FMIC Ducting and IAT cooling mods!

Hi guys

Wanted to share this set of mods with you, mostly because I was unaware of the improvements that could be made!

Firstly, thanks to:

http://www.max-boost.co.uk/max-boost - lots of detailed info, even Supra stuff on there! No BS, just simple, easy to read info!

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?197330-FMIC-ducting-install – the inspiration!

Firstly here is a screen shot of the issue. This was on a 20 degree Celsius day, no boost just stop start driving! 52 degrees! Ouch!

The point being, this heat is going to heatsoak the intercooler before you even consider the massive load the boost will add! The sensor is located right on the throttle body so is a true reflection of what is going on.

So after much reading I set about reducing my inlet temps, this is the story!

This is how my single setup looked, very similar to many others I have seen!

You can see the black ducting I had to the left, it was clearly going nothing.

This was my previous ducting, it was a quick bodge, you can see how much air flow I was wasting when you compare it to the pic with no bumper.

So, with the bumper off, I set about removing some of the ‘funnel’ to increase my expansion chamber

after

The ducting I made, its made from very thin steel, I will be getting it re-made but I only have a mig. It’s fairly light, not as light as aluminium but better than no ducting! All the tiny joins were sealed too.

Next up I wanted to get the air filter out of the bay, I did want to get rid of the K&N after seeing just how bad they were on the MaxBoost website, however my commercial paper replacement was a little…err….too big!

Whoops!

So, back to the K&N for a few months until I fine a smaller paper commercial filter.

Wanted some more airflow to the filter so some more came off the bumper

Also, had to make a 4.5” hole in the inner wing, not what I wanted to do but I had no choice.

gasket added

I used this for the inlet pipe, its suitable for 100 degrees and 6 bar so plenty for an inlet

i then lagged this with industrial pipe lagging and sealed with aluminium tape. No **** taking, I know it looks like a big hover…

Whilst taking this pic I noticed the second issue!

Look how close the compressor housing is to the exhaust manifold! On big boost it must add some much heat to the already hot compressed air!

So I looked around for something to help!

I found a Saab 9-3 turbo heatshield, 2 bits of aluminium filled with asbestos! Yes!

Gave it a clean

Then fitted

I know it looks a bit silly but function of form!

Covered the inlet pipe also

Now the intercooler and inlet is sorted I turned to the radiator. I had AC but never had it gassed. I have removed the rad but left all the pipes so if the next owner wants it, its just a case of 4 bolts and a re-gas.

Intercooler removed showing the old AC rad, that can’t help airflow!

in the next pics you can see all the gaps around the radiator, as air goes for the path of least resistance I was losing some cooling potential here.

Bottom left

bottom

bottom right

And aluminium taped up, 3 layers so its strong and forces the air through the rad instead of going around it!

Also I noticed this gap at the top

added some foam

Started refitting up

Intercooler back on with rubber seals where the ducting meets the edges

just about to fit the ducting and my mate Dan has trolled me!

Twat!

Anyway ducting on

I found a place to fit the air filter

I had brought an engine tray and a bumper tray but with my new mods they no longer fitted. Air flow is much better with a tray and helps to create low pressure in the engine bay.

This is the gap between the fmic and rad, you can see the gap at the bottom, I would be losing lots of air from there!

So, some 4mm plastic sheet!

the underside

Due to my air filter location I didn’t want the wheel throwing water onto the air filter, and I also wanted to use the low pressue of the wheel to pull air past the filter. As my splitter has a duct in it I also wanted to use that as otherwise it’s a waste! So…

Heres the new lower mud guard. You can see the rounded gap near the inside of the wheel to help with airflow

another angle

inside the lower splitter duct, forcing air to the filter

And what’s all that work worth?

Well went for a ride last night and after a long run, sat idling I had temps of….

25 degrees! Nearly halved! Dyno next week so lets hope my new mods get me some ‘free’ horsepower!

Thanks for reading!

Great work there! Love the ducting for the FMIC.

Interested to hear the dyno improvements.

+1

That was a really interesting read. The FMIC duct looks awesome! Good luck for the dyno session.

Good read,

nice work , ducting will always help and that looks awsome,

i have some ducting similar to yours but i have cut another section out of the front bumper between the lip and the mouth giving me and extra 2" for the intercooler mouth.

i also some super thermal intake gasket you can get that replaces the gasket that goes between the block and the intake runners which is ment to massively drop intake temps. but thats more heat soak to the sensor but cant hurt

wow nice work , only thing I would say would the air filiter not get wet where it is located ?

wow nice work , only thing I would say would the air filiter not get wet where it is located ?

i have always wondered how the water would act through a soaked filter would it come through fine like water/meth or droplets ?

it maybe not such a bad thing?

