FedEx dropped this off today..

[guitarXgeek]

Well, my front-mount intercooler finally arrived today! I bought it off eBay for $210 shipped. I bought the core w/ endtanks only because I'm having a local DSMer do my intercooler piping for me. Victor Brant is the guy who is going to do my custom piping, if you know him. He had a full weight galant vr4 that ran an 11.4 in 1/4 with a sleeper 16g! Now he has an imported Evo7, one of five in the entire country when he imported it a year or two ago. Anyways, he is awesome with custom fabrication of any sort, plus he's giving me a good deal on the piping setup

I am taking the core to him this Monday because he wants to see it. Then I'm going to take the car to his shop on Saturday, mount the core, and let him do the piping. So it will be about a week before I can have the core on the car and running. I can't wait to see what a difference this will make!

Here are a couple of pictures I took of the core... core size is 20.5"x8.5"x3", tube/fin design, flows ~780cfm with .2psi pressure drop @ 15psi. I bought this core because it is the closest I could find to the size I wanted. However, I wish I would have found this core - http://www.alienauto.com/intercooler_22x9x3.htm before I ordered the one I have now, because it's pretty much the exact same size and flows just as well, but it is bar/plate. Oh well, if worse comes to worse and this core doesn't do a good job of cooling, I know a local honda guy that is getting ready to turbo his car and I could just sell this one to him and buy the Alien Auto core



Shot of the entire core..



View of the inside of the endtank..



Random shots..





Shot of the endtank welds..



The money shot..

[joemathews]

Looks like a nice core, Matt! I'm thinking more and more about going with the JohnnyRacecar fmic core, myself. For $215 shipped, and with such good reviews on DSMtuners, it is hard to pass up.

Are you doing short-route piping for your setup? Do you think you'll be able to keep the fogs?

[guitarXgeek]

Originally Posted by joemathews

Looks like a nice core, Matt! I'm thinking more and more about going with the JohnnyRacecar fmic core, myself. For $215 shipped, and with such good reviews on DSMtuners, it is hard to pass up.

Are you doing short-route piping for your setup? Do you think you'll be able to keep the fogs?

I almost got the JRC core, but nobody has any flow #'s for it and that is one of the most important aspects of intercooler choice, IMO.

Yes, Victor and I have decided on short-route 2.5" piping, all mandrel bent aluminum. I'll be sure to post up some pics of the entire setup and piping when it gets finished!

And no, the fogs will not be able to stay It's pretty easy to tell that from the last picture with the core sitting in front of the car

[joemathews]

Yeah, having no flow numbers on the JRC core is a little sketchy. People seem to love it, though. Sometimes people are able to run their piping under the stock fogs, but with that core, the i/o are only like 2/3 of the way to the bottom and it probably wouldn't work.

[kjewer1]

The numbers arent always arrived at the same way from one brand to the next. And dont forge that we never ever approach the cfm numbers these things are rated at (2 literes is .07 cf, times rpm, 265 cfm for most poeple). The numbers they give dont really help determine what flow will be at higher pressures, but lower flow. I prefer to see how well a core has worked for others, if that info is available. Otherwise I just go with the basic rules of thumb. LEngth adds to pressure drop, height and thickness reduce it but reduce cooling air to the rad, etc. We've gone over it all before, you get the idea.

I think this core will work perfectly for your plans, regardless of the flow numbers.

[clipsekid99]

That looks real nice! Who did you get it from on ebay? Did they have any more?

[guitarXgeek]

Originally Posted by 95 GSXracer

The numbers arent always arrived at the same way from one brand to the next. And dont forge that we never ever approach the cfm numbers these things are rated at (2 literes is .07 cf, times rpm, 265 cfm for most poeple). The numbers they give dont really help determine what flow will be at higher pressures, but lower flow. I prefer to see how well a core has worked for others, if that info is available. Otherwise I just go with the basic rules of thumb. LEngth adds to pressure drop, height and thickness reduce it but reduce cooling air to the rad, etc. We've gone over it all before, you get the idea.

I think this core will work perfectly for your plans, regardless of the flow numbers.

Very good points, and hopefully I can provide some information on how this intercooler performs so that others can have a base of information about this particular core when they are searching for an intercooler. I will definitely get back with everyone once the intercooler has been installed, and I may have some dsmlink logs for you to look at as well

[kjewer1]

DSMlink logs are always good

[Killa_DSM]

Man, that intercoolers going to look so good on your car. I cant wait to see it done. You should make a write up with pictures when you install it. Oh and also write a review on how it performs.


If it works good for you, I may just get one in the future. Do you have link to where you got it from?
Good luck!!!

[guitarXgeek]

Originally Posted by RaginAsian

Man, that intercoolers going to look so good on your car. I cant wait to see it done. You should make a write up with pictures when you install it. Oh and also write a review on how it performs.


If it works good for you, I may just get one in the future. Do you have link to where you got it from?
Good luck!!!

Thanks, I hope it performs as well as it looks! Here is a link to the core I bought.. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...category=33742

I don't think a write-up is necessary because there are so many write-ups already out there. However, I will take pictures and note some of the more troublesome fitment issues like the power steering cooling line loop/removal.

[Whathits14]

This looks like a good core, but be wary of many ebay cores...often times they will be total crap, like most of the performance brands on ebay

[kjewer1]

Yes, be sure to shitcan that POS PS fluid cooler. It cost me a radiator after I relocated it. Should have shitcanned it right from the start...

[scottsee]

thats buy now button almost got the best of me!! please let the few of us looking to buy a fmic soon know how it works out.

[joemathews]

The thickness of the core in the ebay link you posted is only 2 3/8 inches. Is that the one you got?

[guitarXgeek]

Originally Posted by joemathews

The thickness of the core in the ebay link you posted is only 2 3/8 inches. Is that the one you got?

Yes it is. I guess for some reason I thought I saw 2 7/8"? I don't think the very slightly thinner core will make much of a difference, though. And honestly, this is a fairly medium-sized core compared to what is popular for DSMers right now. For example, the SBR core alone is 24x12x3.5 which is fucking HUGE in any car. In fact, I don't see any advantage to any car running an air/air intercooler larger than that. So you see, this core fits my needs almost perfectly

All in all, I just really wanted a core that flows very well with very little pressure drop and has decent cooling abilities, as a water/alcohol injection setup is only 2-3 parts down my list from where I am right now