You people running intercoolers, are you removing the structural part of the front bumper? Several pictures I have seen show the steel bumper removed and the intercooler is mounted right where the bumper should go. Or does the intercooler go behind the bumper?

 

My intercooler sits dead even under the bumper support. If you are looking at the bumper support on a 4th gen, there is an "upper" and a "lower" portion of the support beam. I just had to cut the lower part off for the intercooler to sit in there. But, this all depends on what size intercooler/core you have.

 

http://bigdogjonx.com:81/fullpics/tu...ntwobumper.jpg

Thats how mine is setup. Dont mind the piping, its been cleaned up after this mess.

Dixit

 

For the PFI kits' intercooler, you hack almost 3/4 of it off and dremel a considerable amount off the backside of the bumper cover near the lower valence opening. It's not fun!

Have you considered an aftercooler? I think SC guys intake piping is ideal for one.

 

Man that's small Dixit. Have you monitored your intake temps from your OBD scanner?

I've been looking for a CHEAP solution to measure charge air temps at BOTH the compressor discharge and throttle-body to figure out what intercooler setup is best.

 

You mean air to water? Yes, I have considered it. I am thinking more along the lines of mounting an air to air intercooler that would also be suitable for a turbo kit later on.

 

Hows it small? You see how long it is? I havent had a chance to monitor the air temps since the air temp sensor sits in the engine bay, I just changed that to now go on the intake pipe of the turbo. Even then, how is that going to help me since its going to measure the temp way before the intercooler?

Dixit

 

I think IceY was referring to the charge air cross-sectional flow area, which is indeed fairly small with your IC. You have a lot of length for heat transfer, so your IC ought to result in a pretty good drop of charge air temperature, but a pretty substantial pressure drop through it as well.

 

I totally agree~ I think once the battery is relocated to the trunk...there's plenty of space for an aftercooler. furbiss112 has one for his car and so as delio (IIRC).....furbiss's website has some pictures of the aftercooler.

 

This may sound nitpicky, and I apologize for that, but an aftercooler is a heat transfer device used to remove heat from pressurized air after it has been compressed. So, really, all automobile intercoolers, whether air-to-air or air-to-water are in fact aftercoolers.

An intercooler is a heat transfer device that is used on a two-stage compressor to remove heat from air after it has been compressed by the first stage compressor and before it enters the second stage compressor. So there are really no intercoolers (by the strict definition) on cars. The term intercooler was used erroneously by Volvo when they started marketing turbocharged cars with aftercoolers back in the 70's, and the name stuck.

But the term intercooler is so prevalent that it sounds strange to most people (including me) to call it an aftercooler.

So when you talk about aftercoolers, what exactly are you talking about? Air to water?

 

Yeah, that's what Vortech referes to their AWIC's as.

 

You are correct Stephen...just using Vortech terminology since you guys are running Vortech parts I figured that would be more descriptive.

I should have stated a water-to-air intercooler that is not located the same as a FMIC to minimize pressure drop due to charge piping lengths.

 

Well I got a feeling I dont have anymore than about 1-1.5psi of drop. When I had a 5-7lbs spring, I was making about 5-6psi with that spring. When you look at the intercooler design,the plates are very large and very easy for the air to enter which I believe is why the psi loss is probably no more than half a pound and maybe another half a pound in the turns of the piping.

Dixit

 

thx for the info! I always thought intercooler has the air does the cooling and aftercooler is water-cooled.

I am talking about the air-to-water aftercooler sold my vortech.

 

you can ask them for a smaller IC.

 

When it's my turn, I'm losing the bumper support and stuffing in the biggest intercooler possible.