Pick My FMIC for Me!

[kjewer1]

Pick whichever core you want I can make an arguement for it to convince you But I told you what I Think. I don't think anything less than 3.5" thickness is worth the time or money. Its not about frontal area only, or half ass flow numbers, etc. Its about the core as a whole, and the application it is being used in. I think the SBR 24x12x3.5 was the best core for our cars, but without the pusher slim fan I would overheat just cruising at 75 on the highway. I remember trying to fire up the laptop, waiting for it to boot up while the temp gauge was climbing fast. I could then use DSMlink to kick on both fans and it would drop the temp imediately. But I'll tell you there is no possible way adding a FMIC can make the car run cooler, some other variable had to have changed in order for the temp to drop. I personally would just do the SBR kit and be done with FMICs for the rest of your life. But it doesnt fit your budget.

To elaborate on the flow number thing, they're all pretty much useless. CFM is very low on our cars. A 2 liter motor at 7000 RPM and 100% Volumetric Efficiency will consume ~250 CFM airflow. FOr reference, a motor will use half of its displacement per revolution. So, 1 liter x 7000 rpm is 7000 lpm, or 247.2 CFM. Just for grins, a 2.4 liter in the same conditions will use 296 CFM. At any rate, you see my point. We are no where near a thousand CFM, where most of these cores are rated. And the ratings from one core to the next may not have been taken under the same conditions (pressure drop, etc).

[joemathews]

Well, I was leaning toward the smaller Garrett core to begin with, and from the sound of it, you agree . I just think it will be a great match for my setup, and thinking back to your point about using race gas--this intercooler could probably support a 20g making almost 400hp on race gas just fine. I may not even have to worry about that

And for now, it will prevent me from overheating (hopefully!), allow me to safely run probably 23 psi on pump gas, and still cost less than $200 (plus piping and couplers) . If I need to go bigger, chances are I can modify the piping and make it work with a larger core at some point.

It will save me some money on couplers as well...I'm still considering whether to try to do short route piping or stick to the easier piping through the stock location...

Thanks for the help, everyone. I'll be sure to post pics and write a review when I get all of this stuff together, but it probably won't be for a few more months.

[kjewer1]

Another thing to keep in mind that that lets say at some point you decide to go with a whole kit (like SBRs), you can always sell your current core and piping to someone else trying to save a buck or two. Probably for more than you paid, since you have done the hard work already. You really can't go wrong.