OK! I think I need to set this straight. For some reason a lot of people say that having a front mount intercooler will increase the chance of overheating or create a overheating problem. Well I have been in dilema about buying one so I went talked to Sportcar motion and they say that they don't creat that problem and that who ever says they do doesn't know what their talking about. So I have officially decided to go with FMIC. I know everyone has tried to help me out but I had to go to the experts on that one.

As long as you have the proper reliability mods done, and your fans work... I really don't think a FMIC is going to hurt much.

Danno I think the reason everyone has said to be careful of overheating problems is because of the age of our cars. We are modding 10, 13, and sometimes close to 20 year old cars. Over time the engine cooling system loses its efficiency due to sediment, corosion, and part failure. You must remember that the cooling system on our cars is very important because if it goes bad you may lose a coolant seal and therefore lose your motor. Also by putting a FMIC in you add more heat to the air going to the radiator and if you have the original one in you might end up having problems. My advice to you is to take care of you cooling system before you add the FMIC.

Unless its a hardcore autocross/roar race car you'll be fine with a FMIC

This is sound advice. I wouldtake it.

I don't have problems with overheating with my front mount intercooler!

In my opinion a front mount is superior to a stock mount in a rx-7. An intercooler in the stock location gets heat soaked way too much. With an upgraded radiator and proper ducting, a front mount works very well. I have had both and like the front mount much better. Also, run more water than coolant. I am running about 80/20 water to coolant and the car runs much cooler.

yeah i did about 65/35 on the coolant/water mix.. i see 86-95C on the PFC when driving around.. if i stay outta boost it will stay down, but once that T-78 heats things up.. heh it will get into the 90s.. I like the FMIC.. lots more bling factor too.. but i had to adjust my idle.

I have a fmic and have no problems https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.png

**** front mounts......... V mount that ****

V-mount will heat soak as well. Anything inside the engine bay will. Is better than a stock mount but very expensive too.

All these points are good. For those of you who are saying that your car doesn't overheat with a FMIC, that's good. It shouldn't overheat. What I think happend here was somebody installed a FMIC without attending to there car's needs in the way of cooling and then blamed it on the FMIC. This caused everybody to over-react and start saying that a FMIC will cause all cars to overheat no matter what. If you just make sure your coolant system is in good working ordeer things should be fine. You may not even have to upgrade your coolant system, but I would just for that extra piece of mind because of the age of our cars.

plus since you will be pulling the radiator out anyways, why not upgrade?

V mounts will heat soak... yes that is true, but once in motion it will let go of the heat quickly, espcially if you have a nice duct to direct air towards the VMIC. A fan should help, but is not really needed.



It comes down to whats important, an FMIC will definitely not have the heat soak issue, but at the expense of air flow to the radiator. And we all know how much our cars can use the cooling from the radiator. The VMIC meanwhile will have the heat soak issue, but the heat becomes an issue if you boost... you dont boost from a stop (which is when the heat soak will occur), once the car starts to move your intake temps will drop.



In addition to this you can get a water injection system (an added expense though) to cool the intake temps, but you cant put a similar device for your coolant temps for your engine.



The V-mount in my opinion is what I'd go with, it makes a lot of sense when done right. Anything increasing the overheating risk on the FD just kind of scares me a bit. If I dont have the money though I'd get an FMIC, I think they are good too (I dont mean to say they suck, I just think there is a superior product out there). The FMIC shouldnt give you problems though if you decide to go with that, just like the above post said, you need to have your car in good shape and have the reliability mods done.

Potatochobit: I'm in no way speaking for Gotham Racing and am sorry you feel this way about thier shop. I don't work for them. My car sponsored by them, but anything I say is of my own opinion and of the facts that I know. I actually am in the Air Force and I don't speak for them either. I currently live in Abilene, Texas(West Texas). This is the hottest spot I've ever lived. Temps out here rutinely exceed 95 degrees F. in the summer. They sometimes reach 110-115 degrees F. I've had a FMIC on my 2nd gen TII for some time now and so has my friend who owns a 93 base. We both also have upgraded our cooling systems with fluidyne radiators and run a 50/50 mix of coolant and water. Niether of us have had any overheating problems. In my opinion a FMIC is a good upgrade, but I'm sure there is something better out there. As for your problems with overheating I don't know what to say. Maybe there is something wrong with your car or you're just running it too hard at the wrong times(possibly during the hottest times of the day). Please don't come in here bad mouthing me or Gotham Racing when you don't know us. If you would like to express you negative opinion of Gotham Racing please email Steve Kan and express your opinion to him. You can get his email address from the Gotham Racing website.