Nice work. Littler and I have been talking about doing this all week!

water meth uses nozzles to atomize the water, im unsure if a soaked filter would work the same way. plus, it's always recommended not to really have water go into the turbo, as it can't compress it.

THIS SETUP IS THE NUTS. I think the sheet ducting should be matt black, so it's not obvious. The engineering thought and design into this is brilliant. I love seeing threads like this. Have you got any technical data to show after the improvements? The impact must be huge. Moving the filter would make a big enough impact I would of thought let alone rad and IC ducting.

That's a brilliant result on temp drop. You must be really pleased. There must be soem power improvement. I'm tempted to try this air filter relocation idea myself!

I love the ducting and fabrication work.

But surely if intake temps are a problem why not look at a much better designed intercooler.

Those cheaper brand bar and plate intercoolers available mainly from ebay and used by numerious traders are actually based on oil cooler cores not air. I used one with our 900bhp 3sgte drag car and when i eventually moved upto a properly designed unit with a proper motorsport core the pressure difference was huge, same size and dimensions and we picked up a 70bhp gain just from swapping the core from those cheaper brands to a properly designed unit.

just food for thought

Tim

The problem here is it hides the exact problem by improving different areas. With high intake temps it's hard to pin point which improvement made the biggest impact.

I don't think all of this modifications were to recify a low quality intercooler. The engines on single conversions do get loads of heat soak and that could be contributing as well as the fact his turbo and manifold are practicing mating in the engine bay.

Plus there's no comparison to the poor intercooler you had against this current design shown here. Maybe a better comparison might of been with a different intercooler before and after as well.

It would be great to see a different intercooler used on this exact setup. And of had measured intake temps per modification.

Regardless though, the combination of improvements is definitely a huge improvement that any intercooler alone wouldn't of been able to match.

I'm first up for the second version if you want Slutters hahaha

I'm first up for the second version if you want Slutters hahaha

Seconds on that! Can anyone say "hobbyist application...?"

The end result is a credit to you Slutty!

Good old fashioned problem solving.

I enjoyed reading that, a bit of creativity goes along way in some cases, good job!

How long have I gone on about most FMIC's having a third of the core blanked off, and no ducting? At last someone has posted something showing real world gains from fixing the issues, well done, nice job!

Thanks for all the reply's guy's, hope i can help if anyone else undertakes this!

wow nice work , only thing I would say would the air filiter not get wet where it is located ?

This is true, and i have seen first hand what a wet filter can do to an engine. However it is totally sealed at the bottom so if i go through any puddles i will be ok as the water cannot get into that area.

The problem here is it hides the exact problem by improving different areas. With high intake temps it's hard to pin point which improvement made the biggest impact.

 

I don't think all of this modifications were to recify a low quality intercooler. The engines on single conversions do get loads of heat soak and that could be contributing as well as the fact his turbo and manifold are practicing mating in the engine bay.

 

Plus there's no comparison to the poor intercooler you had against this current design shown here. Maybe a better comparison might of been with a different intercooler before and after as well.

 

It would be great to see a different intercooler used on this exact setup. And of had measured intake temps per modification.

 

Regardless though, the combination of improvements is definitely a huge improvement that any intercooler alone wouldn't of been able to match.

 

I'm first up for the second version if you want Slutters hahaha

This, when i was on the dyno i couldn't belive just how hot the bay was! Even the bonnet stand was boiling!

I did think about making a set of 10 for people, however everyones IC mounting is slightly different.

I enjoyed reading that, a bit of creativity goes along way in some cases, good job!

Thanks chap!

How long have I gone on about most FMIC's having a third of the core blanked off, and no ducting? At last someone has posted something showing real world gains from fixing the issues, well done, nice job!

Wow, Supra royalty commented! Thanks Chris, TBH i think the SMIC you make is really a better option than the FMIC, only due to the amount of work that making up the ducting and under trays takes! I didn't appreciate this at the time...

Wauw, this was really interesting to read. Here you see really details from the enginedesign 'faults', which you can improve quite easily! A job well done here

Seconds on that! Can anyone say "hobbyist application...?"

Very interesting project indeed. Free power eh:D

Yes, it literally is free power.

This looks good and have been thinking of improving mine for some time. My concern though would be if you drive in the rain your filter will get soaked through the vent and eventually fail.

This looks good and have been thinking of improving mine for some time. My concern though would be if you drive in the rain your filter will get soaked through the vent and eventually fail.

Indeed, alas driver's side should help so its out of the kerb, however Mk2 version coming soon.

Any dyno reading?