not referring to methanol, he's talking about an air-to-water intercooler...similar to old celicas. It's basically an intercooler that uses water to cool the charge instead of air. It's an enclosed unit that allows you circulate water through the fins as boost goes through it...



I don't think solitaire would be interested in an air-to-water IC based on his posts about location. If he was considering air-to-water...location isn't so much a factor...

Yeah, thats what threw me too.

Indeed not really interested in an air to water intercooler since air is lighter then water and weight saving is going to be the main item during the tune up.



(even managed to find someone to make CF paneling for the inside of the car)



I think that with the information here I'll go for the FMIC then.

Still thinking about welding my own piping or buying a complete kit.

The intercooler is coming from Corksport. Decided to go for the largest one they have to have some reserve when deciding to exchange the stock turbo later on.



How about manufacturers for intercooler piping kits?

I saw one or two kits but they did not really leave many options available if thinsg do not fit perfectly and seen the fact that I'll add some custom built parts to the engine bay I would not like to ship over a kit from US to germany only to find out it doesn't fit.



How much adjusting space do these kits normally offer?

The best bet you have is to make your own "kit." Then it will fit perfectly. I did my entire FMIC for about $300, including the intercooler.

That was one of the things I had in mind.

I could build my own kit for $500 including shipping and intercooler and parts or I could spend $1200 for a complete intercooler kit.



Think I'd prefer the first solution since I'm on a tight budget for the moment.

Personally, I'm not aware of a piping kit for the FC3S chassis to fit an FMIC. Your best bet will be to buy a universal IC piping kit and start cutting and welding away. It's the only way to get the fit and flow you want. I had the GReddy FMIC kit on my car for a while. Well worth the money for the quality and saving headache trying to get all my pipes to work. But that was w/ stock turbo and stock TB/intake mani setup.



I'm in the same boat as you now though. I have a custom intake setup with dual ITBs, a plenum, and a larger T4 turbo. No kit that greddy makes or any mfg for that matter will bolt up. I'm just buying a pipe kit, and I'll have to measure/cut/weld all the pipes for that perfect fit..



At least in the end you'll have something that you built and is completely custom... I'm using a GReddy 32R 3Row intercooler for my new setup though. I like the GReddy cores.

That for sure.

Any noticable gain/advantage in polishing the inside of the pipes after welding to remove any welding lines?

I am not sure if you would be able to feel the difference, but there would be one.



A cool trick, if you have a pipe bending shop near by, is to buy some flexible ventilation pipe, put the bends in it that you need, then go to the shop and have them bend a piece of pipe for you the same way. That way you will have a solid, non-welded piece so you wont have to worry about flow. Or, if you are really good with a saw, as long as all your joints are perfectly flat, you should be able to get around it.

You can use the flexible exhaust pipe if you have it. I didn't realize your in Germany, so I'm not sure if you guys sell that stuff or not as it may not be legal there. Another option is to draw out templates and take them to a pipe bender...not as easy as the flexible pipe, but still works...

The flexible exhaust pipe I never heard of. That'd probably mean it's not legal in either netherlands belgium or germany.



I'll manage to weld/cut an airtight duct with the bent and straight pipe parts that are available in aluminum though so either that or I'll just buy me a straight pipe long enough and try my luck at bending it myself.

The princple for mandrel bend is not that hard to reproduce with means available to almost everyone.



Best trick would be to fill the pipe with wooden inserts with a rather exact fit before bending the pipe around a well prepared mold with the right angle plus a bit.



I do think though that welding up the whole thing migt be the easiest solution.

Will go through the trouble of removing weld excess anyways I guess.



Thanks for the usefull input anyways.

Definately decided fo front mounted now.



I've seen most manufacturers offering 2 sizes of piping. 2,5" (55-60mm) and 3" (70-75mm)

Is there any risk of pressure loss or turbulence when the pipe diameter is 3" when using stock boost pressure (or a little over it. considering to raise boost pressure with 50% or so)

2.5" should be plenty for your needs... i use 2.75"ID IN and 3"ID OUT to prevent pressure loss in the core itself and assist through flow. GReddy does this with their FMIC kits to begin w/ (the inlet is smaller than the outlet)...

wouldnt a electronic boost controller help build boost a little faster with a FMIC??

When doing things I always try to do them as good as I can manage.

That means the mechanical setup has to be to my liking befgore I actually consider alternatives.



That way I won't find myself limited by the stuff I already did when trying to work my way up to more power later. Kind of is an economical consideration really. This means that by spending an extra few hours in research I will avoid having to replace stuff later. Furthermore, I'm not that fond of electronic devices trying to patch up bad constructions (not generally bad but maybe not ideal would be a better way of describing it).



So with the turbo, to mechanically avoid lag I have to do my best to keep the intake side of the system as short as possible, yet still place the intercooler at a place where it'll catch plenty of fresh air. Or at least, that were my initial thoughts on teh matter.



I'm currently trying to weld up some pretty neat piping for the intercooler.



(that won't mean I will not add an electronic boost controller. I probably will do so anyways.)

A boost controller can work to adjust the lag to an extent, you might even be able to eliminate the added lag from the FMIC all together, but that will depend on your turbo and fuel setups. If you have an upgraded turbo (even a stock upgrade one) you can get the boost to come on a little earlier w/ a boost controller...but you have to make sure your not running lean at the lower RPM level when you do that...

At the moment I have all the basic maintanance done. Spark plugs replaced, fuel lines and electronics refreshed and the likes.



As for the first set of alterations/additions to be made I was thinking of the FMIC, fuel controller, bigger fuelpump, Corksport ECU, BOV and porting the wastegate on the stock turbo.



I'll see that I get that setup to run properly before adding a boost controller, having a look for the need for larger fuel injectors etc.