Sorry for accusing you of insulting me but the guys at Gotham Racing are good friends of mine and have never done me wrong. Anyways his fans stay on because he has done the fan mod. He has it set up so that when he leaves his parking lights on the fans will stay on. He also has a Power FC and I have never seen his temps go above 95 degrees c. his car runs 17psi and he pushes it pretty hard during the day when he gets in a street race. My car has a haltech e6k and I have never eceeded 210 degrees f. when doing tuning runs on the highway at around 5 pm, as you know is the hotest time of the day in Texas, at 15psi. Also both of our cars are daily driven. Where in Texas do you live? Maybe my friend and I can come down and see what you're talking about and help you fix the problem. Maybe you could even come to us if you live close enough. These are just some suggestions. Let me know and we can work something out.

I have never had a problem with my FMIC and when I first put the fmic on I was still using the stock radiator and I still did not have any problems. The overheating issue might just depend on the car. But in all I have never had any problems not even when I go down to Del Rio TX and if you know any thing about TX it's just about always the hotest spot in TX.

or someone installed a front mount without stepping up fuel

GReddy Type 24 V-spec FMIC/Koyo Rad/Power FC fan mod



No problems on the street. I sealed of my Koyo with thick A/C weather stripping to force air THROUGH the rad car rather than around it. Worked wonders for my track-driving water temps, which would reach a peak of 115 C after 20 minutes of full-bore lapping @ Putnam Park Road Course. This is not overheating the engine, but it's probably a bit too warm (115 C is 239 F) for the motor to run @ extended time intervals. FWIW, I have silicone O-ring water seals and enlarged oil and coolant passages in the motor block. Motor was done by KDR Performance (www.kdrotary.com). Water/Antifreeze mix is 85/15 with Redline Water Wetter. I use Prestone Orange (aka Dexcool). You can leave this stuff in longer if you live in a climate like Tx, but I change my coolant twice per year--summer mix/wintermix.



You will like the FMIC if your car is a "street fighter". You'll always be ready for "combat", without worrying about heat soak--like you would with a large SMIC, or V-mount.



FWIW, V-mount is more suited to track driving in warm climates like the south and southwest. For those of us here int he midwest, FMIC is just fine for track street. Also V-mount and SMICs would benefit greatly from a vented hood like a Scoot. Of course those of us with FMICs could also use the extra ventillation the Scoot-type hood offers to allow the hot air to escape.



If you autocross or drag race, you know the ill-effects heat soak can have on your IC, and the front-mount is less prone to heat soak, thus your times on the cone and straight courses tend to reflect this...



Good luck!

A RX7 has a good chance of overheating STOCK/ORIGINAL/NOT MODDED



If you put in any IC make sure your not getting to far ahead of your cooling. Some people say BS to promote their set-up or products.



Like mentioned though, make sure your cooling is in order first, and then after make sure your still good to go, also check your fuel which it could make you run a little lean without some tunning BUT IT DEPENDS, which can also creat high temps.



Good luck... Front a guy with no OVERHEATS and a front mount for over 2 years hehe



SORRY GUYS I JUST NOTICED A LOT OF PEOPLE SAID THESE THINGS BEFORE ME, OOPS I ONLY READ LIKE 2-3 POSTS, BUT I MIGHT AS WELL ADD TO IT>>

I think your missing one more problem with a front mount that is driven on the street, Holes in it from rocks being thrown into it, and dont say bs cuz every one gets rock chips.. Also what do you want to do with the car? Im building a streetable drag car so the front mount is pretty much a waste and the only reason im running a ic is the fact that i still drive the car on the street some times if it wasnt for that i would run no ic at all. So pick your direction first then decide what you want to buy... https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...#>/BURNOUT.gif

Front mount is the way to go, if you are scared get a Radiator and the fan mod. While your at it get a single, the twins heat up the coolant even more being that they are water cooled.

Anyone ever put together their own FMIC? Like has anyone bought a Gtr core and custom built it? What was the price and in the end was it worth it?

Kits are nice, don't have to worry about getting piping made. Which can add up, unless you can do it yourself. Plus you might have to do some cutting and make brackets if you don't get a kit. That's my 2 cents

Get a net in front of the IC that will help on the chips in the IC. If you have a V-mount you will get chips in your RAD, which is worse hehe

As for rocks and stuff put a net or something to help prevent the rocks from hitting it. Be sure not to fallow to close to traffic and don't loose a race so the other car does not get in front of you and put rocks all over the front end of your car. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/bigok.gif

Say what you will but "generally" speaking your average engine temps will be lower with a SMIC.

I dont claim that a FMIC will over heat the car by blocking the airflow to the radiator. Hell I am even thinking about swapping oout my m2 large for a greddy 3 row, but for other reasons.



Yes I agree that as long as the coolant system is up to par and the radiator is getting good airflow a front mouth should not hinder the engine cooling capacity much. But a SMIC is still providing optimal air flow over the radiator core. BOTTOM LINE and all in all you are still sacrificing engine running temps for intake charge temps.

Performance over reliability? Not that big of a deal admitedly but still a sacrifice non the less. https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...DIR#>/cool.png

I have a GTR intercooler!! How much would it be to change the end tanks? If i don't do that I will buy a kit. The intercooler I have is an aftermarket GTR intercooler made by SUPER INTERCOOLER. Can some one let me know a price??

I would add one thing. FMIC add longer piping to the intake path. This exposes the piping to heat soak, and increased boost lag. I am not saying how much, or it is noticiable, but from a pure physics/engineering pespective, those are facts.

Acctually for the physics side of things you may have a little turbo lag but depending on how your piping is run you can have more torque. Anyone have any additiont o what a end tank change would be on a GTR intercooler?

what is your logic for more torque, smoother flow?

take a look at how your plumbing and engine bay set up is to determine what type of end tanks to use that is most efficient at distributing airflow.



Click HERE for more info.



i was going to do something similiar but i decided fabricating end tanks and piping was time consuming so i went with an Apexi. also, for me anyway, having a proven I/C setup that have numbers & tests to back it up is worth the extra couple of bucks. i can't afford pressure drop.

i have the apexi gt spec intercooler for single turbo applications and the piping isnt that long at all! maybe 12 inches on the hot side and about the same on the cold side.

I have no idea what a GTR intercooler looks like, but you can get lot sof cores and end tanks here...



http://www.roadraceengineering.com/intercoolers.htm

Thanks alot that is a great link. I will be in contact with them to see what they can do for me. The end ranks are not really all that expensive either. If i do this i will take lots of pics so everyone will how to do it. I think I might be able to save a lot of money now!!

Alright, that was uncalled for. What makes you think you have the right to degrade a shop like that? What is your basis for the reasoning? Where are the facts to back up your claim? Have you ever been to our shop, got tech support, or even had any work done for you by us? How much water to coolant ratio do you run? Do you still have the stock ast? Do you have proper ducting to the radiator? What intercooler do you have? A properly set up car should not overheat. Water transfers heat more efficiently than coolant. Running the traditional 50/50 mix will make your car run alot hotter. Improper air ducting, such as missing the under tray will impede cooling efficinecy. Air takes the path of least resistance, so if it can go around the radiator, it will. Broken fans will make you overheat at low speeds. When is the last time you replaced your thermostat? Did you eliminate the airpump and keep the stock pullies? That would make your water pump slip. Are your radiator caps holding pressure? What coolant guage are you relying on? The stock one is a pos. I run a greddy 2 front r-spec front mount with a mazdacomp radiator, no ast, 80/20 water to coolant ratio with a bottle of water wetter. I also have some custom ducting to help bring more air under the front mount to the radiator. The space between the top of my radiator and the front of the car is sealed off by a custom shield I made to prevent the escape of air. I took these extra measures because I use my car for everything from street to drag to road racing. I also still have my a/c. On a hundred degree F day I can cruise with the a/c blasting. My coolant temps will be between 98-103C. If I am in traffic for a long time, then the temps sometimes creep up, but at that point I just turn off the a/c. Without the a/c they will drop down to the low to mid 90's. Yesterday it was about 90 out, and I drove for over an hour to the track with the a/c blowing. Coolant temps were about 91C. On a road coarse with ambients temps in the upper 80s, the hottest my car got after 20 min of flogging it was 100C. was stating my opinion, which I obtained from my own personal experiance as well as observation of others. I have owned 4 rx-7, over the past 4 years. Three of them were third gens. I do all my own work on my car now. My boss Steve has owned his third gen since new. He has tried countless setups on it. He learned to do everything on the car himself. You don't build a 10 second street car without knowing what you're doing. I see that you have a stock mount intercooler and a Koyo. The Koyo works pretty well, but not as well as a Fuidyne in my opinion. Still, it should be sufficeinet. Obviously you have a problem elsewhere in your coolant system. I'd be happy to look at your car for you, even after you badmouthed me. I can fix the problem and then you can come back on here and appoligize. I don't need to do this. I have a plentiful and loyal customer basis. I'm willing to do this because we are an honest shop that has the customers best interest in mind.

I must apologize to gotham racing. i have received a few posts from them stating the post was offensive. as i stated earlier the post was not personal and Im sure gotham racing does good work as many people in the Dallas area have used their services and have stated the work was excellent.

I've also heard that removing the cats is good for getting heat away from the engine bay. Anyone confirm/deny this?

Yes the precat traps a ton of heat in the engine bay. Replacing it with a downpipe helps greatly. Potatochobit, thanks for the appoligy.

Potatochobit: Apology accepted. Sorry it came to this. If you do need anything please feel free to give Gotham Racing a call. You'll get the same great customer service Gotham Racing gives everybody.